Australian Law During COVID-19: Meeting the Needs of Older Australians?

This article focuses on the interests of older Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyses aspects of Australian law by considering the implications of the pandemic for older Australians in order to evaluate the adequacy of existing laws in meeting their needs. We begin by analysing two important challenges. First, although we focus on the interests of older Australians, defining what is meant by ‘older’ can be challenging. Second, although we adopt a rights-based approach to our analysis, we recognise that there is no convention on the rights of older persons that clearly articulates the rights of older persons. In the remaining parts of the article, we examine different areas of law (antidiscrimination laws, responses to social isolation, and participation in medical research of individuals where capacity has been lost or is diminishing) as examples through which to analyse the impact of the pandemic on older Australians and to provide insights into the adequacy of current Australian laws