User Profile

Chris
Baynes

The Retirement Living Council has been on a media blitz calling for ‘the right policy at the right time’ – to support seniors downsizing to retirement villages

RLC Executive Director Daniel Gannon has been featured across all medias spruiking the community benefit of raising the Age Pension Asset Cap from $315,00 to $550,000 and raising the Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) from $252,000. The Age Pension...

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Chris Baynes

4 hours ago

Redevelopments

800 Forestville RSL members object to redevelopment with retirement village units to replace declining gambling income

With the Board looking to the future of less poker machine income and submitting a new clubhouse and 55 village apartments, a petition with 800 member signatures and counting is being submitted to Council as a DA objection to the $77 million...

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Chris Baynes

4 hours ago

Opinion

Masterclass in the future demand for retirement living – invest in assisted living!

I am on holidays, which has given me some quiet time to go back over the presentations at the LEADERS SUMMIT, and the graph above and below jumped out at me from Cam Ansell’s presentation. Check the growth in Assisted Living. Cam is the Founder...

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Chris Baynes

5 hours ago

Opinion

Scape moving to acquire Aveo is good news – here is why

It was revealed in the Financial Review this week that Australian student accommodation giant Scape is now the exclusive bidder to buy Aveo, for an indicated $3.5B. They will bring fresh thinking to the retirement village sector. Take a step back...

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Cyril is aged care today – it is not fixed

This photo is of Cyril Tooze, aged 86. He is in Victor Harbour Hospital (SA) last October, weighing just 42 kilos after waiting alone at home since January for his Level 4 Home Care package. It never came. Cyril is the face of the aged care system...

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Chris Baynes

11 Apr 2025

Opinion

Since November 2021 just 485 new ILUs and 440 new beds have been ticked in NSW under new preferential laws. But green shoots are appearing

In three years and five months, only six new ‘significant’ development projects have been approved as NSW State Significant Developments. None have broken ground yet. With a $20 million or $30 million entry to the system, all new villages will...

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Chris Baynes

08 Apr 2025

Opinion

Small is good – and faster in retirement living, but what does that say about the future?

Today we cover Mark Bindon and Franco DePasquale announcing their re-entry to the retirement village sector with three separate village projects of around just 25 homes each. Meanwhile Adrian Puljich announced at the LEADERS SUMMIT his new Aliri...

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Chris Baynes

01 Apr 2025

Chris Baynes

Structural policy, productivity and strategic imperatives to support ageing Australians missing at one minute to midnight

We get it; it’s an election budget, and as Paul Keating used to say, ‘if you are not in power, you have no power’.

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Chris Baynes

26 Mar 2025

Opinion

Fact: the village sector understands retirement accommodation. It is time to shine

NSW Planning has just delivered the “worst-case scenario for the seniors housing industry’ in its Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy, leaving retirement villages behind as ‘road kill’, according to Ethos Urban. In summary, affordable housing...

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Chris Baynes

25 Mar 2025

Opinion

Village operators relying on external Home Care take note: 105 days to new regs

Home Care is about to change significantly. You should know one reason but you are unlikely to know the second. Home Care changes to a new system titled Support at Home (S@H) on 1 July, just 105 days from now, or 71 working days. A lot of the...

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Chris Baynes

17 Mar 2025

Opinion

Australian Unity Group CEO Rohan Mead calls out why all village operators need to focus on a new revenue business model

The Financial Review last Wednesday published an exclusive article based on Rohan Mead’s assertion that the Australian health system is about to be swamped. In simple language, currently we average 20,000 ageing Australians turning 80 each year...

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Chris Baynes

10 Mar 2025

Opinion

Is this the canary in the coal mine for retirement village operators? The future when care crosses independent living

On 18 February, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission quietly released an ‘Exposure Draft’ for the Aged Care Financial and Prudential Standards 2025. In it the Federal Government crossed the line into retirement villages. See the wording...

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Chris Baynes

04 Mar 2025

Opinion

Good news for our sector and older Australians – quality executives leading advocacy at the right time

Looking forward, the retirement living sector is set for both great times and very dangerous times. Public opinion and demand for our products will be strong, but we will also be susceptible to bad news – and there will be bad news. Regular...

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Chris Baynes

25 Feb 2025