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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Tuesday, 9 March 2004) . . Page.. 910 ..

In addition to the initiatives outlined, we are also examining alternative models of aged persons accommodation developed both in Australia and overseas to discern their applicability to the ACT. Of course, ACT Housing is continuing to construct aged persons accommodation as part of its commitment to older Canberrans.

I will turn to some other issues of real relevance to older Canberrans. Initially, the issue of mature age employment. If our seniors are to remain active and participate fully in community life, it is vital that they be able to work for as long as they choose and retire when they want to—not because the superannuation regime or workplace environment forces them to—unlike the latest Federal Liberal initiative in relation to this: “work until you drop”. One of the key dilemmas that this demographic change is likely to create is the potential shortage of workers, unless we put the right strategies in place to meet the challenge.

Birth rates have been falling since the 1960s, and the number of young people joining the work force will continue to decline. Further, since the 1970s the number of males at work as a proportion of the total population has been falling due to a range of issues, but also too to some males choosing to leave the work force early. While there has been a major increase in the number of females joining the work force, this has not offset the early departure relatively from the work force by men.

There is also increasing concern that because people can expect to live longer than ever, existing retirement savings may not be enough to pay for a reasonable standard of living in retirement. Employment is important to people’s ability to prepare financially for retirement and for a higher standard of living during their retirement years.

What is the government doing about this? We went to the last election with a plan for older Canberrans in which we committed to developing a mature age employment strategy. I am pleased to say that the ACT government is leading the nation in developing a comprehensive response to the issue of mature age employment. The ACT Office for Ageing, in collaboration with Business ACT, is developing a mature age employment strategy for the ACT that will respond to the demographic challenges I have outlined.

A mature age employment working group has been formed following a mature age employment summit, which involves representatives from both the ACT and Commonwealth governments, the private sector, trade unions and the volunteering sector. The working group has done considerable work in exploring the issues surrounding mature age employment and is developing options for the government’s consideration including employment incentives, training and development, volunteering and retirement income strategies.

The ACT government will continue to seek advice from the broader community, particularly from seniors groups such as the Council on the Ageing and from my Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing in progressing the mature age employment strategy.

The government is also the first in self-government to take positive steps to address the insidious practice of elder abuse, an issue on which the previous government did nothing.

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