Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) critical workforce shortages are being experienced, particularly in regional Australia;

(b) workforce participation among older Australians is lower than the OECD average;

(c) according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics there were 107,700 people aged 60 to 69 who were not in the labour force, not retired and not currently employed but wanted to work part-time or full-time;

(d) increasing workforce participation among older Australians will have positive impacts for gross domestic product; and

(e) a recent, unpublished, National Seniors Australia survey found that 19.8 per cent of pensioners would consider re-entering the workforce—even before the latest increases in inflation and cost of living; and

(2) calls on the Government to introduce an 'opt-in' scheme to increase the income test threshold for pensioners with limited savings, as an incentive to engage in paid work.

Australia's unemployment rate plummeted to 3.5 per cent last month. This is the lowest rate in 48 years and effectively full employment. This is a good thing, but it has created an increasingly tight labour market, with high demand for engaging and retaining workers, particularly in the regions. Consequently, it's become increasingly difficult for employers to find and attract staff. In my electorate I'm reminded of this on a daily basis—the need for workers to pick fruit, to package produce, to serve in retail and hospitality. Just on Saturday I was talking to a tyre business who are desperately looking for a mechanic and willing to pay double, and they have been looking for months.

Regional communities are desperately looking for workers to function and, in many instances, to provide for the supply of food that we all enjoy. While our local communities struggle with the lost economic opportunity, a solution to the workforce problem sits idle in anticipation right before us. The solution is our older Australians. Australia has one of the lowest workforce participation rates for people aged 65 years and older. It is currently 14.2 per cent. This compares with the OECD average of 15.3 per cent; Sweden, 19 per cent; the United States, 19.4 per cent; and in our New Zealand neighbour, 24.8 per cent. Workforce participation among pensioners with limited savings is even lower, at just three per cent. The data and the anecdotal evidence strongly suggest there is an underutilised workforce available to us. However, older Australians are prematurely leaving critical sectors such as aged care and other allied health sectors because of the penalty associated with working and the consequential reduction in pension entitlements. The anxiety and stress of dealing with Centrelink every fortnight is precluding people from continuing on in the workforce.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 107,700 people aged 60 to 69 who are no longer in the labour force, not retired and not currently employed but wanting to work part time or perhaps even close to full time. National Seniors Australia found in their recent survey that one in five pensioners would consider re-entering the workforce, and this was prior to the latest inflation and cost-of-living increases. Many older Australians want to work. Our businesses, our regions and our critical sectors want older Australians to work. What we need now is a government that also wants older Australians to be given the opportunity to work. This would help to address our workforce shortages, would see an increase in tax paid and would encourage the transfer of workforce skills from older Australians to younger Australians. I am calling on the government to do its bit to make the necessary changes to allow older Australians to participate in the workforce without penalty of losing their pension, and specifically to provide an opt-in scheme to increase the income threshold for pensioners with limited savings, as an incentive to engage and reengage people into paid work. Such a scheme would be voluntary and, importantly for government, would increase tax revenue and positively contribute to our GDP. The extra tax revenue could be used to help fund core needs such as aged care.

This place rarely gets the opportunity to debate and review policy initiatives that have support across a broad spectrum of representative bodies, and this policy has support. National Seniors Australia has championed this policy. The National Farmers Federation, the Business Council of Australia, the council of business organisations Australia, often known as COSBOA, support this policy. Dairy farmers support this policy. This is desperately needed. Family businesses, from small family businesses to large businesses, support this policy, and our most critical sectors such as health and agriculture desperately need this policy.

I ask the government just to trial this initiative, even if you just trial it in our regions. It just makes good sense, and I think that there would be broad support across this parliament to help older Australians to access employment, for those who want to do it, without having to deal with Centrelink every fortnight and without losing 50c in the dollar for working hard for Australia.

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