Bob Day (SA, Family First Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senators Lazarus, Leyonhjelm and Wang, move:

That the Senate—

(a) recognises the untapped potential of Australians over the age of 65;

(b) notes that Australia ranks 13th in the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development [OECD] for workforce participation of people aged over 65;

(c) acknowledges that raising mature age workforce participation will add tens of billions of dollars to Australia's gross domestic product; and

(d) in the national interest, calls on the Government to remove the barriers and obstacles to the workforce participation of older Australians.

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Bob Day (SA, Family First Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The barriers and obstacles to older people participating in the workforce are substantial. That is why Australia ranks 13th in the OECD for workforce participation of people over 65, at just 12.3 per cent, compared to Iceland, Korea, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, Japan and Estonia, which are all over 20 per cent. Senior Australians are banned from topping up their superannuation after 70 years of age. They start losing their age pension once they earn over $162 a fortnight, or $288 for couples. At $700 a fortnight, they start paying tax. At $2,010 a fortnight, they lose their seniors health card and their PBS subsidised medicines. Job seeker workplace and insurance discrimination also remain unaddressed. In all this, yet, senior Australians are banned from arranging work on terms and conditions that would suit their circumstances.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens will be supporting this motion because we do believe that there are barriers to older people being able to access the workforce and being able to work. However, we do not necessarily agree with all of the statements that Senator Day just made. We do note that older Australians are increasingly making up the highest proportion of long-term unemployed and that they are suffering from age discrimination. There are issues about workplace compensation and there are issues around being able to access adequate training as an older Australian. The Willing Older Workers, a group working with older unemployed Australians, has given very compelling evidence about the barriers that older people face in trying to gain access to work in Australia. That is the reason we will be supporting this motion.

Question agreed to.