Speech: Age Concern Tauranga AGM

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Thank you very much for inviting me here to speak today.  It’s always great to get out and about and see different parts of the country. 

Thank you Angela for your kind introduction and all of you for the warm welcome.  I would also like to acknowledge Chief Executive Mike Tyrer, the Board and staff of Age Concern Tauranga and invited guests.

Whenever I meet with Age Concern people I am always impressed with how passionate you are about your work.  I know that the services that Age Concern provides are hugely helpful to older people. 

As Minister for Senior Citizens, I want to encourage a culture in this country where we appreciate and value older people. Your welfare and wellbeing should be a priority.  Age should not limit your opportunities to contribute to your community. 

You are probably aware that I am also Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Minister of Women’s Affairs and Associate Minister of Health.  There are many natural synergies between these portfolios. 

I believe we can make gains in more areas by working better across government agencies.  When we join up resources and information, I am confident we can produce better outcomes. 

Health and wellbeing
I know the health and wellbeing of older people is high on your list of concerns.  Statistics show that we are living longer.  It is estimated that by the end of the 2020s there will be more than a million New Zealanders aged over 65. Healthcare and wellness services need to keep pace with the demand.

Health services
Aged care is one of my responsibilities as Associate Minister of Health.  I also have public health, rural health, HealthCERT, the Health Quality and Safety Commission, the Health Promotion Agency and assisting with Primary Care implementation.  When the Minister told me what he was delegating to me I actually asked him if he was keeping anything for himself!  But as you know, Tony Ryall has been tireless in his role as Health Minister.  A difficult role, but one in which he has stewarded many improvements in health care.

In 2010/11, DHBs spent $144 million more annually on health of older people services than they did in 2008/09.  In 2011/12 it is estimated that DHBs have added another $47 million to their annual spending in this area and in 2012/13 they are forecast to add another $42 million.  This means a total of $233 million more being spent every year on services such as aged residential care, home support and support for carers. 

The Government has instructed DHBs to pass on cost-pressure funding increases to aged residential care providers.  Annual spending on aged residential care has increased by $151 million, including $17.5 million a year total added in the past two Budgets for new dementia beds. 

We’ve also moved to strengthen the aged care workforce.  In 2011, over 2700 National Certificate qualifications were completed by aged care workers.  This has more than doubled since 2009.  The Government will continue to encourage this to increase.   

In 2011 Health Workforce funded 300 extra training places for aged care nurses.  The Voluntary Bonding Scheme was also extended to include aged care nurses.  Last year 25% of nursing graduates who registered an interest in the scheme were working in or intending to work in aged care.  We will continue to increase the number of aged care nurses in the scheme.

We’re also going to continue to improve service quality.  For example, we are making the national minimum standard for the quality of care for home and community support providers mandatory.  And the interRAI assessment tool is currently being rolled out in aged residential care.  This will improve the continuum of care for older people.  In time it will allow quality comparisons across providers. I am currently considering whether it may be useful to link the uptake of the inteRAI tool to the passing on of cost pressure increases to the aged residential care sector, thus underlining how important quality care is to this government.

Social isolation
Most older people are well equipped to participate positively in society.  However some older people throughout New Zealand are already, or are at risk of becoming, socially isolated.  Older people as a whole spend more time alone than any other age group.

16 per cent of older people in New Zealand say they always, mostly or sometimes feel lonely.  International evidence shows loneliness has an effect on mortality that is similar in size to cigarette smoking.  Socially isolated and lonely adults are more likely to be admitted early to residential care. Isolation can also conceal elder abuse. 

This is why addressing social isolation is so important to me.  I have asked the officials in all my portfolios to look for ways they can work together to achieve this goal.

Recent findings from the Health and Ageing Research Team at Massey University show that the more often people take part in volunteer activities, the higher their happiness.  I have also seen first-hand what a positive effect participation in volunteer work can have in older peoples’ lives. 

Let me tell you first about my friend and former neighbour Joan, who sadly passed away 13 December last year. Joan lived a long life, most of it with her unmarried sister.  When her sister passed away, Joan redoubled her efforts to remain connected to her community, a community she had been an active volunteer in. 

What Joan wanted, in fact to be honest needed, was to feel still part of her community, to be useful and to have something to do.  It was Joan’s friends who gave her that sense by recruiting her help with folding newsletters, phoning people prior to events, rolling calendars and other such tasks.

The other day I was given another excellent example.  A recently widowed woman has a long term condition restricting her ability to leave her home.  This lady was offered the chance to become a Caring Caller with St John.  This work gave her a focus for some of her time as a lifeline to another older New Zealander.      

I think that we as a community need to harness the energies, skills and talents of people like these women.  They need to feel connected and we need their skills and talents.  Putting the two together will take thought but will pay all sorts of important dividends. 

I have asked the Ministry of Social Development and Office for the Community and Voluntary sector to look at how we can connect older people, especially those who are socially isolated, to volunteering opportunities in their local area.  They are in the final stages of planning this initiative and I am excited to see what they have come up with.

Elder abuse
Preventing elder abuse and neglect is one of my key priorities.  Elder abuse has many forms – it can be physical, emotional and sexual, involve financial abuse or be a case of neglect. Abuse often happens because of an imbalance of power.  It can continue for long periods because the older person fears that if they complain they will just get more abuse or their care will be compromised.

I will continue to raise awareness of elder abuse and neglect, and help people to know what to do if they experience it or if they see it happening.

The Government supports and promotes awareness of elder abuse through community programmes, the public awareness activities and service co-ordination of Age Concern, the It’s not Ok family violence campaign and activities around World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Just over half of the District Health Boards around the country have either developed elder abuse and neglect policies or are in the process of developing them.

The Government is committed to better sharing of information and to improved responses to elder abuse. The recent amendment to the Crimes Act makes it an offence to fail to speak out and take reasonable steps to protect a child or vulnerable adult. The sentence for abusing or neglecting a vulnerable adult has increased to 10 years imprisonment.

Preventing elder abuse and neglect is not just the job of government agencies and service providers. Communities need to share responsibility for the safety of their neighbours, their friends and family, and people they come across as part of their work. We need to encourage a societal change in attitude so elder abuse and neglect is no longer tolerated.

Standard of living
By responsibly managing our finances and building a more competitive and productive economy, the Government will ensure that all rates of New Zealand Superannuation continue to rise.

The increase across all rates of NZS since 1 April 2008 has been 22 per cent.  This is much more than the 12 per cent rate of inflation over the same period.  The married rate has gone up by $194 a fortnight and the single living alone payment has increased by $126.10 a fortnight.

The Government is committed to maintaining the married rate of superannuation at 66 per cent of the average wage.  When the economy is growing and after-tax wages increase, rates of super also go up.

Families who have floating mortgages of $200,000 are now $200 a week better off than they were in 2008.   But I’m not going to pretend I don’t know though that if any of you have money in the bank it’s not earning a lot of interest right now. 

SuperGold Card
Over the last four years we’ve made significant progress in broadening the reach of the SuperGold Card. The free off-peak public transport has been hugely popular.   The public transport benefits might not be available in all areas, such as Ashburton where there is no public transport, but I believe the SuperGold Card still has the potential to be a really valuable tool in your wallet and for us all to make better use of it.

We now have over 2,000 participating businesses with more than 6,000 outlets nationwide.  Over 28 million free off-peak trips have been taken in the last three years.  Reciprocal arrangements are now in place with the Australian Seniors Card programmes.  Cardholders can access commercial discounts offered in both countries.

The Ministry of Social Development is working on increasing the number of participating businesses.  I’ve set the Ministry a very lofty goal to more than double the number of businesses participating to have 3,000 in total by the end of 2014.  Good progress is already being made, with 500 new businesses added in the last few months. 

They are going to make a concerted effort to get out into provincial and rural areas to improve the value of the card for people living there.  We will target industries with high value for seniors such as fuel, health insurance, broadband, food, transport and utilities. 

You can help me to make the card even more effective.  You are, as you already know, quite a large group of consumers.  Therefore you are an attractive group to businesses.

So when you go into businesses, please ask for a SuperGold Card discount, even if you don’t see the logo displayed.  That will raise awareness among businesses that this is a way they can potentially attract more customers over their competitors.

I have also asked the Ministry to make the SuperGold web page easier to find.  I’m aware that not everyone has access to the internet so they’re also looking at other options to update you on a regular basis on new offers for SuperGold Card holders.

Conclusion
When I speak to groups I always remind them how disappointed I am when I hear people talk about the ageing population in terms of a ‘looming crisis’.  We need to change the way we think about what the years over 65 mean.  Having just turned 51, I think of 51 as the new 41.  When I was 20, I thought people the age of my grandmother, then 65 years old, were really old.  Heavens, she just turned 96 and whilst in a Rest Home, I now think of the 31 years of living she has done since I was 20.

Instead of just focusing on the problems, we need to understand the possibilities and make sure that we take advantage of the opportunities that an ageing population brings.  A vital part this will be for government agencies to work together better across more issues, and to continue to support the wonderful work of organisations such as yours. 

No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.