Xenophon said if his party wins the balance of power, he will push for all people aged over 60 to be allowed to travel free, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Under current arrangements, seniors must pay a concession fare to travel during peak periods, but can ride for free at other times.

SA Best’s seniors policy also calls for an extra $24.5 million for palliative care services, and the establishment of a mobile dental service to help older residents.

The policy supports installing CCTV in aged care facilities to enhance the safety of residents and increased funding for Meals on Wheels to cover rising growth in demand.

“If we win the balance of power at the election, we will improve both the standard of, and access to, support services through a comprehensive range of policy initiatives,” Xenophon said today.

“As well as our own initiatives, we will also support a range of initiatives which will improve the scope and standard of care services to vastly improve the well-being of our elderly.”

One of those initiatives is the creation of better and more flexible housing options for the elderly.

The party wants local “replication” of the Victorian Government’s ‘Home at Last’ program which SA Best says “promotes use of existing resources in a flexible manner to better deliver housing services”.

“This supports the use of existing housing to support socially and financially disadvantaged, those without families, or those in drug and alcohol recovery programs.”

– with AAP