Help Australia understand The Power of Oldness

I have been doing volunteer work for over 16 years. I did so because I was passionate and willing to learn skills along the way. When I applied for job I was told that the company was looking for someone younger even though I had requirements and qualifications. I later found out that the job was already taken by a member of another person working there. Very disillusioned as well as I thought why continue to volunteer. In the eyes of the some years of experience and you are not valued except when they haven't got anyone else to do their paid job. Makes one feel like our use by date has run out. 

The older generation is being forgotten. While it is VERY important that young people ALSO have the opportunity to work and become old themselves, Older Australians have so much knowledge to give and that knowledge should NOT be thrown away so easy. To be old and wise first, you need to be young and silly, then you will learn the lesson. I think business should be looking at WHAT can be gained by hiring older workers before dismissing them because of their age. 

The "old" generation come from an age where the job was valued and the employer valued the worker. Remember the gold watch and the party. Not so today and it is woe betide any employer that employs on a permanent basis because the catch cry of the today manager is flexibility. where instead of future planning for growth they plan for redundancy. I'm 69 and am just starting a diploma course to try for a position and I am well aware that I will be too old in 12 months time. But that will not stop me because I have skills that in 12 months time will be valued and I have work ethic. Something lacking in the now generation 

I applaud the initiative and agree with the comments already made but just wonder how successful the campaign will be. The wider issue really is "employment in general" which I do not believe is being adequately addressed world wide . The world has a rapidly increasing population and we are flat out into the technology revolution which is rapidly reducing employment with all the robotics now available in almost every industry, online purchasing, self checkouts in supermarkets, digital books, newspapers, magazines etc. One can just about do anything on line these days and when was the last time you saw men digging drains and trenches with picks and shovels? The building industry (as with most others) has largely become one of fitters and installers with all the labour/time saving devices available. Honestly where will the jobs come from for people to earn money to support themselves and families in the not too far distant future? 

How about a visual advertising campaign with this commercial shown in peak times (news, sport, reality shows etc) and in the newspapers so that both generations can see the message. 

Well I soppose, I am one of the luky ones, because at 69 I am still working part time and I am just about to complete studies, so that I can operate my own business as a bookkeeper. You are right, a lot of employers are very discrimetory towards the older generation. Serge 

John from QLD... don't feel torn, that the younger generation are feeling the impact of unemployment... the fight is to make it an EVEN PLAYING FIELD not to choose one above the other. If the younger ones can do the job then so be it but why discard the older employee simply based on the assumption that they are past their used by date... and by the way its not the government who can fix this, its business leaders who have the responsibility to change the ageist, sexist or ethnic attitude. 

Who decided that a 50 year old wakes up one day and no longer has skills and experience that are viable in the so called new world? In fact the 50 plus generation is a very unique and skilled group. This is the first generation to make the transition into the age of technology from the IBM golf ball typewriter to a computer keyboard, from a land line telephone to wireless communication, from snail mail to email, from face to face conversation to social media yet managed to learn and seamlessly apply technology into daily life - all within the last 20 years - yet they are seen to be dinosaurs who are stuck in a time warp. (excuse me, I need to laugh here.) Imagine what an amazing workplace it would be if the 30 something year olds could tap into the experience of the 50 plus employee working side by side. Imagine the productivity when the 50 plus attitude permeates to show how to manage family and work without the condition of ‘what’s in it for me’? More importantly imagine the amazing community we’d be creating where everyone matters regardless of any age mixing old experience with young energy. Perhaps I’m too idealistic… 

I always feel torn when I comment on this subject because young people are just as badly impacted by unemployment as older people. The problem is that Abbot wants to force older people into poverty by increasing the pension age when there are no jobs for older people and there is zero enforcement of anti discrimination laws for the old. If you are a woman or a person who is not Anglo Saxon the media will move heaven and earth to report the matter but old people are ignored by them because they are a dying market. Furthermore the worst discriminators are State and Federal Government bodies. 

HOW COME THE TRAVEL INSURANCE COMPANIES CHARGE US EXCESSIVE PREMIUMES TO TRAVEL COME AGE 70 PLUS ....WHEN THE GOVERMENT WANTS TO INCREASE THE PENSION AGE TO 70 ????