|
Government must show leadership on older workers, say seniors |
Older Australians are calling on the federal government to show leadership in improving the employment prospects of mature age workers, following the release of yet another report on the issue today.
The report, Working Past Our 60s: Reforming Laws and Policies for the Older Worker, was released by Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan, in Melbourne this afternoon.
National Seniors Australia chief executive Michael O’Neill said it was time for the Commonwealth to stop producing reports, lead by example and get on with introducing practical change.
“The issues in today’s report - age limits on workers compensation, insurance, and professional licensing - are the issues we were talking about a decade ago.
“It’s all starting to feel like Ground Hog Day”.
“Australians are ageing differently now - we’re healthier and stronger than ever before, and many of us enjoy and want to keep working well beyond 65,” he said.
“It’s time government put down its pens and got on with the business of removing these long-identified legislative barriers”.
Beyond that, O’Neill said employer attitudes would prove to be the biggest hurdle for older workers.
“Mature age workers, often the first to go in redundancy exercises, can end up languishing on unemployment lists three times longer than their younger colleagues,” said O’Neill.
“ABS figures show that almost 40 per cent of all discouraged job seekers, people who want to work but have given up looking, believe that employers consider them too old.”
“Unfortunately, age discrimination is often covert and very difficult to prove,” he said.
National Seniors research, quoted in today’s report, reveals an annual loss of $10.8 billion to the economy in not utilizing the skills and experience of older workers.
Workers compensation age limits (mostly 65) currently exist in every state and territory except Queensland and Western Australia.
The superannuation guarantee age limit will be abolished from 2013. However people aged over 75 are still precluded from making additional concessional and non-concessional contributions to their super.
Source: National Seniors |
|
|
|
Page 140 of 293 |
