"Respecting And Valuing Older Australians"

"Respecting And Valuing Older Australians"

This was a Vision Statement 4: Address to the Queensland Media Club, Brisbane that Anthony Albanese gave on Wednesday 19th February 2020

He started eloquently

"When I look at older Australians, I see the generation that built this nation.

The generation that built our economy and shaped our society.

The generation that did the hard yards.

They have shown aspiration at its most fundamental. Aspiration not just for themselves, but for a better life for their children.

For their grandchildren. Their neighbours. Their community. Their country.

In them I see what I hope we all see – the strength and the spirit of our nation."

?and concluded with

"For their part, the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has no strategy, no plan to deal with the challenges and reap the benefits of an ageing population.

Current policy settings are simply inadequate."

I agree with Anthony Albanese and have unsuccessfully tried to address a major problem in the system pertaining to inadequate policy settings on behalf of our disabled senior citizens and have largely been ignored and brushed aside as I feel it is not a currently relevant issue

Prior to qualifying for the Aged Pension people with a disability (I have a vision impairment) can take advantage of Disability Employment Services (DES). That is under current Policy they can have support to help the find & keep work and have their special needs addressed. ?This is a wonderful scheme under DSS & Centrelink and has a whole industry dedicated to it. However, as soon as the participant qualifies for the aged pension, they no longer can access the services and are left out in the cold with no support.

Recently I have qualified for the Aged Pension and decided I wanted to go back to work. I contacted my previous DES provider and they explained that they could not help me as I no longer qualify for their services.

I then started to investigate

Through workforce Australia, anyone can register but as an Aged cared recipient does not qualify for any assistance. The only support they qualify for is training. This is ludicrous as according to the Prime Ministers vision speech; the older Australians have the biggest contribution to make but they are being discouraged from working as there is no support. I am resourceful and resilient, so I have no issues with finding a meaningful direction for myself.

I started to think about people with intellectual disabilities, what about people that were supported but suddenly find themselves out in the cold?

Here’s what I did…

·???????I contacted my local member, his office advised it’s a Federal matter

·???????I then contacted my Federal local member Jerome Laxale MP and he advised that now people on the aged pension can now work 10 hours a week without being taxed and that the issue may be raised down the track. I wrote back and explained that issue has been sidestepped by his office and I’ve had no further response

·???????I contacted the Ombudsman and was told that there is no case there as it’s a policy issue

·???????I contacted DSS complaints and had a compassionate response agreeing that it is unfair and is a shortcoming in the current policy

·???????I wrote to Anthony Albanese PM and had no response

·???????I wrote to Bill Shorten Minister for Government Services and had no response

·???????I wrote to Amanda Rishworth Minister for Social Services and had no response

·???????I have sent multiple messages to Dylan Alcott AO with no response

·???????I have sent multiple messages to Kurt Fearnley with no response

·???????I have contact with multiple people with Get Skilled Access

·???????I contacted a number of the larger DES providers and they aren’t interested because “it’s not in the current contract” (Including atWork, APM, WISE)

·???????Extensively used dss.gov.au & psc.nsw.gov.au & workforceaustralia.gov.au as resources

I am concerned with the lip service given to issues that attract votes but when a real need surfaces nobody appears to be interested.

I am sure there are thousands of people on an Aged Pension with a Disability that would love to work and need to work and that can make an incredibly positive and impactful contribution to the workforce and society, but they have been forgotten and cast aside

I don’t require support of a DES as I am resourceful and have created my own ideal direction, however, my heart goes out to the people that are lost, struggling and can make a difference

Nobody cares, do you?

Will you help me make some noise around this?