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Tasmania Police and elder abuse

'Older Tasmanians deserve safety, dignity and choice’, so the state police force is focused on tackling elder abuse. 5 min read

Last updated: 19 May 2026

Tasmania has the highest proportion of older people of any Australian state or territory, with people aged over 65 making up almost a quarter of the population. That demographic reality is why Tasmania Police is taking elder abuse seriously.

Commander Jo Stolp APM, who leads Community Engagement for Tasmania Police, described elder abuse as ‘a bit of an epidemic sitting there in the background’.

She said the Tasmanian Government launched Lifelong Respect: Tasmania’s strategy to end abuse of older people 2023–2029 in 2023. It’s the state’s third elder abuse prevention strategy. Tasmania Police will also be implementing a new and specific engagement action plan.

‘Older Tasmanians deserve safety, dignity and choice,’ Commander Stolp said. ‘Police will listen, act and work with services [to make this happen].’

What Tasmania Police are doing

Commander Stolp told Compass that Tasmania currently has no specific elder abuse laws, and family violence laws only relate to intimate partner relationships. the police are taking whatever steps they can to tackle elder abuse.

Despite this, Tasmania Police has already taken many steps to tackle elder abuse.

Partial reporting of elder abuse – ‘If you're not ready to report, we will still take whatever details that you are prepared to give us, and we will also refer you to support, so that if you're able to, you can come back and tell us more,’ the Commander said.
Telling the story only once – ‘Our staff all wear body-worn cameras, and they are able to get up-to-the-minute accounts from people that save them having to retell their story and do a number of statements down the track.’
Using welfare check powers – ‘[If] somebody hasn't been seen for a while, or a community member has specific concerns about an older person, it's really only police that have any sort of power to go and check on that person … We go and tap on the door and make sure we can see and talk to that older person.’
Taking a trauma-informed approach – Police recruits are trained to bring a trauma-informed approach to sensitive matters like elder abuse, so they are able to offer assistance that’s gentle, alert and supportive.

What is a trauma-informed approach?

This is a gentle, alert and supportive approach that recognises the older person may have had significant trauma relating to police in their past that could make reporting abuse difficult, or indeed have experienced trauma more generally.

‘They [the officers] understand what trauma can do to a person’s brain to inhibit the way they react with police,’ Commander Stolp explained. ‘[It’s about] recognising what sits around that person and what might actually be triggering, what’s going on with them.

‘They would treat it very much the same as a victim of sexual abuse. They would go in with the knowledge that we don’t want the person to have to tell their story a number of times.’

Financial pressure and elder abuse

Commander Stolp is particularly concerned about older people who are under financial pressure, especially when adult children move back in or they have dependent relatives.

‘I think there's just very much a “taking advantage” space in that – whether it's intentional or not, I don't know, but – I’m certainly seeing a lot more of multi-tiered households, and particularly in that lower socio-economic space,’ she noted.

When adults have trouble with drugs or other dependencies, Commander Stolp explained, they often end up moving back home, even in their 30s, 40s or 50s. But they’ll be living with a parent who may be in their 80s, and it can become easy to take advantage of them.

‘And that's not an obvious form of abuse, but it puts those older people in a very difficult situation, particularly with the cost of aged care and with supported aged care,’ she said.

‘The biggest challenge for an older person is to realise that they're being exploited or abused. You know, they're trying to do the right thing by their family, but they are being hoodwinked into thinking something is happening that's not happening.’

A high-profile coronial inquest in 2017 and 2018 highlighted how extreme elder abuse can be and prompted changes in advocacy and support referral networks for elder abuse.

Extreme elder abuse: Janet’s story

In 2010, 77-year-old Janet Mackozdi died of hypothermia as a result of severe neglect. The coronial inquest found that Mrs Mackozdi’s daughter and son-in-law – a nurse and a disability support worker – forced her to sleep in an uninsulated shipping container in freezing temperatures.

The daughter refused to place her mother in residential care or engage care services because she and her husband were financially exploiting Mrs Mackozdi. They spent almost three-quarters of her estate’s value.

In her findings, Coroner Olivia McTaggart said, ‘In my view, the neglect of Mrs Mackozdi’s health and her financial exploitation over an extended period by family members whom she trusted, falls within the definition of “elder abuse”’ (p 37).

What can you do if you’re experiencing abuse?

Commander Stolp wants you to report what’s happening to the police. ‘If you tell us you’re a victim of elder abuse and you tell us how that’s occurring, we will treat you as a victim of crime, the same as we would with any other crime type.’

She added that people can get access to a Legal Aid lawyer and counselling. Advocacy Tasmania (1800 005 131) and the Elder Abuse Helpline (call 1800 353 374) can also help.

To minimise their chances of experiencing elder abuse, Commander Stolp recommends people strengthen later-life safeguards such as wills and enduring powers of attorney.

‘What I'd love to see … is where people really “watertight” their later years in life, whether it's by a will or enduring power of attorney and that kind of thing, to ensure that it [abuse] can't occur. Some independence, so that the people who are likely to benefit from exploiting an older person are not the people controlling things.’

If someone you know is experiencing abuse

Commander Stolp also wants the wider community to report their suspicions to the police if they think someone else is experiencing elder abuse. ‘Please report it, and please name it up as what you think it is,’ she told Compass.

‘Bring it to … the police officers’ attention that you think the person is either being financially controlled, [or] they're subject to neglect or some form of physical assault – but tell them you think it's elder abuse.

‘So that when they [the officers] go into that situation, that's what they'll be alert for, and that's what they'll be looking for. Not just that the person answers the door and says, “Yes, I'm fine”, but that they look that little bit deeper into it, because somebody has been concerned.’

With a quarter of Tasmanians aged over 65, Tasmania Police are ready to listen and act on elder abuse – but they need the community to speak up.