Grey Power Federation AGM

Grey Power Federation AGM
Nurtured, utilised and appreciated

It is my pleasure to be here with you in Marton today. Thank you for inviting me to speak, and special thanks to Violet McCowatt for her warm welcome.

This is my fourth opportunity to interact with Grey Power in the last month. I always enjoy meeting with you and hearing what you are doing as an organisation, and I like to hear what concerns you have. You do a great service looking after the interests of many older people, and you can be proud of the role you play in New Zealand society. With the backing of more than 90,000 members around the country, there is no doubt that you provide a strong and vibrant voice for older New Zealanders.

And I say ‘older’ because while you only have to be aged 50 to be a member of Grey Power, we all know that 50 is not old. Not anymore. 50 is the new 40, or maybe even the new 35. Many of us feel like we’re just getting into our stride when we reach 50, and some of us do our best work in our 60s.

I’m 58 and still playing rugby and taking part in half marathons.  Although I should also tell you that my mother, who’s 84, recently beat me in a walking race.

In the next two decades, more and more Kiwis will hit 60 and our older population – currently one in ten over 60 – will likely double by the year 2028. You represent a growing proportion of New Zealanders, so Grey Power’s opportunity to positively influence this country, will only continue to grow.

I recently read an article in the Marlborough Express that brought home the value of older people to me. It said that New Zealanders might not have realised it yet, but the baby boom generation’s skills will be needed until they can no longer be given. The generations that follow the baby boomers have too few people to provide all the skills and services or the tax base that will be needed.

So on one hand, you can see that the shift that is happening in demographics presents a challenge to our country. Older people have different needs and we must carefully consider the policies and services that are required to address these needs. Responsibility for this falls to government at all levels – central, regional and local.

On the other hand we do ourselves a great disservice, both as people and as a country, if we only consider the ageing of New Zealand’s population in terms of the challenge. We do ourselves a disservice if we forget that it is also an asset, and something to be utilised, nurtured and appreciated.

You know this. You know that just because you reach a certain age it doesn’t mean that the skills, knowledge and the experience that you have built up over the years are no longer valuable. It is to our detriment and our country’s detriment, if we fail to understand the value of these years of knowledge and experience, or to appreciate and tap into this resource.

So how do we do this?

How do we shape a society that respects, values and appreciates its older people?

Government has a role to play – at all levels. We need to promote positive ageing goals like good attitudes to ageing, flexible work options and opportunities to keep people engaged in their community.

But for this to happen it’s not just about Government taking action, it’s also about older people taking responsibility for making it happen. It’s up to older people to lead by example. They can promote flexible work options within their own business enterprises, pursue new technologies, show that they view their own ageing in a positive way and keep on being involved in their communities.
 
I realise I’m preaching to the converted here in many ways – just by being a member of Grey Power, you are involved in your community. You already lead the way by looking after the interests of the people you represent. But can you do more, or can you do things differently?  Can you encourage more older people to get involved?  What other steps can you take to make sure that older people are truly valued and appreciated?

So how do we as a society learn to look at older people and see not “old” but “wisdom”?

One programme that we currently have running through the Ministry of Social Development is working on this. Called Sages, this programme is about connecting older people with good practical talents to younger people who need to develop skills in managing a home, cooking plain healthy food, budgeting and being a good parent. The Ministry contracts 17 non-government organisations to deliver this programme so that older volunteers can be recruited and trained as mentors and then matched with families who need this support.

Some of these families may have little or no contact with older people. When an older volunteer comes into their home and teaches them living skills, they are not just learning how to cook, or budget but they are getting to see the wisdom and experience of their elders in action.

The success of these programmes relies not just on Government funding but on the volunteers who share their time and their wealth of a life times’ experience. It relies on you, the older people, stepping up and leading the way and being a role model for younger families.

Similar programmes are also running in schools around the country where older people, unsung heroes, are just getting on with the job of helping children with their reading, coaching sports and going with them on school trips.  Today many children don’t have grandparents close by and they don’t have the opportunity to have positive relationships with older people. Access to older volunteers in the school environment teaches them so much about life, history, and the ways of other cultures. This helps them to appreciate and respect their elders.

I’m proud to say that my mother is a ‘Gran in school’.  I’m sure that the children she spends time with are learning from her, but I can equally say that she gets a lot back from the children.  She gets a real thrill from working with the children and it enriches her life.

I know that not all older people are in a position to be an active volunteer – many are still working full-time, or are caring for a partner or family member. But if you can encourage other older people, both inside and outside of your organisation, to take the lead and to contribute some of their time to help others, you will be greatly contributing to change some of the negative attitudes to ageing.

Kiwis have always been known as hard working people, and it’s no surprise to see that we have the highest rate of older people participating in the labour market than any other OECD country. It is well known that older people who keep working have more opportunities to be socially connected and that they feel better about life.

There is research that shows while some abilities decline after 70, the important skills, like being able to plan and communicate peaks when you get to your 50s and 60s. This research goes a long way to refuting age stereotyping.

As a country, if we want to take advantage of the value that older workers can offer, it’s important that we continue to encourage employers to support older people who want to work by offering flexible work arrangements. This means consulting employees who are considering retirement, offering meaningful part-time employment, and providing older people with opportunities to learn new skills. In this way, we can keep older workers in the workplace longer.

It is small actions that count – like Genesis Energy’s practice of pairing older engineers with younger maintenance people. When two people are out working on a job, the older worker shares knowledge and experience with the younger worker, and the younger worker does the more physically demanding aspects of the job. Working together like this is a win-win situation for everyone.

We need to support this way of working because it is a great example of how you can recognises older peoples’ wealth of experience. It shows that with a little thought and creativity there are ways to tap into it and use it to its best advantage. It’s something I will be promoting whenever I am engaging with people in industry. To be fair, some employers can see this and are already implementing flexible work practices and hiring and retaining older workers, but we have to remain vigilant to see this continues to happen.

Another way that this Government is supporting older people who want to continue to work is the recent introduction the 90-day voluntary trial work period. This encourages employers in small businesses to take a chance on employing someone they may not have previously considered – like an older person returning to work. It gives an older person the chance to prove that they have skills and knowledge to offer the workplace.

It is a good time to be growing older, and the age at which we considered “old” seems to be shifting further and further toward the century mark.

You may be aware that one of my jobs as Minister for Senior Citizens is sending birthday cards to people who are turning 100 or older.  At the moment, I’m sending around 40 cards each month.  Some years ago, I had a conversation with Mr Jim Bolger who told me he was sending 3 cards per week and that by 2050 this would be 100 per week.  (I think he thought he would still be Prime Minister.)

As New Zealand’s demographics shift more towards an increasingly older population, we need to make sure that we are not just focused on meeting the challenges that this brings. We need to look at how to be creative in the way we see older people, and take the opportunities that this presents.

As an organisation, you already do valuable work representing older people. But you have an opportunity too, to join in the creative thinking so that we have a society that values and appreciates its older citizens.

I’ll be interested to hear your ideas.

Thank you.