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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-08-05 Daily Xml
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Council on the Ageing South Australia

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:36): The Council on the Ageing South Australia (COTA SA), as members in here would be aware, is the peak body for promoting the interests of older South Australians. As the member for Taylor said, it is a fantastic organisation. They have over 17,000 individual members and, I am told, at least 250 senior organisations, including clubs, aged-care providers, councils and service and education institutions, bringing the overall membership to more like 60,000 members.

It is sobering to note that South Australia is the second most rapidly ageing state or territory after Tasmania. In the 2011 census results it makes it clear that a significant number of South Australians (some 22.3 per cent) are over the age of 60 years. That will be comforting for some members in this chamber but I still think it is a significant statistic: 22.3 per cent.

When I look at the new seat of Ashford the number of constituents that are over 60 years is significant and I think we have been told for quite some time that the federal seat of Hindmarsh, at one stage, was the seat with the oldest number of people over the age of 60. I think it might be second or third now but, still, that is a significant statistic.

Through an extensive consultation process, COTA has identified some major areas for the government, and that includes all levels of government, to consider. The term that COTA used was 'our top 10 action areas' and that included discrimination and ageism, age-friendly living, employment and volunteering, housing, transport, cost of living, health and wellbeing, support and care, protection and security, and end of life.

I am particularly interested in all of those areas but I should point out that, I guess because of my experience as a trade union official, my area of special interest is employment and volunteering. As was said, there are a number of people over the age of 60 in South Australia. I was told that in 2012, 12 per cent of those aged over 65 years were still in the paid workforce, and this trend is expected to continue. More than one-third of those over 55 are now in the workforce compared with only 25 per cent a year ago. Obviously, older workers are becoming more and more part of the paid workforce.

In terms of volunteering—and, as we know, volunteers, whatever their age, are a significant part of our community—the state government figures tell us that the economic value of volunteering in this state is more than $4.89 billion annually, and that is based on 2006 data, so presumably it would be much increased in 2014. One area that I do seem to see a number of constituents about is barriers to employment, both paid and unpaid. We know that there is discrimination with regard to insurance.

There is workplace discrimination and inflexible working arrangements. While some of the constituents who I talk to may not have childcare concerns as such—although there are a growing number of grandparents who have childcare responsibilities—they quite often have responsibilities as carers. They are either recognised as carers or are looking after people in the community who they have taken responsibility for. So, the whole issue of carers is certainly raised with me.

It is all very well to talk about upskilling and training, but my understanding is that it is very difficult for people, particularly over the age of 45, to easily access some of the training that is available, and that is a whole other issue that I am passionately involved in and think is worth campaigning for. We are told there is inflexibility in work arrangements and job design. Also, the thing that I think really upsets a lot of constituents who I represent is the lack of recognition and knowledge in decision-making ability.

Time expired.

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