AACC election campaign picks up gong
The Australian Aged Care Collaboration federal election campaign wins an award.
The campaign conducted by the Australian Aged Care Collaboration has won an award for Best External Campaign by the Associations Forum – a body that recognises excellence and accomplishment by associations and outstanding individuals.
In February 2021, six aged care provider peak associations united to form the Australian Aged Care Collaboration and launch the It’s Time to Care About Aged Care campaign. The campaign aimed to bring the public – and particularly senior voters – onboard to help drive reform. It included television advertising and targeted 15 marginal electorates, where over 800,000 older Australians live.
Fast forward a year, and the AACC’s campaign is credited with helping the sector become a primary election issue, which helped secure political commitments to implement more of the royal commission’s recommendations.
Claerwen Little – national director of UnitingCare Australia and chair of the media campaign – said it proved effective in keeping the topic of aged care in the public’s mind.
“Everyone deserves quality care as they get older. All of us should be able to get quality care with dignity when we need it,” she said in a statement. “That’s why a record number of Australians named aged care as a key election issue.”
The AACC and its campaign was a collaboration of the six major provider representative groups:
- Aged & Community Services Australia
- Leading Aged Services Australia
- Anglicare Australia
- Baptist Care Australia
- Catholic Health Australia
- UnitingCare Australia.
Tom Symondson, chief executive officer of peak body the Aged & Community Care Providers Association – which replaced ACSA and LASA earlier this year – said the award was recognition of how collaboration between organisations with a common interest can lead to positive outcomes.
“The success of the campaign underlines the motivation of the sector to ensure Australians have the aged care system they deserve.”
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