Chris Baynes

Are you strategically prepared for the next 5 years given the macro changes rushing towards us?

I have been reporting on the retirement living, home care and residential aged care sectors for 20 years. The future has never been as uncertain as today. With the first wave of Baby Boomers turning 80 this year, demand for ageing service will jump...

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Chris Baynes

18 Feb 2025

Opinion

Village operators will need home tech and possibly private 5G sooner than they think

Last week James Wiltshire and I were invited by the leadership of the big Not for Profit operator Warrigal, spread across the Illawarra and ACT, to strategically discuss the future of retirement villages. We emphasized that their future will require...

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Chris Baynes

11 Feb 2025

Opinion

Village operators on alert

The excerpt above from an article that caught my eye on Saturday is telling. There is still a large amount of work required to explain the value proposition, contracts and costs of moving into a retirement village. The writer, retired Professor Ross...

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Ian Horswill

03 Feb 2025

News & Headlines

Another week, another alarm for village operators and residents

We will be investigating solutions at our LEADERS SUMMIT 18 & 19 March in Sydney, plus presenting how Denmark overcame this problem. There are good lessons to be learnt. Register here

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Chris Baynes

03 Feb 2025

Opinion

Village operators: beware the media. Ignore the Code of Conduct at your peril - Sign up today

In this issue of The Weekly SOURCE we discuss how Lifestyle Communities lost $950 million in value in three months, thanks to three media reports on ABC TV. With village residents now significantly older, media alarm bells should be ringing. Our...

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Chris Baynes

28 Jan 2025

Opinion

Today, with 78-year-old President Trump in America and 30-something Adrian Puljich and Patrick Abolakian in Australia, each stand out – but we are in better hands

What a day. The US and the world looks to Trump to make America (and the world?) great with his inauguration and his deportation of immigrants. Here in Australia’s seniors living sector, we have two sons of immigrants leading the way to support...

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Chris Baynes

21 Jan 2025

Opinion

Will 2025 be the year the village sector realises it is no longer independent living?

Victoria has just released its new retirement village regulations, including for the first time acknowledgement of home care as a village service – operators beware.

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Chris Baynes

16 Dec 2024

Government Policy

RLC facts win the day in ABC 7.30 driven Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) review of retirement villages

Last Wednesday (10 December), the meeting of COAG was swayed that the States should stay responsible for retirement villages and new Federal regulations were not required.

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Chris Baynes

16 Dec 2024

Opinion

The legislation that will change the retirement village sector forever

The new Aged Care Act was passed in Parliament yesterday and with it Anika Wells announced 83,000 additional Home Care packages. These actions will cement care into retirement villages. Independent living will gradually disappear as a value...

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Chris Baynes

26 Nov 2024

Chris Baynes

New Aged Care Act – and Plan B co-contribution funding – was achieved just three years to the day from when the sector was called to mobilise

In November 2021, the editorial team here at DCM/The SOURCE sat down and discussed what is the future for aged care. To be blunt, there was no optimism in the sector as operators racked up month after month of financial losses.

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Chris Baynes

22 Nov 2024

Opinion

These sector CEOs provide a masterclass in professional development and generosity

It was fascinating last week to learn the extent leaders in our sector have invested in their own education. We were in Adelaide and then Perth at the DCM Institute VILLAGE SUMMITS. In each city two leaders gave their time to share their definition...

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Chris Baynes

18 Nov 2024

Opinion

StewartBrown survey and Code of Conduct essential for the retirement living sector

This week two important initiatives were announced. First StewartBrown announced it is launching an independent survey of retirement living operators, and the second is the Retirement Living Council is reducing the Code of Conduct fees, determined...

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Chris Baynes

10 Nov 2024

Opinion

Is David Di Pilla making a land lease wrap up move on Lifestyle Communities and Ingenia?

Last Thursday David Di Pilla’s HMC Capital notified the ASX it had acquired 2.69% of Lifestyle Communities. It looks like they may also have access to another 4.6%, a total of 7.3%, whilst also owning around 8% of Ingenia. What is his strategy? Di...

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Chris Baynes

05 Nov 2024