Blaming the elderly is a tired old argument, Kevin

T.Chong says:

08:14am | 26/01/10

Once agaain Bronny, you are sadly tryng to create a straw man in order to mightily beat it down.
Rudd was stating a fact, not bagging older Australians, nor questioning their contributions, or rights , or anything else.
PS Bronny, after the hilarity of you playing dressups (Parra jumper etc), I can hardly wait to see you decked out like the cool hippys (above), in order to show solidarity.

Muzz says:

08:33am | 26/01/10

Rudd believes older Australians should be encouraged to work longer and stop discrimination in the work place of older Australians.
Then last week Emerson came out and said on Sky News the Libs should tell Yourself and Ruddock and Tuckey and some other older politicians to move on. He said Labor have always encouraged older politicians to move on so they can introduce new and younger people to move up to renew the party.
Isn’t that what you call “discrimination of older workers in the work place? I think he and his Leader need to get on the same page.

Evan Findlay says:

09:16am | 26/01/10

Bronwyn your comments only confirm that you were out of your depth as the Minister for Aged Care. Having worked within the Aged Care sector during your reign as a Minister is was blatantly obvious that you did not understand the needs of not only the elderly but also the care providers. Having moved away from aged care due to the work conditions, under staffing and lack of remuneration, I now find myself working in both public and private hospitals and sorry to rain on your parade but once again it is the elderly that make up the majority of our patients. So as more of our elderly citizens enter their twilight years, unfortunately our hospital systems will be under extensive financial stress. You are correct that new technologies and medications are expensive so it astounds me that you can’t do simple calculations. More admissions x more services x more medications = more dollars. The dollars have to come from somewhere. Unlike your heartless government the answer does not lie in cutting funding to the health system. Glad too see that not all dinosaurs are extinct.

Paul says:

10:10am | 26/01/10

Bronwyn using the elderly to kick Rudd on Australia Day gets you my award for the unAustralian Order Medal. What about talking about the bigger labour ‘cost’ issue that you seem to run from? Caregivers and aged care workers arn’t throwaway, low-cost robots Bronwyn, to be further shafted by heartless schemes like Workchoices - they are amongst the most loving, hardworking, underpaid, undervalued cornerstones of our community. The future dignity of care and humanity of this industry revolve mostly around labour issues and lack of planning and insight by leaders like you. Until both sides of politics can face up to this issue like mature adults, you are disrespecting our elders, our parents and a generation that generously built many forms of wealth for Australia.

Steve of Cornubia says:

10:33am | 26/01/10

Hi Bronwyn. This is just another example of Rudd saying one thing and doing another. There seems to be very little connection between Rudd’s public and personal (i.e. actual) agendas.

Shane From Melbourne says:

01:01pm | 26/01/10

Did Peter Costello forward allocate funds to the states to cover the extra cost of maternity wards, kindergardens, primary schools etc for this mini-baby boom? Hell no. The states should be screaming murder on this as well increased levels on immigration, since they are the ones who have to put up for the infrastructure. Rudd’s greatest mistake was the pension increase since it’s basically locked in forever and as soon as the babyboomers start to retire, the federal budget is going to feel the strain. I predict large scale emigration and tax evasion by the professionals as they realize that where their taxes are going, while average angry punter is going to be voting in a lot of one term governments when they realize there is no solution.

iansand says:

01:18pm | 26/01/10

I once heard a statistic that approximately half of the total lifetime cost of healthcare for an individual is incurred in the last 18 months of life.  If that recollection is correct, regardless of the introduction of new drugs and technologies, the majority of the bucks go on keeping old people alive.  Bronny is in fantasyland.

Tom says:

01:57pm | 26/01/10

Bronwyn, Rudd was just stating a fact that the costs imposed by the ageing population will (not might, will) become unsustainably high for future generations. When the pension was introduced, most people didn’t live much beyond 65, however today the average life expectancy is 80 and growing. It makes sense that if you are living longer, you will have to work longer as well. Paying the pension for 15, 20 or 30 years to each retiree along with the attendant health expenses is something this country simply cannot afford without people working longer and paying taxes to fund this. One day the grey lobby will have to look beyond their self interest and face this fact.

TC says:

02:32pm | 26/01/10

This guy reminds me of my daughter after a shopping binge. “ive spent it alI Dad, can I have some more?

I love the way Rudd has spent everything, and I mean everything and then some, and now he thinks everyone should work harder and longer.

The best thing for Australia’s future would be to stop Rudd working so hard handing out money we dont have to people who dont contribute.

ridusofrudd says:

03:11pm | 26/01/10

A timely articleBronwyn.

A plan for 2050 is what one comes to expect from Priscilla the Pretend PM. Back in 1970 who could forcast 1. The Mobile Phone 2. The internet 3. Water Rationing in Australia 4. The medical miracles now so common. No government can plan for the future. Russia & China have tried and failed.

Each time he speaks Rudd reveals himself to be more a man of straw. He is incapable of holding a conversation with the Australian people. His many many failures since conning his way to office have been overlooked by the tame and largely leftist media.

Albert says:

03:27pm | 26/01/10

Ah yes. Goodness me. There is certainly nothing new in the mid summer lectures of the Shadow Minister. So let’s just see exactly when our Government started thinking aloud about our ageing population.

Looks like Ms Bishop may need her memory refreshed. Because the first such Intergenerational Report was produced for that well-known sermoniser and once-was Treasurer, Peter Costello for the 2002-2003 budget.

And the second? Perhaps Ms Bishop has forgotten that too— inadvertently I’m quite sure—but it too was produced for Mr Costello. In 2007.

Golly Gosh. Isn’t that a surprise! And here they both are, kept safe by that nest of Socialist Vipers in the Treasury. http://www.treasury.gov.au/igr/IGR2007.asp
And why might that be? Just possibly because the demogrpahy and policy shifts are so inexorable that there’s a stutory requirement to produce a fresh Intergenerational report every 5 years. And what do they show? Pretty much similar issues that the Prime Minister has reminded us of now.

But Ms Bishop prefers shifting the blame, pretending she’s found something wearisomely stale, when all along she ought to know the government needs to develop policies to ensure an ageing Australian population can be properly catered for - and that hasn’t yet been achived - by *any* Government, Ms Bishop.

It will take some care and attention over some span of years. Many of us do know we need to plan for our ageing population, and keep a sharp eye on the way things are going.  So the third such report, Intergenerational Report: Australia to 2050: Future Challenges,  is to be released in coming weeks.

At least our Prime Minister knows what its for. Unlike the Shadow Minister, apparently. Pity. But then, it’s not her shadow portfolio any more. Just as well.

Peter of Adelaide says:

03:35pm | 26/01/10

An excellent down to earth and informative article including advice amongst other things that .........” The reality is that ageing accounts for only one fifth of the rising health costs.”  I have not heard that statement before and I doubt that I would have if you had not provided it.  Mr. Rudd likes to hide information like that so as to continue to mislead the people.

stephen says:

04:21pm | 26/01/10

I would think, Bronwyn, the thing conducive to your argument would be the derring-do of Phillip Nitshke.

Sitting in a deck-chair
somewhere in Majorca
drinking pina colada.

Brad Coward says:

05:31pm | 26/01/10

Kevin Rudd and Labor…..all talk and no action !  We want you to work longer but we wont make discrimination of the elderly illegal !  Please name me one person charged with being agist in the workplace….just one !

DWest says:

05:39pm | 26/01/10

@peter You wouldn’t have heard those stats because Bronwyn made them up. Perhaps Bronwyn would be kind enough to provide the calculations?

Michelle says:

08:00pm | 26/01/10

Kevin is using old folks in a carrot and stick game. The stick is: we are facing a demographic worker shortage, so work longer, work harder, and expect cuts to future public services. The carrot is: we have all the young workers out there in Asia if only Australia would open it’s borders to even higher immigration. As with most of what Rudd does, there is a globalist agenda behind a nationalist veil. His agenda is to advance his Asia Pacific Community. Joel Butler explains Rudd’s goal:
“Kevin Rudd’s proposal to implement an European Union-like organisation in the Asia-Pacific region is nothing short of insane… One of the basic structural processes operative in the EU is the free movement of people within the EU’s member countries… Using the very crude equivalent measure of Poles moving to the UK after its accession to the EU with these figures, an EU-type organisation that included Australia and these three Asian countries ... would see a migration to Australia of about 21.256 million people.”
http://onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7488

You heard that right: 20 million Asians/Indians headed this way. Rudd is paving the way for the free movement of labour across our border. That’s why Rudd welcomed the population forecast of 35 million by 2050: “I actually believe in a big Australia I make no apology for that”. That’s why: “Senator Evans says Australia’s immigration policy needs to be more responsive to Australia’s skills needs. He’s predicting a ‘great debate’ on the idea of bringing in more unskilled migrants”. And that’s why Rudd announced his Asia Pacific Community as: “Our special challenge is that we face a region with greater diversity ... But that should not stop us from thinking big…”

Rudd is a big thinker. So, if his domestic policies look dumb, that’s because they are setup to fail. And when they fail, he can then resort to the global solution whilst still maintaining the facade of a nationalist. Rudd thinks of himself as a great globalist shepherd leading his dumb nationalist flock to the greener pastures of open borders. His modus operandi is to appear nationalistic, whilst quietly advancing his globalist agenda. He doesn’t want to scare his flock, lest they rebel against open borders. I just wish all these opinion pieces on Kevin Rudd’s goofy domestic policies would stop viewing Rudd through the prism of nationalism. He is not a nationalist and you can’t understand him until you see his globalist agenda which will erode our national sovereignty and social cohesion for the sake of the misguided ideological dystopia of “imagine no countries”.

Mathew says:

08:17pm | 26/01/10

Brownyn! I’m shocked by you! Using naked people to sell a story? Also, did you get the permission of the nude people who are in the background of the image? Tut. tut. tut.