Mrs Marie Bennett, of Dunedin, KSM for services to seniors
Marie Bennett has been an Elder Abuse Response Social Worker for Age Concern Otago for 30 years and leads a multi-disciplinary team providing these services. She is recognised as a pioneer in this area of social work. She has been committed to raising awareness of elder abuse, advocating for the rights of older people and educating communities on the detection of elder abuse. She has helped develop several practice guidelines for the sector. Mrs Bennett helped establish the Otago Welfare Guardian Trust, the first in the country, which has been used as a model in other cities.