Office of the Public AdvocateOPA’s mission to protect and promote the rights, interests, and dignity of people with disability is more important than ever in this extraordinary time of crisis.
The office recorded 1792 Victorians receiving guardianship services from OPA this year, the second highest year on record.
In previous years, the majority of represented persons were over 65 years of age and had some form of dementia. Now, after many years of decline in this cohort, the proportion of younger clients with intellectual disability is steadily increasing, as is the number with acquired brain injury and psychiatric disability. The reasons for these changes are attributable largely to the advent of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which reached full rollout in Victoria on 1 July 2019.
