Over-50s Club Together To Find Strength In Numbers
The Age
Saturday March 25, 1995
A 60,000-strong lobby group representing the interests of Australia's increasingly powerful ageing population was announced before an audience of 1000 in Melbourne yesterday.
Over Fifties Focus aims to channel the voting power of the growing ageing population to lobby federal and state governments on issues such as retirement incomes, health, transport and housing.
It is also using the increasing buying power of older Australians to pressure business into offering discounts and incentives to over-50s buyers.
More than 4.3 million Australians 26 per cent of the population are aged 50 or over. The number is expected to swell over the next decade as the post-war baby-boomers enter their fifties.
Although big, the aged lobby in Australia is fragmented, comprising mainly small to medium-size groups. Many of these are affiliated with a national organisation, the Australian Pensioners and Superannuants Federation, but their diverse membership bases and agendas have made it hard for them to act as a united front when lobbying governments or business.
Over Fifties Focus has started with an ``instant" membership of more than 60,000, drawn from the customers of the Over 50s Investment Group (formerly the Over 50s Friendly Society), which is sponsoring the new lobby group.
Over Fifties Focus's chief executive officer, Ms Jean Elder, said the organisation hoped to attract more members aged 50 or over with its offers of discounts on domestic and international travel, overseas and STD telephone calls, optical and dental services and insurance.
The strategy is modelled on that of the American Association of Retired Persons which, with 33 million members over 50, is the United States' biggest and most influential consumer group.
In the United States, there are more people aged over 65 than teenagers.
Mrs Hazel Hawke, who addressed the meeting, said society undervalued older people, and ``senior Australians" had a responsibility to themselves to make their needs and abilities known.
``Change is inevitable," she said. ``It is best that we jolly well involve ourselves in steering that change."
The financial consultant Mr Daryl Dixon said constant changes in social security and superannuation were a source of concern to older Australians.
He said older Australians who were tending to retire at an earlier age needed a better deal from the retirement income system. He called for several reforms to the system, including fair definitions of income, a fair tax rate, and a realistic assets test that did not penalise people for trying to live on investment income in retirement.
© 1995 The Age