Page 1245 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 2013
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MADAM ACTING SPEAKER: Dr Bourke on a supplementary?
DR BOURKE: Minister, how does ACT Seniors Week promote positive ageing in the ACT?
MR RATTENBURY: Seniors Week, of course, puts the spotlight on ageing in the ACT and is very much designed to both showcase what older people are doing and also present the older members of our community with some of the options and ideas that are available to them. Seniors Week does a tremendous job of that. This week there are over 200 events on the program; it is an extraordinarily packed calendar with a full range of activities.
Positive ageing is about our seniors remaining involved in the community, continuing to care for themselves and each other, and embracing this stage of their lives. The theme of Seniors Week is “live life”. That is about allowing us to celebrate and recognise the lifelong contribution of older Canberrans in our community and the important role they play in families.
Seniors Week has been celebrated in the ACT for over 21 years. Its broad aims are to promote positive attitudes and to increase awareness, inclusion and participation for older people within the community.
I would particularly like to thank COTA for their work in managing the program of Seniors Week events. I particularly acknowledge Vivienne Sinderberry, the president of COTA ACT; Paul Flint, their chief executive officer; and Sonia Downie, who is the events manager for this week. I just saw Sonia at lunchtime. I was able to get out briefly to the Seniors Week expo taking place at Exhibition Park today. While she is still full of energy, I think she is very much looking forward to getting to the end of Seniors Week; it has been a packed program for them.
As I said, there is a vast range of events. Just the expo at lunchtime today has been tremendously successful. It is a new venue this year, at Exhibition Park. I was talking to Vivienne Sinderberry and she said that it started at 10 o’clock but when she turned up at 9.30 there were already a lot of people there. The stallholders are all very pleased. And over lunchtime there was certainly a large crowd there.
There are many other events to come this week, and I encourage anybody who has an interest in some of these events to have a look at the program and make the most of it. (Time expired.)
MADAM ACTING SPEAKER: A supplementary, Ms Berry.
MS BERRY: Minister, how is the government working towards Canberra being an age-friendly city?
MR RATTENBURY: The government are seeking to respond to the changing demographic nature of our city. We know we are becoming an older community. So
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