I’m taking a break from the day-to-day COVID controversies to focus on our future, the state of the budget in 2061 and what it means for older Australians.   Every five years, the Intergenerational Report, which came out last week from the federal government, seeks to predict the balance of future budgets.   And every time, it seems the bogeyman in the room is the ageing population and the ... read more>

You’ve probably been sent an ‘ageist’ birthday card with the kind of gag: ‘You know you are getting older when your back goes out more than you do.’   I’ve sent and got them and generally had a chuckle, but age activists around the world, and maybe here, are targeting such cards to combat ageism. Crazy or cunning?   When I turned sixty, I was happy to get any birthday cards, even those who ... read more>

The resurrection of death duties. It may just be the will of the people!   Death duties may be back on the table partly because our kids apparently don’t expect a free handout when us parents ‘predecease’ them.   And governments may use this social development to argue for the return of 'death' and estate taxes to haunt families again.   New social research says older Australians increasi... read more>

We over-50s have, as rarely before, come of age. Not often in the significant issues of the day are our opinions so counted and our support so eagerly sought. Instead of feeling marginalised and irrelevant, our decisions around COVID vaccinations can make a real difference: you could argue the whole enterprise hinges on us. So how does it feel to be important again? Policy is rarely as ag... read more>

I’m calling for an armistice in the so-called ‘inter-generational war’ after the skirmishes around housing availability, and affordability have turned nasty. The salvos of blame games must cease, if only temporarily, to see what we can all do to try and find some better solutions to get younger people into homeownership. The recent blog, which suggested baby boomers were selfish by not do... read more>