Page 893 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019
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(g) more than half our suburbs are not age friendly and the Government is currently only funding two suburbs a year with age friendly funding;
(h) at current age friendly suburb funding it will be 2073 (55 years from today) before all current suburbs are funded; and
(i) concessions have been removed and changed for seniors, creating confusion and distress amongst older Canberrans; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to change its attitude towards older Canberrans and take meaningful action to improve their lives and ensure they are not disadvantaged by Government policy.
I am very pleased to speak to this motion today, as shadow minister for seniors. As many of you probably know—I hope you know—this week is Seniors Week in the ACT, and it is a great time to celebrate older Canberrans, what they have done in the past, what they are doing now, what they will do in the future, and everything that they like to do. It is a good time to talk about that. It is about looking at what they have contributed to our city as well. They continue to contribute to our city in a range of different ways.
Unfortunately, under this government many seniors feel ignored and feel that they are being treated as second-class citizens. Services that should otherwise be routinely fixed, such as broken footpaths, are packaged up and sold as a service to seniors. We are told that the better suburbs program is to benefit older Canberrans. These are basic municipal services that the government should be providing, and they are of benefit to every Canberran. There are some more specific groups that may benefit—mothers or parents with prams, people with disability, older and frail seniors, and other Canberrans. But it is being pushed as if it is a favour to older Canberrans by improving the footpaths and the connections in their neighbourhoods.
Currently, in the ACT we have over 70,000 people over the age of 60. This figure will increase as our population ages. This government, in their rush and in their desire to be hip and trendy, are neglecting the real needs of older Canberrans—the people who have spent their lives building and contributing to the wealth of the city, making it what it is today so that it can be enjoyed by everyone. These older Canberrans deserve better.
In December last year the Federation of Australian Councils on the Ageing released an informative report on older Australians. The key points for Australians aged 50 years or older include that 46 per cent of them feel less valued by society than when they were younger. Forty-nine per cent have one or more vulnerability indicators. More than half of people aged 50 years or older feel that the rising cost of living is leaving them behind. Twenty-nine per cent of them work and do not think they can ever retire, and 33 per cent have experienced age discrimination. But here is the good news from that report: 80 per cent felt younger than their age and at least half feel at least 10 years younger than they are.
Unfortunately, from about a year ago, we know what our current Chief Minister thinks about older Canberrans. Older Canberrans know that, too. Many of them remark on it to me. From comments made by our Chief Minister in the past, his
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