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about COTA NS| sitemap | links | media releases and press articles | policy and information | publications | State and Territory COTAs | national seniors association | what's new | feedback |
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> COTA Media Releases and Press Articles
Articles by COTA in seniors' press, June - Dec 1997
Fifty-Plus News, December 1997, p4
Older people have lost confidence in the Government in
the wake of the nursing home entry fee debacle.
Veronica Sheen, national policy officer for Council on the Ageing , shows
Mr Howard how to avoid future catastrophes.
Older people are feeling demoralised in the present economic climate. Many are concerned that the Government, and the society in which we live, are no longer willing to pay for basic services such as nursing home care. Phone calls to the Council on the Ageing show older people are feeling very hurt by this given their contribution as tax payers over many decades.
COTA proposes that the Government adopt a National Ageing Strategy which would lead to a more rational - and more compassionate - approach to making policy for a population that is slowly getting older.
A national ageing strategy must promote a view of older people that focuses on:
Such a vision should be long term - at least twenty years into the future.
Older people tend to be highly sensitive to Government policy changes. The keys to sensible handling of such changes are careful, forward planning and clear and open provision of information.
Forward planning is essential to:
Any long-term strategic plan would have a number of elements. Here are some we believe are important.
Older people are not just a specific population group. They are the community. Most of the services they use are non-age specific, such as health services, transport, communication, housing, community services, employment services, information technology, recreation and culture.
The Government needs to develop an understanding of the older generation by consultating with the whole pectrum of groups that make up the older population and those approaching retirement.
As well as consulting with the community, the Government should fund research projects and pilot programs that provide specialised, in-depth information on issues affecting older people. this ill show the bureaucrats the type of policy and program interventions that are most appropriate.
As a matter of urgency, the Government must examine the role of employment in an ageing population. COTA is most concerned that increased expectations of 'user pays' are not matched by a commitment to help older people maximise the time in which they can be gainfully employed. Indeed, Government and business policy seems to actively discourage the retention of older people in the workforce.
An important lesson from the Aged Care reform fiasco is the need for good information provision to older people on policy initiatives that affect them.
The Government must also recognise the role of older people's organisations in helping older people understand changes and issues that affect them. Community organisations such as COTA must be adequately resourced for this role.
Australian Senior, December 1997, p37
Just five weeks after the Government's controversial aged
care legislation took effect,
the Prime Minister announced a major change to the accommodation bond policy,
replacing bonds with an annual fee of around $4000.
Veronica Sheen, national policy officer for the Council on the Ageing (COTA)
explains what went wrong.
When the Government announced the details of its aged care reform policy in the 1996 Budget, COTA had serious concerns about many of its elements, particularly the nursing home entry fee (accommodation bond) scheme.
Firstly, COTA saw major difficulties with the idea that since accommodation bonds had worked well for hostels they would work well for nursing homes. There are significant differences between the way people enter nursing homes and hostels.
Nursing homes cater for high need clients requiring 24 hour care. Most admissions arise from emergency situations, with 60 per cent coming straight from hospital. At such a time the person is in no position to think clearly about future needs. It is also an inappropriate moment for such people, their families or advocates to have to start negotiating with nursing home proprietors on entry fees.
In contrast, hostels cater for people with lower level care needs who are able to make a considered decision about their future. People enter a hostel in the same way they move from a house to a flat. They go into a hostel as a long term proposition and expect to relinquish their former home in the process.
COTA was particularly worried that the sale of the home is a signal to people going to nursing homes that they will never be able to return to normal life in the community. This is likely to affect their morale and life expectancy.
In the end though, more fundamental issues came to the fore in the weeks leading up to and following the 1 October implementation date. COTA took literally thousands of calls in this time.
There were a range of things people resented about the policy.
They saw that they had worked and saved all their lives to ensure that whatever happened, there would always be a roof-over-the-head for themselves and their families.
They also considered that they had worked and paid taxes all their lives for the services and care they would need towards the end of their days. They were bitter that they would have to give up their one main asset to pay for something they believed they had already paid for.
Then, there were many complications arising from people, other than a spouse, living in the family home, but who didn't fit the Government's narrow criteria which would enable them to be able to stay in it. Disabled adult children, for example, would have had to have moved out of the home so that it could be sold to pay the bond. This was immensely distressing for many elderly parents.
Older people are relieved that the Government changed its mind. However, how the new system of recurring fees will work is still up in the air.
Australian Senior, November 1997, p10
New deeming rates have come into effect, because of the
drop in general interest rates.
Many pensioners have expressed concern about the loss of income as a result
of this decrease.
Bill Dow, a Council on the Ageing volunteer and a member
of the management committee of the
National Information Centre for Retirement Investments sorts out fact from
fiction.
Deeming was introduced by the Department of Social Security (DSS) as a simple method of means testing income to determine pension entitlement. Deeming rates represent interest rates which DSS believes pensioners can easily obtain from safe investments.
But remember - banks and deposit-taking institutions are under no legal obligation to provide deeming accounts. And while most banks offer deeming accounts, you can, in fact, often get better returns from other investments.
Deeming rates apply to every single dollar of pensioner's financial assets. The new rates, which apply from 20 September 1997 have been reduced from four per cent and six per cent respectively to three and five per cent.
A single pensioner would be deemed to earn three per cent on the first $30,400 and five per cent over $30,500.
A pensioner couple would be deemed to earn three per cent on the first $50,600 and five per cent above that figure.
A single pensioner with financial assets of $60,000 would be deemed (assumed) by DSS to be earning $2392 per year. A pensioner couple with financial assets of $60,000 would be deemed to be earning $1988 per year.
The effect of the drop in deeming rates on pensioners' total income depends on how the money is invested. If you can get a higher return than that from a deeming account, the gain is yours to keep.
The following table shows the income available to a single pensioner under two different investment strategies. Under strategy (a) total assets are invested in a deeming account at 3% - 5%.
Under strategy (b) only $2000 is invested in a deeming account and the remainder invested in a fixed interest account at 6%.
The last column (c) shows what the gain is from investment strategy (b) over strategy (a).
| Total assets | Strategy (a) | Strategy (b) | Effect (c) |
| $4,000 | $120 | $180 | +$60 |
| $20,000 | $600 | $1140 | +$540 |
| $40,000 | $1392 | $2340 | +$948 |
You can see that pensioners with financial assets over $2,000 are always worse off putting all their savings in deeming accounts, regardless of the interest.
The Council on the Ageing advises older people to seek out safe investments paying dividends higher than the deeming rate, and keep the bulk of their financial assets in these.
Deeming accounts can be useful for day to day use, but do check on your bank's fees and charges.
Income from pensioners' financial assets is falling because of the general fall in interest rates in Australia, not because of a fall in DSS deeming rates. Through lower deeming rates, some people will find that they are compensated by becoming eligible for a higher rate or full pension.
In a low inflation, low interest environment it is important to remember that the value of financial assets is protected much more than in a high interest rate, high inflation. environment.
FIFTY-PLUS NEWS, November 1997, p4
Older people are better off not investing all their money
in deeming accounts - regardless of the going interest rate.
The Council on the Ageing's Bill Dow explains why.
Banks started deeming accounts a few years ago when the Government decided that too many older people had sums of money locked up in bank accounts that earned no interest at all. This meant that the older people were missing out on interest income that would be useful in supplementing their pensions. At the same time, the banks enjoyed the use of their funds free of charge.
In some cases, the Government had to pay a higher level of pension than it would have done had the older person had some income from his or her savings. To avoid this, the Government now "deems" or assumes that a certain rate of interest was earned. The set rates are linked to current interest rates for safe investments at the conservative end of the market.
The banks have been more or less compelled to offer pensioners special accounts offering the rate of interest set by the Department of Social Security for deeming pensioners' financial assets.
But, at the end of the day, deeming accounts are really not a very good deal for pensioners. My sums show that older people are generally better off trying to find a safe investment, say in a banks' fixed interest bearing account at a higher rate of interest than a deeming account.
On 20 September, the current deeming rates went down. The new rates are:
Because of the drop in deeming rates, there is now a lower threshold for getting a full pension. A single person now gets a full pension with financial assets of $53,466 compared to $64,160 before 20 September when deeming rates were 4% and 6%.
A couple now gets the full pension with financial assets of $93,133 compared to $111,760 under the old rates.
If older people can get a higher interest rate than the deeming rate, the extra real income earned is not taken into account. Before the deeming system was introduced, extra income earned from financial assets resulted in a reduction in pension of 50 cents for each dollar earned.
I have looked at two different investment strategies to see what the effects on pensioners' incomes will be. The example is for a single pensioner but the same principles apply for a married couple.
Under strategy (a) a pensioner invests all his financial assets in a deeming account. Under strategy (b). another pensioner keeps only $2,000 in a bank deeming account and invests the remainder in safe, fixed interest products returning an interest rate of 6% which is not hard to find at the moment. The effect (c) is the gain in income the older person using strategy (b) has over strategy (a).
| Total assets | Strategy (a) | Strategy (b) | Effect (c) |
| $4,000 | $120 | $180 | +$60 |
| $20,000 | $600 | $1140 | +$540 |
| $40,000 | $1392 | $2340 | +$948 |
| $80,000 | $3392 | $4740 | +$1348 |
The conclusion is that pensioners are better off seeking out safe investments paying dividends higher than the deeming rate to keep the bulk of their savings in. Deeming accounts are useful for day to day use for small sums, but people should check on their banks' fees and charges.
We are in a low inflation, low interest environment at the moment. This means we are not getting high interest rates but, on the other hand, we are not seeing our hard-earned savings whittled away by inflation.
Bill Dow is the Council on the Ageing's representative on the management committee of the National Information Centre for Retirement Investments.
AUSTRALIAN SENIOR, November 1997, p5
The Council on the Ageing has begun preparing submissions for the 1998 Federal Budget which it believes will give the Howard Government a chance to fill in some of the gaps in its existing policy framework.
"It will be well on the way to meeting its reduction deficit
targets," COTA's newsletter [ReportAge] says.
"This means it can now start to think about some spending priorities."
One of the priorities is jobs for the older unemployed.
COTA says the Federal Governmnet must seriously address issues of unemployment for older people and come up with a concerted strategy to keep older workers in jobs, help those who are unemployed look for work, and encourage those who have given up trying to find work, get back into the labour force.
COTA recognises that youth unemployment is a serious problem. But it does not mean believe making older people redundant solves the problem. "Employers use redundancies to downsize the workforce, not to create more jobs for young people", it says.
Another priority is dental health.
COTA believes the lack of any Commonwealth investment in dental health is a major gap in current federal health policy. It says there is an overwhelming case for the Commonwealth to fund dental health care for people on low incomes, including age pensioners.
Retirement incomes are another COTA priority.
For many years COTA has advocated the Federal Government adopt a retirement incomes system delivered through the tax system. Under this system all older people would receive an age pension from the government, but over a certain threshold the pension would be clawed bak through the tax system. Income tax scales would be extended to ensure additional income was not paid to those who do not need it.
COTA believes the present targeted age pension system, in which eligibility is assessed through the income and assets test applied by the Department of Social Security, is a source of immense stress for older people, has an adverse effect on savings and distortionary effects on asset allocations.
Tax reform is another priority.
COTA believes the 1988 Budget needs to focus on revenue raising measures to meet government fiscal targets, rather than expenditure reduction measures.
FIFTY-PLUS NEWS, October 1997, p4
Older people in residential aged care will have their rights protected by a new complaints system beginning on 1 October. Veronica Sheen, National Policy Officer for the Council on the Ageing (COTA) explains how it works.
New legislation is, for the first time, giving older people in residential care a complaints mechanisms with teeth.
The legislation states that complaints present opportunities to enhance the delivery of aged care services and programs. It also specifies that the complaints resolution scheme is independent, unbiased, free and accessible and that the paramount consideration is to resolve complaints. These statements are great wins for consumers.
How will the complaints system work?:
Five independent Complaints Resolution Committees will be established across the States and Territories - Victoria (also covering Tasmania), South Australia (also covering Northern Territory), New South Wales (also covering the ACT), Queensland and Western Australia.
These Committees will consist of groups of independent individuals who will be able to resolve complaints received by complaints staff in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services.
The Committee members will be people who have broad experience in:
Most importantly, the legislation states that there must be no conflict of interest with their other activities and involvements. Public servants are excluded.
Confidentiality is assured under the legislation, if this is in the best interest of the older person. This means older people, their families, friends and carers should not feel they risk intimidation in making a complaint.
There will be a strong focus on negotiation and mediation between the parties before the problem goes before the Complaints Resolution Committee, which will only occur if all parties agree.
The Council on the Ageing believes that this legislation will be very important in ensuring that the new aged care system works well for older people. We have given the Government full marks this time.
RETIREMENT MAGAZINE, October 1997, p9
Services older people once took for granted are these days under threat. Don't like it? There's a simple, but effective way to express your concerns. June Healy, national president of Council on the Ageing (COTA), tells how membership of an older persons' lobby group will give you a say in decisions made by government.
Older people are as diverse as any other group in the community and we thoroughly reject 'pigeon holeing' and 'stereotyping'. But despite our diversity, we do share a few basic concerns:
Most of all, we wish to be independent and healthy and we want to continue to contribute to the community and our families.
Older people rely on a range of services to ensure that we can attain and maintain a good quality of life. We need a reliable and safe public transport system, libraries, postal services and banking services, as well as the more obvious services such as hospitals and home help. We would like to have opportunities to learn about new technology and to pursue life long interests. Some of us also want to be in the paid workforce.
We live in a time in which there is much questioning of the role of government in providing many of these services that we once took for granted. We are being asked to pay more for those services in many areas such as accommodation bonds for residential aged care.
The Council on the Ageing (COTA) plays a critical role in keeping watch over the many changes that governments are making.
State and federal governments recognise COTA's efforts to represent the interests of older people across Australia. In these days of funding cuts and vanishing governments grants, COTA has just had its funding renewed after an exhaustive review by the Federal Government. Now that's recognition!
COTA's national office provides information and advice to the Federal Government about issues of importance to older people. It also provides information to older people about federal policy and programs.
At the State and Territory level, COTAs are involved in services for older people and policy work primarily focused on State issues.
Fundamental to COTA's work is the contribution of older people themselves. Members play an important role in maintaining the State-based organisations. Through this consumer base, the COTAs at the State and Territory level contribute to national policy and priorities.
This is how you can make your voice heard.
The Council on the Ageing's membership is open to people over 50 years of age. While most members are over 60, our concerns cover access to aged and community care services, health services, housing, employment and income as well as a range of other issues for Australians over 50.
Your membership of COTA is vitally important to ensure that older people have a say in the decisions made by government.
There are other benefits too. Your membership gives you access to a range of useful services such as high quality insurance at competitive rates and advisory services. You receive a regular newsletter that is packed with information about what is happening for older people such as government initiatives and seniors week.
Membership fees are kept very low to make sure that all older people can be part of COTA. Telephone COTA (Victoria) today for more information, or for other state contacts: (O3) 9654 4443. Click to see page about Membership.
AUSTRALIAN SENIOR, October 1997, p39
On the day MBF announced it would be seeking a rise in its charges for private health insurance, one elderly gentleman wrote to the Council on the Ageing (COTA):
He said: "Surely, Michael Wooldridge, the Minister for Health, realises these constant rises in fees are the cause of so many people pulling out of private health insurance? For me and probably many more like me who are single pensioners there comes a time when we say 'that's it - we cannot afford the extra expense imposed on us by the funds'."
We at COTA believe that Dr Wooldridge is aware of this.
But the Federal Government seems unable to find a solution.
Last year's Federal Budget introduced tax rebates for low to middle income earners and encouraged them to take up private health insurance.
The cost is around $500 million per year.
The Government also increased the Medicare levy for higher income earners without private health insurance by one additional percentage point (from 1.5% to 2.5%).
Despite these measures, private health insurance funds have continued to put up their premiums.
For the consumer there hasn't been any reduction in cost, although the rebate may mean that the fees didn't go up as much as they might have.
These policies took effect in July this year, so we don't know yet if they will turn the tide on the declining membership of private health insurance funds.
However, the message we get from older people is clear.
Most older people do not have a taxable income, so they do not receive any benefit from tax incentives anyway.
Later this year COTA will release a report as part of its Strategic Ageing series on problems and directions in Australia's health care system.
The report, by COTA's National Policy Officer Veronica Sheen, will tackle some of the difficult and complex questions that we face in having a health system that provides the best possible care for older people, yet is still affordable to the community.
FIFTY- PLUS NEWS, September 1997, p4
There are some gains, but big losses, for older people in the new scheme to safeguard entry fees to nursing homes and hostels. Denys Correll, National Executive Director of the Council on the Ageing (COTA), explains.
In August, the prudential arrangements for the residential aged care entry fees (accommodation bonds) were announced. The Government's chosen way of protecting accommodation bonds came as a big surprise to all of us who have been involved in giving advice to the Government.
All the accommodation bonds will be deposited in an independent trust fund known as the Guarantee Fund Scheme. Residential care providers will be able to draw an average of $2,600 per year for five years, and interest on the bond at about 6 per cent. The remaining funds will remain locked up in the trust.
The trust will ensure that no older person will lose any money if, for example, the company that owns the nursing home goes bankrupt. COTA is pleased with this guarantee, but we are greatly disappointed with other elements of the scheme.
The idea for accommodation bonds was, originally, to provide a source of funds to help build and renovate nursing homes. Many are in very poor condition and urgently need major repairs and renovation. Owners were to be able to use accommodation bonds as collateral to borrow for this purpose.
Hostels have had the use of such funds for renovations for the past ten years. This has meant that overall hostels are in pretty good shape. The plan was that, under the new system, nursing homes would be able to do likewise. However, under the new Guarantee Fund Scheme, this will not happen. Nor will hostel owners any longer be able to borrow against the accommodation bonds for building and renovations.
COTA fears that many nursing homes and hostels could go under because they won't have enough finances to bring their facility up to scratch. If they can't upgrade and renovate, they won't be accredited by the Government and then won't be able to charge an accommodation bond at all which will lead to further financial problems.
Older people themselves will be the losers because they will have less choice of residential aged care and if they live in a rural area, maybe no nursing homes or hostels at all.
COTA believes the Government must find an alternative to the Guarantee Fund to enable sufficient funds to be available for upgrading. It would only cost the Government a few million dollars to cover bad risks.
AUSTRALIAN SENIOR, September 1997, p4
Unemployment among older workers remains a neglected issue, despite the Government's special August Cabinet meeting on unemployment. National president of COTA June Healy reports.
The Government, the community and employers must put older workers back on the agenda. The Council on the Ageing (COTA) believes the Government must show leadership on this issue.
What about a concerted strategy aimed at keeping older people in jobs?
Ways need to be found to get older unemployed people back to work.
Figures which show youth unemployment rates of 20 to 30 per cent evoke a strong reaction. The figures for older unemployment appear less dramatic, so don't get the same response. Yet the problem is every bit as serious. So much older unemployment is disguised. Older people quickly fall away from the unemployment queues into the ranks of the retired - just because they don't see much hope of getting a job.
COTA seriously questions the attitude that older people should make way for the young in terms of jobs.
Older people bring great strengths to the work place. They tend to be conscientious, reliable, loyal and thorough. They have skills and knowledge. Because of their maturity, they are usually good at working with people - an important attribute in the modern service economy.
In addition, older workers are needed to remind everyone that they too will be old one day. Better today's young be part of a workforce which values and accepts older people.
Older people have as much need of jobs as any other group in the community.
People in their fifties and sixties, increasingly, are responsible for bringing up and educating children, due to later child-bearing and reformed families. Families are now responsible for the university costs of children aged up to 25 years.
Older people, increasingly, have the burden of responsibility for paying for their own care needs in, for example, hospitalisation and community care. Tthey are being asked to rely less on governments.
There is also an increasing expectation that people should provide for their own income needs in retirement.
What can be done?
At the very least the Federal Government can display leadership by campaigning against age discrimination and promoting the positive aspects of employing mature people. It should also provide opportunities for older people to be retrained if they need to do so.
Report by June Healy, Council on the Ageing national president
AUSTRALIAN SENIOR, August 1997, p21
The Federal Government's reform of residential aged care has proved more complex than the bureaucrats expected. As a result, the implementation date has been delayed from July to October 1997. Although the legislation has now passed through both houses of parliament, many details still need to be worked out.
Councils on the Ageing throughout Australia report that the proposed changes are also causing difficulties for older people and their families. Much confusion has arisen over accommodation bonds. For example, people don't understand how much they will have to pay, how much the proprietor is able to keep and the arrangements for refunds.
Many people are also concerned about the new arrangements for weekly payments. Some are finding they will be better off under the new arrangements. But others will be worse off.
COTA is still not able to obtain clear information on many of these and other issues about the residential aged care reforms which are of great importance to older people.
COTA is currently taking part in working groups which advise the Government on implementing these reforms. We are working to ensure the changes are as advantageous as possible for older people.
These are some of the latest developments:
The subsidy was lifted to a more realistic level at the last minute following intensive lobbying. Not all older people can pay accommodation bonds. The subsidy will provide a greater incentive for facilities to take people with few assets.
If a person needing to go into residential care has not owned his/her own home for more than two years, has assets worth less than $22,500 and is receiving the full pension, the Government will pay a provider $7 per day per person if less than 40 per cent of the people in the residence fall into this category. It will pay $12 per day if there are more than 40 per cent.
This will help to ensure that aged care residences in areas where there are many low income older people will be able to offer a viable, good quality service.
The Aged Care Bill 1997 refers to the right of care recipients to complain about the services they receive, without fear of losing the services or being disadvantaged in any other way.
It now appears that the complaints process will be operated by the Department of Health and Family Services and supported by community representative committees. No further details are yet available. COTA is disappointed that this system will probably be adopted. Far more preferable would be a system whose independence would be guaranteed, such as the one devised by one of the working groups.
A new system of quality assurance in residential aged care is due to commence at the beginning of 1998. The work on standards is progressing well.
It is a key concern of older people that accommodation bonds be absolutely protected from fraud and bankruptcy. A model is being developed for an industry fund which covers limited risks and an insurance component which covers catastrophic risk. COTA's worry is that if too many exemptions are granted these arrangements will not work properly and the cost to the resident will rise.
The Council on the Ageing in your State or Territory will do its best to answer queries about the Government's changes to residential aged care. But first try the Department of Health and Family Services by phoning freecall 1800 020 613.
FIFTY-PLUS NEWS, July 1997, p4
To ensure that people get the medicines they need, the
Australian Government subsidises the costs particularly for pensioners - to
the tune of around $3 billion per year. One of the highest priorities for
the Minister for Health, Dr Michael Wooldridge, is to reduce government spending
on pharmaceuticals. He will save over $700 million over the next four years
from measures introduced in the last Budget.
Veronica Sheen, National Policy Officer for Council on the Ageing (Australia)
explains what these changes may mean for you.
From 1 February 1998 there will be a base price established for a number of medicines containing similar - but not identical - properties. That is to say, the Government will pay a subsidy at the rate for the lowest price drug in the group.
Any price difference for a more expensive drug will be paid by the consumer. A person on an age pension for instance, will pay more than the standard $3.20 for a prescription or a non-pensioner could pay more than the maximum of $20.
The groups of medicines to be affected are:
If you have any of the conditions mentioned, you should ask your doctor if the medicine you take will be affected by the Government's new pricing policy. You should also ask if you will have to pay more. You should discuss with your doctor the pros and cons of changing to a cheaper medicine if it looks as if you may have to pay more.
At COTA, we are concerned about the changes because they could mean an increase in the costs of medicines for older people. It is not always possible to substitute medicines. If you take a few different medicines the interaction between drugs is an important consideration. A cheaper drug may not agree with you or may have undesirable side effects.
COTA is asking the Government to carefully monitor the outcomes of this initiative on consumers and particularly older people.
In addition to these measures, a number of commonly used medicines that can be obtained without a prescription will no longer attract a government subsidy. These drugs include those for stomach complaints, sprains and nail infections covering
This will result in an increase in the price of these drugs for people on pensions from $3.20 to the over-the-counter price as they will no longer get them with a prescription.
It will take longer for concession card holders to reach the safety net. If you are a pensioner, your medicines are free once you have spent $166.40 per year on prescriptions (52 scripts per year at $3.20 each). The limit is reached at $600 for if you are a non-pensioner.
by Denys Correll, National Executive Director, Council on the Ageing (Australia)
AUSTRALIAN SENIOR, July 1997, p23
At last there is a head of steam for the 1999 International Year of Older Persons.
Since 1995 the Council on the Ageing (Australia) has been urging other organisations and governments to start thinking about the year. Most of us could not name more than a few previous years - the majority have passed us by with no lasting impact. A major exception is the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons.
There is a secret in planning special years. Starting early is necessary, and organisers must encourage the broadest possible community involvement to develop enthusiasm.
Older people's organisations see 1999 as a great opportunity to establish a new view on ageing into the 21st century.
Governments and economic planners have been harping on the negative aspects of an older population. Unfortunately, much of what they say is based on wild assumptions and economic models with the rigidity of a concrete block.
They forget the many truths. The major transfer of money is from older generations to younger generations. The major carers in our community are older people. These are just two examples of older people's contribution to society. Our challenge in working towards 1999 is to have the young economists and policy makers recognise their ignorance.
A mark of the International Year's success will be what is carried forward into the next decade. If we could achieve as much as people with disabilities did in 1981, then we can be satisfied. Prior to 1981, Australia was an inaccessible society to people with mobility troubles. Now buildings are much more accessible and we have a public transport system which is gradually being converted to meet the needs of frail and disabled people. These achievements need to be reinforced and extended. Older people, as they become frailer, need buildings and transport that are easy to use. The commercial world is gradually awakening to the older customer. So, the retailers and service providers will be asked to join in the Year and make their contribution to their ageing customers. They will see that it will be just good business.
All national organisations involved with older people have declared themselves partners in the Australian Coalition '99 which is organising the non-government contribution for the Year. In each state there are Coalitions that are bringing together the organisations of older people, the commercial world, the arts community, etc.
Now is the time to think what you want out of the Year. Do make your contribution.
by Joanna Johnson
FIFTY-PLUS NEWS, June 1997
The Federal Government's new Pension Bonus Plan represents a broken election promise from which few will benefit, according to the Council on the Ageing (COTA).
The plan offers an extra one-off pension payment of up to $21,251 for singles and $35,450 for couples who agree to defer retirement for five years.
"This gives nowhere the same incentive to remain in the workforce as did the Coalition's original election promise," says Veronica Sheen, COTA's national policy officer. The Government's pre-election policy promised a higher annual pension for people who defer taking up an age pension. It specified a bonus of eight percent on top of the normal pension for each year deferred. The current Pension Bonus Plan falls far short of this.
"The reality is that many older people find it very difficult to retain jobs into older ages in today's highly competitive market," Ms Sheen says. "Long term unemployment is a major problem for this group. Many older people go onto pensions or superannuation because there are insufficient opportunities for suitable employment".
For those in the workforce, overseas experience shows that when the compulsory retirement age is abolished, people tend to stay in work only an extra two or three years. Few people, Ms Sheen believes, will go the five-year distance and collect the full bonus. Part of the problem, she points out, is that in times of downsizing in the public and private sectors, older people are rarely encouraged to stay in work. "It's a good idea that the Government recognises the value of older workers. However, employers often do not".
There are two things the Government really should do, she suggests. First, recognise that age discrimination is a central problem for older workers, and tackle employers' negative attitudes. Second, provide retraining for older people who need it.
"On a more positive note, the Pension Bonus Plan promotes a more flexible approach to retirement. COTA certainly welcomes this aspect," Ms Sheen says.
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Copyright © 1997 Council on the Ageing.
All rights reserved.
Revised: 6 December2000 ; 30 October 2001
COTA National Seniors Policy Secretariat [formerly Council
on the Ageing (Australia)
Level 2, 3 Bowen Crescent, Melbourne Vic 3004
Tel (03) 9820 2655 Fax (03) 9820 9886
email cota@cota.org.au