Comment
Let us beware of a one-sided debate on ageing
Brian Shakes
I was delighted to read some interesting statistics on ageing recently in a comment piece on the likely costs of Australia’s ageing population.
The writer, Sarah Saunders (The Weekend Australian, January 24-25) used some recent research to support her key point that the future is not as gloomy as some local and international economists predict.
I couldn’t agree more with Ms Saunders’ final conclusion, that "to portray seniors as a burden belies their significant contribution to society and deepens intergenerational rifts".
The paper quoted was prepared by researchers at the Australian Institute of Family Studies and released last October. Titled Measuring the value of unpaid household, caring and voluntary work of older Australians, the research sought to put a dollar value on the unpaid work done by men and women over the age of 65.
In so doing, the researchers, David de Vaus, Matthew Gray and David Stanton, concluded that the current economic focus of the ageing debate had led to an unduly negative, problem-oriented view of population ageing that neglects our contribution to this nation’s social and economic well-being.
I’m delighted to see good research support for what we, who work with volunteers have known about their value forever, but at the same time I’m distressed that this research paper has had such minimal media exposure.
I can’t understand this, particularly as the findings are that people over 65 contribute a massive $39 billion per year to the Australian economy in unpaid care and voluntary work. And if you add the unpaid contribution of those between 55 and 64, that contribution almost doubles to $74.5 billion!
Perhaps it’s just that much of the media – particularly daily print and television media – just want to focus on the negative. No doubt claiming the elderly to be the winners in terms of government funding while younger generations must wear the losers’ tag makes better headlines and stirs up better debate.
Consequently, this research paper’s aim to provide balance in the debate with some facts may not be welcome to most reporters. What price truth?
We at the Over 50s, just like other seniors organisations, also have a responsibility to ensure our lobbying for better government support and better recognition of older people’s genuine needs is fair and based on proper economic data. The last thing we need is to exacerbate a rift between generations and to feed the ‘fear and greed’ aspect of the debate.
I would like to acknowledge Ms Saunders contribution to fairness and fact, and recommend the report to interested readers. It can be found at www.aifs.gov.au.
• Brian Shakes is chief executive officer, ARPA Over 50s Association
Over 50s Association comment archive page
