ADVOCACY groups say they are fed up with the State Government's inaction on elder abuse.
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Between 3000 and 4000 Tasmanians over the age of 65 are affected by elder abuse - most commonly financial abuse and often accompanied by psychological abuse.
The culprits are usually carers, family members, landlords and other trusted individuals.
The Tasmanian Elder Abuse Partnership will meet the Health and Human Services Department today to try to get a concrete commitment from the Government to deal with the issue.
Council on the Ageing Tasmanian chief executive Maxine Griffiths said yesterday that Tasmania's elderly were having their homes sold from underneath them, being denied food, medicines or visitors and being forced into nursing homes or locked in rooms.
"There's research to show that the more we're going to be relying on relatives to care at home the more prevalent financial and emotional abuse will be," she said.
The council, along with other advocacy groups, say they have been lobbying the State Government to implement an elder abuse strategy for 10 years.
As well as establishing a freecall support line for victims, the prevention strategy would include education, law reform and developing counselling and information services.
Implementation of the strategy was estimated to cost less than $1million a year, Ms Griffiths said.
Tasmania is the only state without an elder abuse strategy.
In Parliament last week Premier David Bartlett said his department had investigated other state strategies and that the Health and Human Services Department was now charged with the Government response.
Ms Griffiths said she was baffled and fed up by the Government's inaction.
The Tasmanian Council of Social Service chief executive Tom Muller said elder abuse strategies not only gave support to victims but built awareness, which acted as a preventative measure.
"I don't think the Government has grasped the importance of the issue, the nature and reality of elderly abuse," he said.
Mr Bartlett said older Tasmanians had the same protection from criminal abuse as the wider community.
He said most types of abuse were covered under either criminal or civil law and departmental policy recommended that staff report or refer suspected cases to the established responsible authorities such as Tasmania Police or the Office of Consumer Affairs.
