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> COTA Media Releases and Press Articles
Australian Senior, November 2000 p9
Council on the Ageing Deputy Director, Veronica Sheen, has just returned from the Committee for Economic Development (CED) Ageing of the Global Workforce conference in the United States at which she was the Australian delegate. The conference was developed from the concerns about the position of older Americans in the workforce, the ageing population, and the fact that too many Americans retire before they need to or should. She looks at how Australia could learn from the American experience.
Although the near full-employment situation in the United States is expanding job prospects for older Americans, they still suffer from age discrimination and other poor poor practices as do older Australians.
However, it was evident that older workers in Australia are in a worse situation than older Americans. We have weaker age discrimination legislation and fewer avenues for the workforce placement, training and career counselling of mature age people.
For example, the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCESP) has been in operation since the 1960s and has continuously sought to provide opportunities for disadvantaged older Americans to regain and retain paid employment.
Age discrimination legislation is much stronger. It applies only to people over 40 years of age and is an important way of ensuring that older workers are treated fairly in terms of hiring, retirement, salary and promotion.
There is around 33 per cent of Australians between the ages of 50 and 64 rely on some form of social security payment and 46 per cent do not have paid employment.
Australia urgently needs to address the problems of our ageing workforce and the current group of older workers. COTA is putting a fresh set of proposals to the Government following the release of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment report on older workers.
These include:
COTA's speech to the Committee for Economic Development conference Ageing of the Global Workforce is available at www.cota.org.au/CEDspeech.htm
A major publication Older Australian: A Working Future which provides an overview of major issues for older workers and the ageing workforce is available from COTA
Fifty-Plus News, November 2000, p4
The Australian Government needs to lift its game in providing assistance to older workers. And they could do worse than follow the US example. Veronica Sheen, the Council on the Ageing's deputy national director reports.
Age discrimination legislation with teeth! Programmes for older workers having problems in the labour force! A corporate culture with a genuine interest in the challenges of an ageing workforce! Sounds fantastic.
Amidst much of the negative press about the US, such as the holes in its health care system and its miserly social welfare, there are nevertheless some lessons that Australia can learn about how to manage its ageing workforce and how to give its older workers a fair chance.
In the US, federal age discrimination legislation on employment has been in place since 1967 and applies to people aged 40 and over. The legislation covers:
While the US still has problems with wily employers evading the legislation, nevertheless it does provide a reasonably robust protection for older workers and a significant number of complaints are filed and reconciled each year.
There is also a range of options for older workers who become unemployed.
For example, the Senior Community Service Employment Program has been in operation since the late 1960s and has a fine record of helping hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged mature Americans obtain training and on-the-job experience needed to improve their lives and provide economic independence.
The SCESP provides opportunities for mature workers to obtain technology training for new careers in high-tech industries using non-traditional teaching methods. The introductory courses are suitable for most people, requiring minimal experience using a computer.
There are also some specific employment placement agencies for mature workers in the US such as the National Older Workers Careers Centre. Such organisations are geared to take account of the special needs of older workers and are prepared to go into bat for their clients with employers.
The Council on the Ageing is not claiming that all is perfect over there. Nor are we doing an Australian 'cultural cringe'. There are many aspects of American culture and policy that we most definitely do not want. But we are saying that there are some lessons to be learned from the US about giving real protection and support to Australia's older workers.
Veronica Sheen's address to the US conference The Aging of the Global Workforce is available on the COTA website. A new report about Australia's ageing workforce Older Australians: A Working Future is available from COTA – 03 9820 2655 or cota@cota.org.au
Australian Senior, October 2000, p12
Three major national reports are calling for action on unemployment among older Australians. Veronica Sheen, deputy-director of the Council on the Ageing, sums them up.
Australia is at an impasse. Large numbers of older people want to work, but employers seem hooked on the culture of youth and many prefer to employ younger workers.
It's time for this impasse to be broken. We cannot afford to maintain the present status quo of early retirement and unemployment. Mature age people need to maximise their years in the workforce to secure a satisfactory quality of life.
In recent weeks, no fewer than three major national reports have called for government action to end age discrimination and combat employer prejudice against older workers.
Taken together, the recommendations of the three reports suggest action in three major areas.
This involves two key elements. The first is compulsion, through specific federal legislation on age discrimination. However, determined employers will find ways of avoiding the legislation through carefully worded advertising and wily selection processes.
The second element is education and voluntary codes of practice. The Federal Government could develop a sustained national campaign targeting employers, to promote the benefits of maturity and age balance in the workforce.
We must evolve a culture of life-long learning for all workers. Individuals must accept that their skills need to be continuously upgraded to meet current and emerging business requirements. Employers need to ensure that workers of all ages have opportunities to pursue relevant training. And governments have the responsibility to ensure that adequate education and training infrastructure is accessible.
Assistance needs to be given to mature age people currently unemployed, who want paid employment. This could include general technological upgrading and help with adjusting to changing labour market structures and employment practices.
Clearly we need to promote longer working lives as a result of increased longevity.
The importance of an adequate funding base for the retirement income needs of Australia's population in the future can hardly be underestimated.
As people age, many wish to reduce their hours of work. Others may want to continue working after conventional retirement age. We must consider phased retirement programs and more flexible working conditions for mature workers.
Older Australians: a Working Future? The Ageing Population and Work in the 21st Century provides an update on the position of older workers in the Australian labour market. Available from the Council on the Ageing (03) 9820 2655 for $11 incl GST.
Fifty-Plus News, September 2000 p4
Three recently released reports call for government action to end age discrimination and combat employer prejudice against older workers. Veronica Sheen, of the Council on the Ageing (Australia) reports.
Over the past two years, the Council on the Ageing (COTA) has been at the cutting edge of raising awareness of the plight of Australia's older jobless. Our work towards getting some action has moved one step ahead with the release of three major inquiry reports in the past few weeks. COTA made major submissions to all three inquiries.
In July, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission launched Age matters: a report on age discrimination. This report argues that it is time for the Federal Government to take a stand and introduce new age discrimination legislation. At the moment there is age discrimination legislation at the state level but not at the federal level, which leaves a lot of gaps in coverage.
The report recommends a national public and business education program to counteract negative stereotypes about older (and younger) people with respect to their abilities in the workplace. It also recommends the setting up of specialist agencies to assist older unemployed workers.
The second report, released in August, is Age counts: an inquiry into issues specific to mature-age workers. This report presents the findings of a year long inquiry into older workers by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Workplace Relations, chaired by Dr Brendan Nelson.
The report stresses the importance of combating employer prejudice. The Standing Committee argues for a sustained national strategy targeting employers, to promote the benefits of maturity and age balance in the workforce. The Committee also suggests a code of practice for more sensitive handling of retrenchments and redundancies.
There are also recommendations to improve training opportunities for older workers, implement phased retirement policies and improve income support arrangements for older unemployed people. COTA was particularly pleased to see that the Committee recommended that the Government re-consider its policy of including superannuation assets in eligibility assessments for people over 55 on Newstart Allowance for more than 39 weeks.
Finally, the report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform was released in August. The Reference Group, chaired by Mr Patrick McClure of Mission Australia, acknowledged the desperate need for assistance for Australia's languishing older unemployed. Additional to recommending better services for this group to help them get jobs, the Group argues for specific initiatives to publicise the contribution that mature age people make to businesses and the community and to counter age discrimination in employment.
COTA calls on the Government to act on the recommendations of these three reports and end the period of inaction on mature age unemployment.
All three reports are available on the internet at:
Fifty-Plus News, August 2000, p4
With the start of the Government's ambitious tax reform agenda and the GST on 1 July, it's time to assess the effect on older Australians. Veronica Sheen, Council on the Ageing national policy officer reviews some of the key issues.
The long awaited day has come – for some a day of dread, for some a day hoped for. In the months leading up to 1 July, the Council on the Ageing has been fielding a myriad of inquiries and complaints from mature age people about the impact of the GST and the its compensation.
Of all the groups to be affected by tax reform and the GST, older people are amongst the most sensitive. They do not benefit greatly from the tax cuts because their incomes are low and they are paying tax through a much broader range of purchases than they have in the past.
The latest assessment of the effect of tax reform on different groups was made in May 2000 by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) and published in The Australian newspaper on 27 May. It shows that for older people on low incomes, that is, most older people, their gains from tax reform are very small.
For instance, a single age pensioner, with no private income, will gain an additional $8 per week in the pension. The additional GST costs are estimated at $6.28 per week, leaving a net gain of $1.74.
A couple on the full age pension will get an additional $13.09 per week. They will face additional GST costs of $10.46 per week, so the net gain is just $2.63. Similar small gains apply also to low income self-funded retirees.
Things are a bit better for the higher income groups, but there is a lot of variation. A single self-funded retiree with an income of $20,000 per year will gain $10 a week extra from tax cuts and after the GST has been taken into account. A self-funded retiree couple on $20,000 gain nothing at all, but a self funded couple on $30,000 will be have about $17 extra per week after GST.
Of course, these estimates are based on average income and spending patterns across large populations. The effects of the GST and tax reform will vary enormously for individuals so there are likely to be some groups who are better off than others, depending on how they are spending their money. For instance single age pensioners who are able to buy and cook their own fresh food, which is GST free, will be much better off than those who buy packaged meals, take-away foods or restaurant meals, which have GST added.
The big issue will be the effect on the costs of goods and services which have not attracted tax in the past. Many older people have to pay for services so they can keep living at home (HACC services however are GST free). They also tend to get their belongings repaired rather than buy new ones. The GST add-on to these services may tip the balance for some seniors, making them worse off despite the compensation measures.
It is possible that the compensation arrangements for pensioners, which consists of a 2 per cent real increase in the pension, will mean that their budgets are not quite so tight in the future. It is also possible that those with private income will get some real benefits from tax cuts, the savings bonuses and other measures.
Older Australians can rest assured that the Council on the Ageing will be closely watching and pressing for new compensation measures where needed.
Fifty-Plus News, July 2000, p4
The Council on the Ageing is keen that the kerosene bath episode at Riverside results in some positive outcomes for aged care in Australia. Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director, explains what COTA sees as the priorities for change.
It is now almost 3 years since the Government introduced its controversial reforms to aged care such as nursing home fees, a new classification scale for people needing care and more stringent certification processes for facilities. The changes were brought in under comprehensive new legislation called the Aged Care Act. There is a two-year review of the Act now underway and the report is due later in 2000.
However, COTA believes that the problems of Riverside Nursing Home in Melbourne highlight the need for changes and a rethink of how some aspects of our aged care system work.
The information strategy to let older people and their families know about the complaints mechanisms has not met COTA's expectations. The complaints mechanism was slow in getting started with the first brochure only appearing in September 1999. However, COTA believes the structure is sound. What is not yet apparent is consumer confidence.
Feedback to COTA suggests that there is an overemphasis on mediation when a resident or carer believes a serious wrong has occurred. In these situations the mediation process has, to the consumer, appeared biased in favour of the provider.
COTA recommends to the Government that it establish a complaints committee consisting of representatives of consumer organisations to advise on the functioning and further development of a complaints system.
Fundamental to consumer confidence is access to advocacy services. Like the complaints services, these are not well known. Consumers who are hesitant about making a complaint for whatever reason, need the assistance of an independent, consumer focussed advocacy service.
COTA has noticed that there is a tendency for some services to hover somewhere near the boundaries of acceptability in terms of certification and outcome standards. They fix immediate problems and then are found some months later to have slipped in their standards. COTA recommends that homes of concern are more vigorously reviewed, monitored and advised that minimal adherence to standards is unacceptable. An overhaul of the appointments system to the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency is needed so that consumers and providers become greater stakeholders.
COTA believes that there needs to be an option in the Aged Care Act for the Government to appoint an administrator in the event of extreme circumstances such as in the case of Riverside. While there are complex legal implications, it is preferable to the transfer of residents to other facilities.
It is hard to obtain details of waiting times for residential beds. In one Melbourne metropolitan region, there was a reported 1480 persons on waiting lists in February 2000. The average waiting list was 27 with some up to 80 and some with none on their list. Anecdotal information suggests there are unacceptably long waiting times for quality high care beds.
These are just some of the issues confronting older people and residential care. COTA will continue to represent, with vigor, the interests of older people.
Fifty-Plus News, June 2000 p4
The 2000 Federal Budget has brought relief for home care services for older Australians but residential care remains largely untouched. Veronica Sheen, COTA's national policy officer reports on these and other Budget measures.
The pressures on home and community care (HACC) services, which the Council on the Ageing (COTA) has been asking the Government to address in the past few years, may at last be eased as a result of measures in the May Federal Budget.
The Government has started a new program called the Veterans Home Care Program which will provide home support services to veterans holding Gold and White cards who are assessed as needing care. This new program will mean that around 20,000 additional places in HACC for non-veterans are likely to become available. In addition, the Government is putting $40 million – around 6 per cent growth - into HACC this year to help to meet the need in the community.
For COTA, these are very satisfying developments on an issue that has been of great concern to us for the past 2 to 3 years. However, nursing homes did not come out of the Budget as well as we would have liked.
COTA is still receiving calls of concern about the level of care in nursing homes. Improvements to the aged care standards and accreditation agency is a start but will not provide the additional nursing staff or activities programs that are urgently needed in many nursing homes. There is still no overall information strategy for consumers.
As to be expected, rural and regional issues were high on the government's priority list for this budget. COTA welcomed the initiatives to revitalise bush nursing and small regional hospitals. Older people want facilities near their homes. Likewise, increased allied health services attached to general practice are welcome.
COTA's priority policy area of older workers received a token recognition in the Budget with the Mature Age Participation Pilot Program. There are few details as to how this experimental program will be run but it seems it will be aimed at identifying and overcoming the barriers faced by older people in the work force.
COTA is pleased by the recognition in the pilot of the problems faced by people who are ineligible for income support due to the harsh social security means test, often because they have received a redundancy payment. This group has also been excluded from labour market assistance. COTA will be seeking to build on this initiative in reforming policy for this group and other mature age unemployed as this has been a major area of our policy work in the past 12 months.
Another positive measure in the Budget is the protection for older people who were likely to miss out on receiving an Australian age pension due to the termination of the social security agreement with the UK. COTA advocated that all people presently in Australia should be excluded from any effect of the termination. It is pleasing that the Government has taken our advice on this issue.
The Budget includes two initiatives that COTA will be watching carefully in terms of their effects on older people:
Altogether, it was a modest Budget for older Australians. COTA starts its lobbying for next year's pre-election Budget in coming months.
Sunshine Coast Seniors Newspaper, May 2000 p5
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Fifty-Plus News, May 2000 p7
The Government's committee on welfare reform has released its position paper with some far-reaching recommendations. What will it mean for the over 50s though? Veronica Sheen, Council on the Ageing (COTA) national policy officer gives some clues.
Late in 1999, Senator Jocelyn Newman asked a group of experts to examine how Australia could best cope with the burgeoning numbers of Australians reliant on social security (age pensioners are not included in the review).
Indeed some 33 per cent of people between the ages of 50 and 64 receive a social security payment such as carer payment, newstart allowance, disability pension, or mature age allowance. (COTA says that this high proportion reflects the extent of age discrimination in the Australian workforce).
In April, the expert committee delivered a report to the Government which offers some interesting, new approaches. Their plan, very briefly, involves five strands:
COTA believes that many of the ideas presented in the report have merit. Older unemployed people complain to COTA of the poor service and lack of understanding of their circumstances at Centrelink and the Job Network. Better services are long overdue. It would also be very positive to see more of the onus being put on businesses to employ mature people. Many mature age people would like to be given more assistance and incentives to take up opportunities for paid work.
But are there some dangers in the recommendations? The committee discusses the idea of a "participation support" payment to replace existing social security payments. The reality is though that there are differences between people's circumstances and different payments reflect these differences.
COTA is also concerned about putting more pressures on older, unemployed people to fulfill "mutual obligations" at a time of extreme duress when they have lost a job and are trying to find another. At the same time, better service at Centrelink and the Job Network, without more retraining opportunities, is not going to be enough to help many older workers get a job.
While many of the ideas of the welfare reform committee have merit, they will need adequate funding - and this is the crunch. The Government must be prepared to make some short term investments for some long term gains to help people get back on their feet.
The Interim Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform is available on the Department of Family and Community Services website at www.facs.gov.au.
Fifty-Plus News, March 2000, p 6
How can the government help Australians to age in a healthy manner? Veronica Sheen, national policy officer for the Council on the Ageing, ponders the question.
Sometimes you really have to look at the big picture.
This was the conclusion COTA staff drew as we put together a response to the Federal Government's recent Discussion Paper on Healthy Ageing.
We'd been asking ourselves questions about which factors help people to age in a healthy way, and which factors act against healthy ageing.
Providing an adequate health service is certainly important. Clearly we must ensure that we can provide suitable health care for everyone, regardless of age or ability to pay.
Then there are those essential programmes which link community support systems with the health system. Things like community care, rehabilitation and convalescent facilities, dental health, allied health services and health promotion.
But, important as these things are, they are only part of the complex web of interrelated factors that contribute to the overall health of our older people. We have to take a broader view.
The ageing of the population will be most successfully managed if the community settings are appropriate. This means governments must give careful thought to community and urban planning, to public transport, to housing and to the provision of social and cultural amenities.
The physical layout of communities and cities is vitally important in promoting healthy ageing. Urban structures need to be developed which maximise the independence and mobility of older people.
Then there's housing. The broad divide is between people who own a house and those who do not. In old age, people shouldn't need to worry about having a roof over their heads. They should be able to feel that they can stay in the one place for as long as they choose or until care needs make independent living impractical.
But a population of healthy older people has even more fundamental requirements.
The capacity of Australia to successfully manage an ageing population in a way that is fair, equitable and sustainable will depend to a very large degree on us having a physical environment that allows us to maximise public health. For example, high levels of air pollution create respiratory and other illnesses. Humans don't thrive in a poor quality environment. It also depends on us creating a sound economy with low levels of unemployment, sustainable growth and low levels of income inequality. And it depends on us achieving a stable and harmonious society characterised by intergenerational respect, racial tolerance, gender equity, and fairness in the distribution of resources.
Yes, when it comes to good health, a narrow focus just won't do.
Fifty-Plus News, February 2000, p3
The federal government plans to reform Australia's social security system. The Council on the Ageing tells the government to take special care with the over 50s. Veronica Sheen, COTA's national policy officer, explains why.
Late in 1999 the federal government began a review of social security payments for people of workforce age (the age pension is not part of the review). The government is concerned that there are too many people reliant on social security rather than a wage from a job. This includes many mature age people between the ages of 50 and 64 who receive a payment such as unemployment benefit or disability pension.
The government believes that more people in the over 50s age group could be working. COTA agrees with this. Our discussions with people over 50 shows that, health permitting, most want and need to work. As a result, COTA spent much of its time and energy in 1999 lobbying for improved employment prospects for mature age people and held a national conference on the subject in Adelaide in November.
But improving job prospects with a view to reducing the numbers of mature age people receiving a social security payment is not a simple matter.
As we all know, there is rampant age discrimination in Australia's workforce. It will not be easy to convince employers to change their attitudes and behaviour towards older workers. The government needs to start with good age discrimination legislation and follow it up with a concerted education campaign.
The next step is to make it possible for more mature age people to get the retraining and education they need for today's job market.
At the same time, COTA has told the government that it must not tamper with the social security payments of mature age people without a job in the welfare reform process. We have also told the government to forget 'mutual obligation' and 'work for the dole' type policies for older unemployed people.
Our reason for these strictures are simple. Most over-50s Australians relying on a social security payment are struggling. They are struggling to find a job in a business environment that spurns experience in favour of youth. They are struggling to make ends meet on a day to day basis, support families, keep kids at school and uni and save for retirement.
What they want and need is a job and real assistance in getting a job. We are lobbying the government to stick to the main game of creating job opportunities for mature age people. If it does that, then it will find there will be less people who need to claim social security payments, more tax revenue, and a stronger economy. Let's hope it gets the 'welfare reform' formula right.
COTA's Submission to the Reference Group on Welfare Reform, December 1999, is available on the Department of Family and Community Services website as submission no.188 (a PDF file) at http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/aboutfacs/welfaresubmissions2.htm
Australian Senior, January 2000, p46
by Joanna Johnson
Millions of dollars are spent each year on job training for mature-aged unemployed, but much of this training is a waste of effort.
That's according to Grace Johnston, a facilitator who works with unemployed older people. "We are part-preparing people for jobs which are not there," Johnston says. "The world of work as we have known it has gone."
Speaking at the Council on the Ageing's recent national congress in Adelaide, Ms Johnston urged people to distinguish between jobs and work.
"Jobs are artificial boundaries we place around packages of work that needs doing. Hence thinking in terms of jobs is limited," she explains. "Work, however, is unlimited. Wherever there are genuine, niche human needs, there will always be work. The trick is to find and do this work, and to receive remuneration for it."
Ms Johnston said we must change our way of thinking about income. The new world of work requires us to stop thinking in terms of 'earning wages', because that puts the responsibility on someone else. Rather we need to start thinking in terms of 'income generating streams', putting the onus squarely on ourselves.
The key, she suggests, is to think of your working life as a small business, then develop and maintain the skills required to run it.
"This kind of thinking is actually freeing," she said. "For example, I know one man who is looking for full-time employment. He is currently working two permanent part-time jobs, which he enjoys, and picking up income from another casual job when he needs an extra dollar or two. He is, in fact, legitimately running a successful modular work life, generating income from several sources. Yet he is bound to the old way of thinking that says he's not successful , is not employed, because he doesn't have a permanent, full-time paid job."
Ms Johnston says this more flexible approach to work is the basis of the evolutionary shift to the new world of work. And it brings with it opportunities.
"The responsibilities for employment and employability are devolving from employers to individuals", she said. "We are moving from a 'dependency ' work culture to one fostering independence and interdependence."
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Copyright © 1997 Council on the Ageing.
All rights reserved.
Revised: 23 October, 2001
COTA National Seniors Policy Secretariat [formerly Council
on the Ageing (Australia)
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Tel (03) 9820 2655 Fax (03) 9820 9886
email cota@cota.org.au