Page 1155 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 2012
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course and to participate in society while providing them with adequate protection, security and care.
This ACT government recognise and values older citizens and their contribution to our community as workers, volunteers, neighbours and carers. We are responding to this changing demographic by putting in place mechanisms to make Canberra a more age-friendly city. We recognise that a future healthy economy is dependent upon maximising the number of people in the workforce. This includes the need to retain and utilise the skills and experience of older workers and remove barriers and disincentives to participation.
The government, through its ACT public service enterprise bargaining agreements, has adopted various initiatives to encourage the continued employment of mature age employees. In mid-2008 the government was the first public sector jurisdiction to introduce provisions allowing for up to 52 weeks grandparental leave without pay to be granted to permanent full or part-time staff and to long-term temporary staff. The government has also been the first to introduce the mature age payment to staff 70 years or older where the payment of employer superannuation contribution is prohibited under the superannuation legislation.
In 2011 we worked in collaboration with the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing and the business community to develop an ACT Business Guide to Older Customers and an ACT Business Guide to Mature Workers in order to promote the positive aspects of employing older workers and to dispel the myths regarding older workers. These guides provide practical information and advice to assist the ACT business community to better understand and respond to the needs of seniors as customers and employees. The guides have been promoted with the assistance of the ACT and Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Canberra Business Council. The guides have been distributed widely to the business community, and some businesses are incorporating them into staff training.
The government also works closely with the newly appointed Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing and the age-friendly city network, a forum of ACT representatives from government agencies and key seniors organisations that assist in the ongoing implementation of the ACT strategic plan for positive ageing.
In June 2010 Canberra was one of the first cities to join the WHO global network of age-friendly cities, a group of cities that seek to improve living experiences of its senior residents. This invitation was based on the work done in developing the ACT strategic plan for positive ageing 2010-14: towards an age-friendly city, which is a blueprint for a coordinated approach across government and community to support positive ageing and an age-friendly city where older people are respected, valued and supported to actively participate.
Membership of the global network involves a commitment to continually improve the city’s age friendliness and genuine engagement with older citizens. To achieve this we have sought out new and innovative ways in which to seek input from older Canberrans. One of these was the older persons assembly held on 30 September last year on the eve of the United Nations International Day of Older Persons. The
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