New Steps to Realise the Potential of Senior Australians

Table of contents

New Initiatives

The Government response includes a number of specific new initiatives, such as:

Supporting employers through the Corporate Champions initiative to recruit and retain an older workforce.
A new $1,000 jobs bonus for employers who recruit and retain a mature age job seeker.
Expanding and rebranding the More Help for Mature AgeWorkers initiative to allow industries to benefit from improving the skills of their over 50s workforce.
Extending the Career Advice Service for two years to ensure mature age people have access to free, professional career advice.
Promoting lifelong learning through a new grants program to expand educational opportunities to senior Australians.
Provide additional funding to the Age Discrimination Commissioner to address stereotyping and discrimination of older Australians.
A new ongoing Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing to consult with communities and seniors on a range of issues and help drive the Government’s ageing agenda.
The Government will be reviewing whether existing Commonwealth laws ensure adequate liability protection for volunteers who wish to give back to the community.
The Government will continue to engage with industry on issues surrounding the provision of travel insurance for senior Australians.

An Active Ageing Agenda will provide an overall strategy to maximise the potential of an ageing population.
Housing, particularly home environments, are fundamental to older people’s capacity to participate in society.
As they reach retirement older workers may wish to participate in the workforce longer.
Lifelong learning increases the employability and productivity of older workers.
Senior Australians contribute the highest number of volunteer hours of any age group and make substantial contributions to philanthropic endeavours.
Age discrimination and stereotyping of older people acts as a barrier to senior Australians realising their potential.

This set of six dot points reflects the seven themes described above.