The promotion of home ownership as a way of funding care in later life is part of a broader policy trend toward making people individually responsible for the opportunities they have.
Selecting immigrants on points is likely to result in them being healthy, or at least healthy enough for them not to put much strain on our exhausted health systems.
Considering all the aspects of life in Australia that are affected by population, it’s remarkable that the nation doesn’t have a national policy on it.
Desley Vine, Queensland University of Technology and Laurie Buys, Queensland University of Technology
Several key aspects of public open space can encourage older people to get out and about. And badly designed and maintained facilities have the opposite effect and can harm their wellbeing.
Australia lags behind most other developed countries when it comes to the economic and social well-being of people over 60. And the numbers are even more alarming for women.
Millions of people need to be confident that suitable public toilets will be available when they leave their homes. A shortage of such facilities is a serious problem for an ageing population.
Community and housing industry leaders agreed a national guideline and a plan to provide basic access features in all new housing by 2020. But this voluntary approach is failing.
Many hidden obstacles confront Australia’s older workers, so what workplace changes can be made to maximise the benefits and reduce the problems of an ageing population?
With a booming life expectancy, there is a need for collective, intergenerational discussion and ideas around how to better design housing in Australia’s communities and cities.
Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Unit Head, Twins Research Australia and MyBRISK Centre of Research Excellence in Breast Cancer Risk; Melbourne School of Population & Global Health, The University of Melbourne