Legal Issues

After 10 tortuous years, Mbark’s proposed retirement village in Canberra held up again

In November last year, Mbark was given conditional approval of a lease variation by the ACT Government to build the retirement village of 125 dwellings (77 houses and 48 units in six three-storey blocks) on 6ha of the club’s golf course

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Ian Horswill

13 Jan 2025

Legal Issues

Residents of Retirement Villages Victoria “bitterly disappointed” with new law being passed

With the Retirement Villages Amendment Bill making its way through the Victorian Parliament, Residents of Retirement Villages Victoria President Helen Betros, pictured at the DCM Instutute’s VILLAGE SUMMIT in November last year, has spoken about the...

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Ian Horswill

06 Jan 2025

Legal Issues

Man has charges upgraded to include murder and manslaughter after death of aged care resident

A man, 34, who broke into a residential aged care facility at Bateau Bay on the NSW Central Coast where he allegedly assaulted and sexually assaulted a 90-year-old woman on 15 November 15, 2023, has had his charges upgraded to include murder and...

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Ian Horswill

18 Dec 2024

Legal Issues

Commissioner removes Kristian White from NSW Police Force after guilty verdict

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has announced Senior Constable Kristian White has been removed from the NSW Police force after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 92-year-old aged care resident Clare Nowland.

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Caroline Egan

05 Dec 2024

Legal Issues

Aged care nurse made to return $880,000 inherited from resident she met only weeks before his death

In July 2015, former nurse Abha Anuradha Kumar was managing Cambridge House residential aged care facility in Collingwood, Melbourne, when she met 92-year old Lionel Cox.

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Caroline Egan

05 Dec 2024

Legal Issues

What is in the Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024 passed by Parliament?

The Albanese Government managed to push through its Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024 among more than 30 other pieces of legislation on the final day of sitting after striking a deal with the Greens and Senator David Pocock.

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Caroline Egan

05 Dec 2024

Legal Issues

SA retirement village operators hit: Buybacks cut, recurrent charges capped, Code of Conduct, mandated training

The new laws reforming South Australia’s Retirement Villages Act 2016 were passed by the state government last Wednesday evening, imposing required actions. “These changes mark a significant shift in the regulatory landscape, focusing on...

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Ian Horswill

02 Dec 2024

Legal Issues

VIC retirement village operators hit hard: mandatory Code of Practice, standardised contracts, annual checks, refurbishment not chargeable

Minister for Consumer Affairs Gabrielle Williams (pictured) last Wednesday introduced the Retirement Villages Amendment Bill into Victorian Parliament, claiming it gives residents in retirement villages some of the strongest protections in...

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Ian Horswill

02 Dec 2024

Aged Care

NSW Supreme Court jury finds police officer Kristian White guilty of manslaughter of aged care resident Clare Nowland

After an eight-day trial in the NSW Supreme Court, the jury began deliberations last Wednesday, taking four days to unanimously decide the 34-year-old Senior Constable was guilty of the manslaughter of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, after he Tasered her when she held up a knife up to him during an altercation in her Cooma aged care home, 114km south of Canberra.

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Caroline Egan

27 Nov 2024

In the Headlines

Aveo Group’s $11M settlement saved the retirement living sector

The capitulation by the class action lawyers Levitt Robinson in its six-year bid to score a speculated $100 million-plus from village operator Aveo Group, claiming dodgy contracts and deals with residents, saved the retirement village sector months...

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Ian Horswill

03 Apr 2023

Legal Issues

Jury considers fate of police officer accused of manslaughter of aged care resident Clare Nowland

Senior Constable Kristian White, 34, has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Clare Nowland, who he tasered at the 40-bed Yallambee Lodge aged care facility, in Cooma, 114km south of Canberra, on May 17, 2023.

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Ian Horswill

21 Nov 2024

Legal Issues

WA’s new Retirement Villages Act significantly increases operator’s risk of being personally criminally liable: lawyers

The Weekly SOURCE reported in last Tuesday’s newsletter, the WA Government had passed the Retirement Villages Act 1992 (WA) 2024 which had been more than a decade in the making. These changes, when read with the subject matter of the foreshadowed...

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Ian Horswill

18 Nov 2024

Legal Issues

Policeman charged over Taser death of aged care resident Clare Nowland claims use of force was reasonable

There is no dispute 34-year-old Senior Constable Kristian White discharged his stun gun at great-grandmother Clare Nowland at the Yallambee Lodge aged-care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma, 114km south of Canberra, in the early hours of May...

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Caroline Egan

14 Nov 2024