This course takes a considered look at the position elderly and aged people find themselves in in the legal system and aims to develop a theoretically informed competent legal practitioner. Ageism is a real phenomenon which plays out in significant ways in the legal system – in employment, in the medical arena, in housing, for Indigenous people etc. The following is a non-exhaustive list of issues:
- Theories about ageing and older age, whether the term ‘elder law’ is appropriate because of different connotations in Indigenous societies
- A human rights framework for dealing with ageing and the rights of older persons – national and international developments
- The concept of ageism and how it plays out in the law
- Ageism and age discrimination in employment
- The right to housing for older persons – including the legal regimes for retirement villages, residential aged care homes and older persons living in the community
- Right to health of older persons and the allocation of health system resources – access to treatment etc
- Indigenous people in Australia and ageing
- Elder abuse - affronts to dignity, the person, financial abuse, fraud etc
- End of life decision-making – advance directives, enduring guardianship, enduring powers of attorney, executing a will; the ‘good death’
- Discrimination law and older persons, including the intersection of older age with disability, gender and other statuses
- Capacity, age and older persons - common law, statute, and international law
