Page 479 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 13 March 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (4.24): I have little to add. It is always wonderful to hear what the ACT government is doing for anybody in our community, and I am very pleased to have had that opportunity this afternoon.
However, there are other areas perhaps not seen as so directly related to ageing in our community but that are of concern to a number of our seniors. First of all, it is important not to stereotype seniors. Seniors are as diverse a group as any other age group in our community and they are unlikely to voluntarily want to be segregated in same-age residential complexes. I hope that at some stage or other our attitude to housing senior citizens will allow for that to some extent.
There is no doubt that a city that works for senior citizens works for everybody in our community. Similarly, if we planned the city for children we would probably have a city that was safe for elderly people. What we need to realise is that it is difficult to find accommodation in Canberra. Whilst it is excellent to see that there are more potential options for residential aged care, if you are a disadvantaged elderly person you are still as disadvantaged as anyone. There is always the potential for church groups to help. Assumedly the Baptist church, which has generously given a grant of land, will ensure that people who are in the more disadvantaged groups will have access to residence there. But, if we can grant free land for residential aged care, I am interested in what the arguments are against granting free land for public housing for disadvantaged people in other areas.
Assumedly there is some profit to be made out of residential aged care—there must be, because a number of private industries are getting into private aged care. So I feel that there is definitely a role still for government in ensuring that there is access to public housing, many of whose tenants will be aged people.
In the light of the latest findings about senior citizens and driving—and we have all experienced the elderly relative that we are very concerned about every time they get behind a wheel—we need to realise that if they are not allowed to drive they will need to get around somehow. A very large percentage of the calls that we have received about the changes to ACTION bus services have been from senior citizens. So it is pretty clear that in that regard we are not looking after our senior citizens to the extent that we have heard today, because the bulk of senior citizens’ concerns have been about getting to their appointments on time. Health is a very large concern. Specialist appointments have to be made months ahead, and senior citizens have made them on the strength of the timetable as it was at the time. As a result of the timetable changes there have been a lot of missed appointments and then they have to wait months and months again.
Elderly people are very likely to be isolated if they do not have immediate family or more extended family in Canberra and the region. I think that is perhaps the most insidious danger that is really, really hard to plan for. But one of the ways that we can do that is by having community facilities that are accessible to elderly people; they need to be fairly close to or within a bus ride of their homes.
From the constituents I have spoken to, it seems that the closure of the Griffith library has affected elderly people disproportionately. That is partly because Griffith is a
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .