Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Smith, for your question. We have heard a lot, of late, about Australia's ageing population, and we will be hearing more, certainly, in the wake of the Intergenerational report. I think it can sometimes be difficult to comprehend the scale of the demographic change that the nation will face. At the moment, the proportion of the population aged between 65 and 84 is 13 per cent, or around 3.1 million people. The IGR projects that by 2055 that proportion will have grown to 18 per cent, or around seven million people. But I have to say that the statistic that most struck me when I first came into this portfolio, and still does, is the fact that there are currently 3,000 centenarians in Australia and that by 2055 there will be 40,000 centenarians.

Our ageing population—and the number of centenarians that we have—is unequivocally a good thing. It is a great thing. It is a great national resource. Probably too often we hear about the problems that an ageing population will bring, but I think we can all agree that we never want to hear about people talking about our ageing population as though it is anything other than extremely positive. As a community, as a society, an ageing population living longer and living better is something that we have striven for for decades, but we do obviously need to be cognisant of the challenges that an ageing population represents. We should be optimistic about the future at the same time, but it is important to note that the ageing population is driving a significant increase in demand in services that older Australians will want and need, particularly when it comes to aged care. The Chairman of Estia Health, Pat Grier, a former Ramsay CEO, has compared the aged-care sector now to where the private hospital sector was 20 years ago: on the brink of a great new era of possibility. (Time expired)