Paper short abstract:

With specific focus on Australian aged care sector, this paper considers whether quality of life at later stage as a cosmopolitan value can be optimised by ‘mainstreaming’ of aged care services.

Paper long abstract:

While they share the same civic ethic, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism conceptually differ in respect to their approach to cultural difference, the matter of fundamental moral entity, the vested power in distinct collectives and conceptual relevance vis-a-vis the global and the national space. With stark focus upon the individual as a fundamental moral entity, cosmopolitanism assumes shared moral substance of all humans as imagined within the parameters the human rights corpus. Given that the quality of life at later stage is a matter of human rights the notion of quality of life becomes a cosmopolitan value. Central to quality of life at later stage is appropriate provision of aged care. In Australia, cultural appropriateness in aged care service delivery maintains relevance given the multicultural character of the rapidly ageing national population. Despite their pivotal role, the latest changes to the aged care funding rules with emphasis on competition raise concerns over the survival of the predominantly small, grass-roots Ethno-Specific NGOs as culturally appropriate aged care providers. This is not considered as problematic by the government as cultural appropriateness will not be abandoned rather, services will be mainstreamed, and the mainstream services of generic kind will be adapted to account for all diversity including ethno-cultural diversity. With specific focus on a Macedonian-specific NGO with aged care provider status, this paper will explore [1] the consequences of mainstreaming of service provision upon CALD aged care clients and [2] whether quality of life at later stage as a cosmopolitan value can be optimised by 'mainstreaming' of aged care services.