Finance Minister Penny Wong has been selected as Labor’s Deputy Leader in the Federal Senate after a cabinet and frontbench reshuffle sparked by a number of retirements following Prime Minister Julia Gillard's decision to hold the next election in mid-September.

Long fought for and heralded by many as a watershed moment, the Commonwealth has this week launched its first ever National LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care Strategy as part of a $3.7 billion aged care reform package.

Adelaide's Elders’ Big Day (EBDO) Out was held on Saturday October 13 at the Fullarton Park Community Centre as part of the Every Generation Festival.

ACSA, in conjunction with the GLBTI Positive Ageing Reference Group, will be staging a free community event to explore some of the important issues around the ageing of our communities.

National director of UnitingCare Australia and prominent social justice advocate, Lin Hatfield Dodds, has been appointed as Chair of the Australian Social Inclusion Board.

The special needs of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) will be addressed under a new national strategy on aged care to be developed by the Federal Government.

The Australian Government will include LGBTI people as a special needs group under the Aged Care Act, and will allocate $2.5m over the next five years for LGBTI training of the aged care workforce, in an announcement greatly welcomed by the likes of ACON and the National LGBTI Health Alliance.

There have been strides in attending to the needs of older Australians but when it comes to LGBTI seniors, there’s still a long way to go. As NSW marks Seniors Week 2012, Serkan Ozturk looks at the challenges facing older members of the LGBTI community.

Young people living in Western Sydney will now be able to benefit from improved mental health services following the opening of a new headspace centre in Parramatta.

The Federal Government has been commended for listening to community concerns and reinstating rebatable mental health sessions under the Better Access program, however the National LGBTI Health Alliance has warned that the government’s timetable for increasing the capacity of new services targeting mental health by 2013 may not be realistic.

Australia’s first National Mental Health Commission was officially launched in Sydney by Mental Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler this week, with the launch coinciding with peak depression initiative beyondblue announcing that it had appointed a new CEO following months of controversy on how the organisation treats LGBTI-related mental health concerns.

Organisations and other bodies representing the LGBTI community are being encouraged to submit their views on the draft Ten-Year Roadmap for National Mental Health Reform, after it was released for public consultation by the Federal Government this week.

The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) and the LGBTI Health Alliance have welcomed last week’s changes to Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Cabinet, saying that the new ministerial appointments have strong records when it comes to promoting better health outcomes for LGBTI people and those living with HIV/AIDS.

Marriage advocates and others have welcomed an apparent change of heart by new Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, after the country’s first female Attorney-General revealed in a newspaper interview today that she now supports marriage equality.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has today called for Labor members to support a conscience vote on the issue of marriage equality while maintaining her opposition to same-sex marriage rights, arguing that “the institution of marriage has come to have a particular meaning and standing in our culture and nation and that should continue unchanged”.