Participants felt they had valuable skills and knowledge which they could transfer to others. They thought those over 65 still had an important contribution to make and that this needs to be recognised by Government. Several participants pointed out the growth in the ageing population. They thought that not utilising the valuable skills and experience of seniors is a missed opportunity for the whole of society. In essence, the focus of policy should change from being concerned about the ‘burden’ of ageing to the ‘contribution’ older people are able to make.
Denis thinks the retirement age should be increased to 70 and that many older people can be kept in paid employment in more sedentary roles.
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Yes, because we are living longer, and you’re throwing mental capacity on the scrapheap. You know I would say to maintain 65 for physically involved work, but you’re throwing away all that mental knowledge that’s crazy. I think the best step that we could take now is to up the retirement age to 70, because we are living longer and living better lives.
So there’s requirements to recognise people are getting older, but also requirements that we must respect that people with age can be useful. Especially in, the police up here [Northern Territory] recognise that maybe not with age, but with people with lesser capabilities than police fitness requirements, they’re taking them on as aids, doing these sedentary jobs. I think that should be looked at in society to take on older people, people to sit down and do the job while the young ones get out and sell.
Ato Addis believes older people can be more productive and the Government needs to have a better plan for Australia’s ageing society.
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I don’t know, the governments have got no plan for us, for old people? I don’t know, we could be productive, all they want is this just pay us the pension and live. I too could do all that, I could go and teach, really, I could go and, maybe I mightn’t be able to work eight hours a day, physical hard work like a young person, but there’s things I still could do, and get employment; but they don’t see you, you pass 70, I think, nah. The governments have got no plan for people, they think ageing is just a problem for them, it’s not, it should be the other way round. We could go and teach, we could go and do counselling, and whatever experience we’ve got in life, we could pass it to the younger generation.
I don’t think there is any policy, it’s really hard for the government, I don’t think they know what to do about old people. And also, a lot of people are going to get, the numbers are getting bigger and bigger, it’s an ageing society in Australia and you have to use that because you can’t just get locked in a house and finished. It’s a big force, in fact I think even insurance and things. They’re getting bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger. So they could have a say in government policies.
Aboriginal participants strongly advocated for better consultation with the community. They highlighted the importance of listening to the needs of the community and that involving older people in the implementation of policies means they are more likely to succeed. Chris explained that good policy is about developing the processes through which to engage people to develop their own solutions.
Elaine M would like policy-makers to work together with Yolngu people to develop solutions which are based on the concerns of the people.
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Elaine M (translation): Policy-makers, be true and confident with your laws and policies. Be transparent.
And doctors, look at the people you treat in a good way. Treat them well, with care. Don’t dislike them or complain. And you doctors should teach your people, especially the young ones, so they can help the Yolngu people. Whether you are at University or wherever you are, let’s help each other, work together to see the way. Whether you are a doctor or a policy-maker or an aged care worker look at the concerns of our people and do good to help them.
Let us work together flexibly to address the needs of the Yolngu people, to make good policies and laws for everyone.
Oscar describes the confusion felt by people in his community when new laws and policies are passed. He wants the Government to listen to the community rather than telling them what to do.
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Well sometimes like myself I’m involved in, with the politics, with the government both Northern Territory and Federal Government, especially on Intervention when it first came into Arnhem Land and without consultation with the Yolngu people. They should have come and consulted with the Yolngu people first to make decision because we need to make decision ourselves too, you know what I mean? Because the parliament, both Northern Territory and Federal, they make law in Canberra without consultation with Yolngu and sometimes really difficult and we don’t understand, most of the Yolngu people here don’t understand the constitution or system of what law they make in parliament.
Yeah consultation with the community, what their concern and their right because the government sometime give you a wrong medicine – maybe I can say that hey? Giving you – the people – the things won’t work if they don’t listen to the community. The government will only listen, if they listen to the Yolngu community what they’re concern because they know the problem very well in the community. Things will work. And if the government telling us what to do all the time because they don’t make consultation, sit down with the people, there you are, this is what you want to do, follow this structure and guideline and law, and the people are really confused. People are really confused because you’re giving this message that you don’t understand.
So is that getting better now? Because it seems like that message has been around for a long time. Is the government getting better at consultation?
No. No. No.
Barrie points out that ‘seniors’ are a very diverse group of individuals and policy-makers need to stop and listen in order to respond effectively.
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Well it’s just that, the sort of grand generalisation is made, and people seem to make it with a degree of belief that it’s accurate, and the more I have contact with my peers the more I found out about them and that, nothing could be further from the truth, because the way they are now is the product of the lives that they’ve had, and these are not all the same. These are vastly different and have lots of ups and downs and roundabouts that are tied up with them as individuals, and what they bring to the fore, to their 70 years or whatever, is all so different. And therefore the needs they have, the experiences they have, the hierarchies of things they have, the way they like to tackle things, the degree of independence – all of that stuff – which is absolutely vital to any sort of policy to deal with them, respond to their problems, know when to stop and listen, because they might, in fact, have something interesting to say or contribute. That can’t work if you’re not dealing with these people as very individual souls.
The development of age-friendly cities would benefit from broad community input. Several participants pointed out that having a mixture of ages is important for community diversity, and that environments that suit older people are often of benefit for children, families and disabled people. Some suggestions were for public buses to have a lowering step to make it easier for older people and mothers with infants to get on and off; and more effort in making lightweight wheelchairs and walkers, which are available for paraplegics, accessible to older people.
When downsizing
Richard found the housing options for seniors very restrictive. He would like to see suburbs planned for a mixture of age groups.
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I would like to see as a general policy change, more provision made I suppose for the elderly, not that I’ve had to make any decisions about it, or make any plans for it. But I think one of the problems is to find for people my own age group is to find tolerable retirement accommodation. I think – you travel around and look at retirement villages, not that we have looked at any of them very seriously. But they seem to be fairly constricting when you look at retirement villages or even the facilities provided for people of our age group to downsize into seem to be less and less choices that have to be made, that you have to make to avail yourself of those things.
So in an ideal world what would that look like then, those options?
In an ideal world, it would be nice to have suburbs that are planned for a mixture of age groups, that you don’t have to make a choice for being young or old. You know you could go somewhere where you could feel yourself that even though you’re older, you’re still part of that same community, but you have the facilities to make your physical life much easier. I don’t know what that would look like, but I think people you know and see moving into retirement villages are having to make some pretty stark choices. But I don’t know what the ideal solution is, but other societies and other countries seem to plan things much better than we have in terms of accommodating the aged as they get to different stages of their decline.
Can you give me some examples of where that’s done well?
I mean some of the Scandinavian countries it seems to me we’ve had a bit to do with – I’ve got a niece living in Sweden and they seem to have much better community facilities for accommodating all age groups. So not that I’d like to live there at the moment, I think the climate is against you. But they seem to have spent a lot more time thinking about that sort of contingency.
