One Year of the MAIAC: Multicultural voices shaping the future of ageing and aged care

By Samhruta Narayanan, Projects and Policy Officer

The Multicultural Advocates for Inclusive Aged Care (MAIAC) is a network advisory committee of the Australian Multicultural Health Collaborative (AMHC), which is an initiative of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA). Comprising 14 older persons and carers from across Australia, the MAIAC brings lived experience to multicultural ageing and aged care policy and advocacy. As Projects and Policy Officer in the healthy ageing and aged care team, Samhruta has had the privilege of helping bring the MAIAC and its collective vision for a more inclusive aged care system to life.

Somewhere in Australia today, an older person is trying to explain their pain to a care worker in a language neither of them fully shares.

Australia’s population is ageing. And its diversity is growing just as fast. Older Australians do not all look the same, sound the same, or need the same things. And yet, for far too long, the system has treated them as if they do.

Over one third of older Australians were born overseas, and more than one in six speak a language other than English at home (AIHW, 2022). Across cities and regional areas, multicultural communities are growing faster than the national average. These older Australians are not a fringe group. They are woven into the fabric of this country. They came, built, contributed, raised families, fostered communities, and gave decades of their lives to a nation that is richer for their presence. And now, as they age, they deserve a system that honours that. One that recognises and reflects the very diversity Australia was built on.

Yet the aged care system has not always kept pace. For multicultural older Australians, language, faith, food, family structures, and cultural expectations are not background details. They are central to health, wellbeing, and dignity. For too long, the system has operated on a one-size-fits-all approach – one that fits no one, and in doing so, overlooks the very diversity that defines so many of the people it is meant to serve. And while the introduction of Australia’s new Aged Care reforms brings hope, a persistent concern lingers: that in building something new, we do not simply paint over the cracks.

At that very crucial juncture, the Multicultural Advocates for Inclusive Aged Care, or as we call them, the MAIAC was born.

Fourteen older persons and carers from across each state and territory became a lived experience panel and the beating heart of AMHC’s ageing and aged care policy work. They came to speak about what it means to age in a system that is becoming increasingly complex. To share their understanding of culture, dignity, and what it truly means to age well. To challenge and sharpen what “rights-based care” looks like, not aspirational, but in real life.

They have humbled me. Because behind every policy conversation is a life; full, complex, and far bigger than any framework can capture. Sitting with MAIAC members has reminded me that the people we advocate for are not passive recipients of a system, but individuals with decades of experience, wisdom, and an unshakeable sense of what they deserve. And what they deserve is a system that truly understands them — their stories, their diversity, and their right to be seen.

This month, we mark one year since the MAIAC first came together. Reflecting on what has unfolded in that time, I find myself moved in ways I did not quite anticipate.

When I think about what this past year has taught me, I keep coming back to something one MAIAC member said: “Too often, mainstream services overlook the nuances of culture: the foods that bring comfort, the languages that carry memory, and the traditions that give life meaning.”

These words have stayed with me. They capture exactly what is at stake. This is not just about access to services or navigating a complex system. It is about the preservation of dignity and identity in some of life’s most vulnerable moments.

And those moments have faces.

A grandmother who cannot communicate her pain to a care worker because they do not share the same language. A woman from the Pacific Islands who understands a little English, but not enough to fully express her needs to someone who does not know her culture. An elder in Queensland who cannot find aged care that understands his faith, his routines, or his community. A Croatian woman who quietly absorbs the weight of caring for aging parents because the system feels too foreign, too complicated, and too far from who they are. A carer who waited eight months for an assessment, and in the end walked into an aged care facility and said: “I need help. I can’t do this alone anymore.”

These are the communities the MAIAC speaks for.

It is precisely because of these realities that the voices within MAIAC resonate so deeply. One member reflected on what this past year has meant to them:

“Being a member of MAIAC has meant a great deal to me. It has helped me reflect more deeply on my own ageing journey while also giving me a better understanding of the challenges faced by older persons in other multicultural communities across Australia. What stands out to me most is the care, wisdom, and commitment of fellow members, whose voices and experiences make such a significant contribution towards a collective view.”

Their insights have transformed how AMHC approaches ageing and aged care advocacy — grounding our submissions in real lives and anchoring us to what this work is actually for. Because culturally responsive and inclusive aged care is not a single policy fix. It is an ongoing commitment, and one that requires diverse voices uniting around a shared purpose.

Perhaps the most significant milestone of this past year has been the development of Vision 2030: Healthy Ageing in Multicultural Australia, a policy framework informed directly by the voices of MAIAC members. In the context of Australia’s new Aged Care reforms, Vision 2030 captures what multicultural older Australians need, expect, and deserve from a system that is being rebuilt. It is not a document written about them but written by them. And that distinction matters enormously.

Still, there is so much more to do.

A year on, the MAIAC has made clear that the challenges facing multicultural older Australians have not gone away. Across communities, we continue to hear the same concerns — information about aged care reforms that is difficult to understand, services that do not reflect cultural realities, digital systems that exclude rather than include, and a deep fragility of trust in a system that was not built with them in mind. Carers (often family) are navigating the system alone, without adequate support, and without services that speak their language or understand their reality.

With the implementation of the new Aged Care Act, there is a real risk that without deliberate and sustained engagement with multicultural communities, the reforms will widen inequities rather than reduce them.

That is why The Collaborative is calling on government to invest in a dedicated national multicultural aged care consultation; one that goes beyond written submissions and online forms, and instead reaches communities where they are, in the languages they speak, through the relationships they trust. The success of aged care reform will be measured in whether every older Australian regardless of language, culture, or migration background can understand, access, and trust the system designed to care for them.

The MAIAC reminds me that this kind of change is made possible through small, persistent steps that go a long way, and people who are willing to share their truth and committed to carrying it forward.

To every MAIAC member, thank you. For your time, your trust, and your willingness to speak up. Not just for yourselves, but for the many who do not yet have a seat at the table.

One year in, and we are only getting started.

Samhruta Narayanan is the Projects and Policy Officer, Aged Care at the Collaborative. She brings expertise in public health, policy research, cross-sector collaboration, and a diverse background spanning three continents.