Peter Inge demonstrated his ongoing commitment to the retirement village sector by travelling from Melbourne to be the (volunteer) MC of the Perth conference.

Having led the selling of his family’s home grown 20 village business in 2007 for a reported $680M, instead of retiring himself he and his wife bought back one of their villages (Prospect Hill in Melbourne) and installed themselves as managers – where they can be found each day.

With this history and the hot discussion on the new regulations being developed in WA he passionately explained to the conference he feared that the “ratcheting of consumer protection regulations could make the sector unviable”. He said the ‘rabbit proof fence between the eastern states and WA has been breached’.

Peter believes regulation is not required because the market will sort it Out. Operators need to concentrate on the resident, delivering personal knowledge and individual care. This will lead to the residents:
• Not being worried
• Feeling secure
• Not lonely
• feeling financially secure
• And feeling supported as they age

His advice to operators – respect and respond – promptly. Using the metaphor that one year to an 80 year old resident is the equivalent to 20% of their life.