Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my colleagues for their fulsome support—particularly the remark made by my friend the member for Ryan. In Australia it is important to recognise that, as we have a declining birth rate and ageing population, wherever possible we ought to encourage older Australians to continue to play—as they now do—an important role in making sure that Australia continues to have the freedom, stability and way of life that we have as a nation and that has made us the envy of people throughout the world.

The Sunshine Coast is one of the oldest areas in Australia. People retire from around the country to join our Sunshine Coast community—including, I suspect, many farmers from your own electorate of Maranoa, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott. Those people come to the Sunshine Coast, where they become actively involved in their local community. But, as the years roll on, they have increasing health challenges. As the member for Fisher, I therefore felt that it was necessary for me to get advice from the seniors community so that I am better able to represent their views in the Australian parliament.

In the year 2000, I set up the Fisher Seniors Council, which is a peak body with representatives from various seniors groups throughout the electorate. I am the notional chairman. The deputy chairman was Mrs Maureen Kingston AM, a former national president of the Association of Independent Retirees. Mrs Kingston has stood down from that position and Mrs Margaret Donaldson is the current deputy chairman, effectively the chairman of the body.

This year, on 19 May, at the Kawana Island community centre, we are having the sixth annual Fisher Seniors Forum. This is being held in conjunction with the Fisher Seniors Council. Each year we have held a seniors forum on some aspect of ageing. We try to make these events happy and interesting. We get experts who are able to impart information of value to the many hundreds of participants who each year choose to attend the annual Fisher Seniors Forum and expo.

This year the topic will be productive ageing. We will have a number of renowned and highly regarded experts who will be able to share their knowledge with members of the Fisher seniors community. Sometimes we have held a Geoffrey Robertson style hypothetical where we get experts from various government and non-government organisations who give advice to a hypothetical constituent going through certain traumas as a result of advancing years and failing health. This year we expect to have a range of people who are highly qualified in their respective areas, including medical practitioners, financial planners, lawyers and others, to give their views on the topic of productive ageing.

These forums have proven very popular, and we find that many people come to them year after year. We have held these forums in different parts of the electorate of Fisher to try to make sure that those people who are not as mobile as they once were are able to at least get to some of the forums. We have held forums at the Kawana community centre and also at various venues in Caloundra. We are having a new venue, the Kawana Island community centre, on this occasion. It is situated in Sportsman’s Parade, Kawana.

We find the forums are a two-way opportunity for people to share their experiences and also obtain innovative solutions. At the early forums I was amazed at the level of assistance that we actually had in our community for people who were confronting various challenges, whether they be of a legal, health or economic nature. It is important that as a community we recognise the value of productive ageing. It is important that we recognise what an important role retired Australians have played in making Australia the wonderful country that it is, and it is absolutely vital that we continue to have support services to assist these people to whom we owe so much.

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