Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The age profile of South Australia’s residents shows that the state has the oldest population in the country. Seventy-five per cent of older South Australians live in metropolitan Adelaide. As a percentage of the population, the electorate of Hindmarsh is one of the oldest electorates in Australia. Therefore I have great concern for how these very valuable members of my electorate are treated by government and the wider society. Despite the introduction of age discrimination legislation almost two years ago, the occurrence of age discrimination in many areas of society is still very rife. Attitudes need to change, especially in employment. It is my hope that the effort to remove exemptions from some Commonwealth acts, regulations, instruments, schemes and programs will, to some extent, assist in a change of attitude.

Media headlines are flooded with announcements of a nationwide skills shortage and an ageing population, as if the two occurrences were synonymous. Too often the potential of the members of our community beyond 50 years of age is ignored. Retraining and reskilling programs are bypassed for skilled migration and other programs. In 2003, Linda Matthews, the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity in South Australia, commented:

South Australia will have a severe labour shortage if business continues to deny the relevance and experience of older workers.

This message cannot be stated strongly enough. It applies not only to South Australia but to the nation as a whole.

Last year the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that, while the unemployment rate tends to be lower for 45- to 64-year olds than for most other age groups, the people in this age group generally have more difficulty in obtaining work once they become unemployed and, hence, are at greater risk of remaining unemployed for long periods. In fact, almost half the people aged between 55 and 64 are long-term unemployed. According to the ABS, due to the difficulties people aged 45 to 64 face in finding work, they are much more likely to become discouraged and drop out of the workforce altogether.

These statistics reflect the very real bias against older workers, particularly as job seekers. These statistics demonstrate that older workers were facing these difficulties prior to the introduction of the new workplace laws. It is my belief that these new laws will only exacerbate the poor situation for older workers. With corporations given wide powers to hire and fire under these new laws, it is likely that the workforce participation rate of older workers will continue to decline.

The ALP has a long history of supporting workers and will continue to defend the rights of mature workers to participate in the workforce. It will continue to acknowledge the high levels of skill, understanding and experience that mature workers contribute to society. The Australian Bureau of Statistics projects that the proportion of the Australian population aged over 65 will increase from 13 per cent in 2002 to nearly 30 per cent by 2051, while the proportion of the population aged 15 to 64 will decline from 67 per cent in 2002 to between 57 and 59 per cent in 2051. So, if attitudes towards the participation of mature people in the workforce do not change in the immediate future, the results could be disastrous for our economy.

There were some examples in the lead-up to the millennium. With the Y2K bug scare, the information technology industry realised very quickly the problems associated with a culture of age bias in their field. At that time, many retired computer programmers were asked to deal with the pending situation. A number of those programmers refused to re-enter the industry as they felt cheated about having been previously forsaken many years before their expected retirement age.

In 2002, the IT Council of South Australia in their newsletter featured an article acknowledging that their industry, along with public relations, media and telecommunication companies, was amongst the worst in terms of age discrimination. The council also noted the danger of overlooking the skill, knowledge and maturity of older employees. The article acknowledged that, if attitudes did not change now, some of the workers may not be able to return to the industry. The IT council quite powerfully described the following:

The bottom line is that there is still a considerable skills shortage across the broader range of knowledge industries and with each year that passes the median age of the knowledge workforce is climbing. Smart employers with an eye on the longer term have already figured out that dumping older workers is a mug’s game. Sooner or later the dim-witted ones will figure this out.

Despite the Australian IT industry’s awareness of this in 2002, an article by Stan Beer from IT Wire demonstrates that the industry, as recently as April this year, is still snubbing mature age workers. Hudson, a recruitment firm, earlier this year surveyed 8,345 employers nationally. Their survey indicates that only 32.3 per cent of employers in the IT sector and 23.8 per cent in the telecommunications sector are proactively seeking to attract and retain older employees. The survey indicated that these industries are still well behind other sectors. The director of Hudson’s IT sector has commented that IT employers must take serious note of the findings in the survey and act immediately to retain competitive advantage, given the ageing workforce and skill shortages. He also mentioned that the sector is especially lacking in reskilling and retraining programs, and that the sector needs to examine the proactive strategies to attract and retain mature age workers, including flexible work options.

The example I gave about the situation in the IT industry should highlight the importance of government’s responsibility in raising awareness and assisting in changing attitudes towards age discrimination, particularly in the workplace. These amendments are just the beginning of what needs to be done by government to demonstrate leadership in changing attitudes in this area. I note that the government must provide proactive assistance in defeating ageist attitudes that are so obviously still rife throughout many industries. Labor supports a strong program of awareness and recognition of the importance of defeating a culture of age discrimination throughout all sectors.

There is also a wider impact of ageism in the workplace. As can be seen with the IT workers who did not want to come back when called upon to assist with the Y2K issue after being dismissed due to their age in earlier times, the mental impact of age discrimination is very high and extremely underestimated. The rejection that those IT workers, as well as many others who have suffered age discrimination, feel is legitimate and should be addressed. Awareness needs to be raised about the social impact and especially the impact on the families of people who are not able to find employment once they are over a certain age.

Depression and other mental health issues have been linked to unemployment and loss of control over work in older Australians. Human rights commentators and analysts often comment on the underreporting of cases of age discrimination. People in the community are hesitant to come forward when they have been discriminated against, often because they believe their concern may not be taken seriously. This is another factor that demonstrates the need for change in attitudes about this form of discrimination. Labor believes it is important to bring these issues into the spotlight and to lead the way for a changed, more understanding culture on the age issue.

On the point of education and health in relation to employment, the Council on the Ageing and National Seniors partnership is the largest seniors organisation in Australia, with more than 280,000 individual members and more than 1,500 seniors organisations under its umbrella. The Council on the Ageing and National Seniors partnership’s response to the Department of the Treasury’s May 2004 report Australia’s demographic challenges responded to problems associated with improving the capacity for work. It highlighted the important issue that, in order to address the skills shortages and reduce age discrimination, facilitative mechanisms must be put in place.

The council on the Ageing and National Seniors partnership suggested methods to enable this, one of which was a government commitment to lifelong learning programs enabling workers to upgrade their skills throughout their careers. Further effort needs to be made in education, specifically about learning. If this government is serious in its commitment to reduce age discrimination, we have to take that seriously. In South Australia, while the number of older persons participating in further education programs is growing, these people still only represent a very small proportion of the Australian population. The Council on the Ageing and National Seniors partnership also recognises that, in addition to education, other facilitative measures such as ensuring adequate access to health systems are vital in ensuring that mature persons are able to participate fully both economically and socially in our society.

The ALP have always represented the need for well-funded health and education systems as important cornerstones of our society. We support a strong public health and education system that would see the facilitation of mature people to re-enter and remain in the workforce. We are strongly committed to lifelong learning, and our national platform has an entire chapter dedicated to this commitment. We believe that adult education is an integral part of lifelong learning, and we believe that it should be affordable and flexible.

Another point I want to touch on is volunteer work. When the Age Discrimination Act was passed in 2004, the government rejected a number of amendments by the opposition, including the extension of the laws to cover voluntary work. Volunteering Australia’s submission on the Productivity Commission’s October 2004 study titled Economic implications of an ageing Australia demonstrates that, while the total number of volunteers in the over-65 age group is lower than groups that are younger, volunteers over 65 contribute far more hours on average. However, there are barriers to these people volunteering. We should recognise the important contribution that volunteers make to our society. From emergency services to school canteen helpers, each volunteer is a valuable asset to this country. Volunteering Australia recognises that the barriers to older people’s involvement in volunteering often include an ageist culture coupled with lack of support and training for elder volunteers.

Labor believes in comprehensive age discrimination legislation which covers these valuable older persons in their roles as volunteers and leaders in the community. The government’s failure to properly apply age discrimination legislation to volunteers will have a negative impact on the level of volunteering in the future, especially given the ageing population. Australia’s economy and society depend on volunteers and we should encourage and support volunteers of all ages. I hope that the government’s commitment to fighting age discrimination will not end with these amendments. Labor will continue to raise awareness of age discrimination and continue to fight for the rights of older persons in the community.

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