In my role as Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination, I met with Rhonda Parker the Commissioner for Aged Care in Melbourne today . We both agreed that as a basis for discrimination, age was something that could affect each one of us at some stage.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) latest report into Australia’s changing demographic, entitled ‘Older Australia at a Glance’, shows us that Australia’s population is ageing rapidly.

As at June 2006, 2.7 million Australian’s were aged 65 years and over and this is expected to more than double over the next 30 years. The number of people aged 85 and over has doubled over the past twenty years and is projected to increase more rapidly than any other age group.

I was delighted to read that Australians enjoy one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Women in Australia can now expect to live for approximately 83 years; and the men are catching up too with a life expectancy of approximately 78.5 years.

The data certainly tells us that we are all living longer but it also tells us that we are not disengaging from life in the process. In fact, the overwhelming majority of older Australians continue to be active contributors to society. Technology plays a significant role in the lifestyle of mature age Australians, with 75% of those aged 45-54 years and 60% of those aged 55-64 years, using a computer at home.

Older Australians are still active participants in the workforce, but at the same time, grandparents are the main source of informal child care, providing care for 60% of children receiving informal care. It’s clear that the issues around balancing work and family responsibilities continue to be important as we get older.

With the release of the AIHW report, it is an important time to start redefining how we think about our own age, and to this end, I’d love to hear more from you.

On the issue of health and wellbeing for older Australians, I left my discussions with Aged Care Commissioner feeling optimistic about new opportunities around preventative health care and ways that older Australians can reduce disease, maintain physical and cognitive function and most of all, maintain meaningful engagement in society. As we get older our needs change but the perception of ‘age as a disability’ does not sit well with a proportion of the population that, as the evidence shows, continues to work, provide care, volunteer, partake in community and social activities.

On that note, I guess the age old adage of “you are as old as you feel” couldn’t be more relevant!