Sally Jones
Sally Jones is the National Convenor of Older Women's
Network Australia (OWNA). She was born in
Commentaries by Sally Jones:
18 August 2010
Inconsequential Arguments
I
believe that our journey through life, the teachings of our elders, their
circumstances and influence, our education in schools, church, employment,
marriage and parenthood, build the person that we are today. In this belief I
look at the major Party Leaders and their experiences that have influenced and
moulded them. One does not suddenly become a leader. One is not born a leader.
With this in mind which leader will be the better Prime minister. Who can lead
their party to do the very best for this country in this World crisis that
exists today.
In the eleven years that the Liberals were in power they scrimped and saved and put us into surplus, saving money by not funding Health, Housing, Education and Pensions, to name but a few.
That surplus was put to good use to save
Many women I have spoken to are confused, women who have never been
swinging
voters, this time, are finding no real direction. Many women would like to see a
woman in the top job but only as a strong leader.
Technology is moving very fast is we need plans for the very best we can produce
from the current knowledge gathered from around the world. Not lag behind the
rest of the.
To express this in
women’s terms; You can’t get the recipe right if you don’t have all the
ingredients, or you can’t knit a jumper to the right size without the correct
amount of wool. Let’s have it right in the first place. What we all want is
vision into the future not just next year.
Many Liberal Party policy items appear to be stop gap solutions, doing things by
halves usually results in projects becoming redundant before they are activated.
Our Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren deserve the best education. We need
the best teachers rewarded by the right pay packet.
The construction and
engineering industries must attract apprentices by paying them a better training
wage.
All types of hospitals; General, Mental, Maternity, Respite and Transitional
Care need many more doctors, dentists and career nurses, better wages for health
workers is paramount.
The ageing population has been addressed by a promise of beds. Where are we to house these beds? The private sector has slowed down building Nursing homes and retirement villages. Are the aged to be put out to grass, literally, in rows of tents?
Refugees after assessment will need housing, jobs and health care, their
children need schools, does it matter where they are assessed?
Religion, Sexual persuasion, Country of origin or hair color have never been a
political pre-requisite for election, why is so much time being wasted on
inconsequential argument?
4 August 2010
Ageing
Population
Both major
parties have declared that the next three years will be a time of little
spending or hand outs. We presume by this that for the next three years there
will be no pension increases to offset the higher price of electricity, water,
food, medicines, and necessary items needed by older people and the disabled to
stay alive in a healthy state.
There are
reports that large cut backs are coming to health and other areas should we vote
for Mr. Abbott. One should remember that the Previous Liberal Government, were
not very generous with pensions and also cut back on oral health and education
to retrain the long term unemployed. Who knows how far the current Liberal Party
will wish to denude services to the most vulnerable Australians.
Meanwhile older
people have not had much detail about our future should we vote Labor.
The grey vote in
this election could be very crucial if we are to believe the statistics produced
on the ageing population. In fact the mere mention of the ageing population
seems to make all party politicians rapidly change the topic. Much has been
published about the population explosion by births and ‘new arrivals’ but
nothing on the offset of numbers by deaths. If we are to presume, by this, that
we are expected to live forever in a state of wellness, this next government
needs to address the provision for housing, health and care us as we age.
Mr. Abbott’s
promise about beds is fine, but where are the beds to be and where is the staff
coming from? Beds have been promised before not enough not seen not staffed.
Early
intervention and HACC is the key to home services, not mythical beds in
understaffed hospitals and homes.
It appears that
all politicians have this “I’m all right Jack” attitude with regard to ageing,
based on the fact that they will retire with a golden handshake, travel
freebies, open doors to company chairmanships (regardless of their age), and
biographic book deals.
Why should they
worry about the poor people? Well
the poor people vote too and there are more of them.
This week the UK
Government passed a new law that protects older working people from being sacked
when reaching the age of 65. This will prevent discrimination of older employees
who wish to continue working as long as they are able.
There has been no mention of a similar status for older Australians.
While there has
been slamming of the insulation, solar and school hall expenditure and the talk
of stopping this funding, I would like to remind everyone that many, many, older
people are getting through this winter with lower fuel bills and saving energy
in the process, thanks to these installations. Many school children are enjoying
having extra facilities. The building industry generally has escalations of
costs and many accidents also.
We demand better positive policy on Ageing.
The Date for
the election has now been announced just three weeks from Julia Gillard taking
over as Prime Minister.
We will only
now finally be made aware of the policies we have been waiting for, as we are
bombarded by the media with the inevitable rhetoric from the, so called, experts
in political understanding.
To quote “How
can I compare thee…..”, Ms. Gillard has a propensity to relate to her
family upbringing and devotion to this country for which I admire her.
Experience of the ‘
Mr. Abbott
has changed his direction in life, his faith and opinions on many subjects.
To quote
Peter Costello, “Tony always saw himself as something of a romantic figure, a
Don Quixote ready to take on lost causes and fight for great principles. Never
one to be held back by financial consequences of decisions, he had grandiose
plans for public expenditure”. What we ask is has he changed? And will he change
himself again?
One item,
that is being quoted, is the rise in the cost of living over the past three
years. Are we honestly expected to believe that, in this World monetary crisis,
the cost of living would not have risen if we had not had a change of government
in 2007? Would
We have an
Ageing population that needs multitudes of future children to have a magnificent
education system, growing up to work and pay taxes. This will then ensure that
we have an affordable, efficient public health system, plenty of public nursing
homes, plenty of public housing and an understanding of why they have it.
My major
policy wish is to have a free Medicare system that actually embraces the whole
of body wellness, ie: that is one that includes teeth, ears and physio.
Housing
The Older
Women’s Network congratulate Julia Gillard on her rise to Prime Minister and
will be interested see what new policies she will put in place.
I will quote
part of a piece from The Sunday Telegraph by Paul Howes, national secretary of
the Australian Workers’ Union: “What matters is the type of country we want
With that in
mind especially the “Aussie fair go” I look at the relationship with
immigration, workers and housing.
The effect of
the next immigration policy on housing is of great interest to the thousands of
Australians who have been on public housing waiting lists for many years.
Pensioners and low income workers who just manage to scrape through from one
week to another in order to pay their increasing private rental rates. Whilst
everyone concedes the need and desperation of families who have risked
everything to escape war torn areas to come to this wonderful free country, in
impossibly cramped leaky boats, to provide them with a safe roof over their
heads. The fact remains that to many who are not technically homeless it can be
seen a queue jumping when there is insufficient public housing anywhere in this
country.
Labor is looking
at a Population Policy with a two speed immigration and two speed economy (what
ever that might really mean). To place skilled immigrants where workers are
needed is idealistic, if there was housing in that area there would be workers a
plenty living in them. Likewise placing them in an area where there is plenty of
housing is totally non existent.
A Federal
Government investigation into nursing home conditions is way overdue and has
been prompted by a situation in a
It has been
noticed that quite a few politicians have been quitting their Parties to join
the Australian Greens. With the Green Party policies firmly in place (except how
they will be funded) it will be interesting as the election nears to see which
side they put their allegiance with.
18 June 2010
Policies
I have just
received through my snail mail box a leaflet entitled, “Support real action”
Tony Abbott and the Liberal team’s Six Point Plan.
1. Reducing Debt –
To safeguard future
generations.
2. Encouraging Small Business -
To create real jobs and prosperity.
3. Protecting the Environment –
And not just a big
new tax.
4. Stop illegal immigration –
To protect our
borders and keep
5. Protecting Private Health –
To ease the burden
on the public system.
6. Securing Water –
To protect our
future and return the bush to prosperity.
It instructed me
to go to the web site for more information, how wonderful, finally some
policies. Alas how wrong can you be. On investigating the Liberal Party web site
it simply invites the public to tell the Party what the public want them to do.
A Political Party who the public has voted into office and
are being paid to represent us want the general public (unpaid) to do their work
for them ?
Does this mean that if they take up our suggestions and
are subsequently criticized they can then say “It wasn’t their idea”?
I would like to
ask readers who are on a pension, regardless of what type, to think back past
the last three years, before there was a pension increase and a plan for our,
then failing, health system, before money was being put into school buildings
and assistance to encourage home greening projects.
Is it the Labor
Party’s fault if the financial situation all over the world is in a mess?
Let us please
look at the bigger picture and remember why Kevin 07 was the flavor of the year.
4 June 2010
An Opposition without Policies
Having discussed both the budget contents and the reply by the opposition my colleagues and I are still at a loss to find any credit in either camp. They are all very lack lustre.
The media across the
board are simply looking for things to negatively pick at. Now being a part of
the media (in a sense) I really do not want to be seen to be another person
desperately looking for something to comment on.
We are so disappointed
by the continued statements by the opposition saying that they will disclose
their policies before the election. To coin a phrase, “Can we believe them” now
or in the future, can leopards change their spots?. What about the other smaller
parties, where are their comments? Are they hiding behind the skirts of the two
main contenders because they also have no policies to offer?
The Euro was supposed to help keep the economy stable
across the continent, however the spiral of people not spending money, therefore
not buying the goods manufactured or farmed have caused part of this problem.
The Labor Government tried to avoid this here by the grants that were handed out
to encourage spending to keep the economy flowing, which was successful. We may
have a deficit now but not to the extent of
The loudest voices in this land that complain about taxes are mostly the richest. It would be nice to see more consideration of the poor and the battlers who have a hard time just staying housed and fed.
18 May 2010
BUDGET / HEALTH
Media reports seem to be very biased in their reporting of the budget and the opposition response. My members would like to wait to comment on this budget until the opposition (Mr. Hockey) clarifies the methods its proposed measures will be paid for. It would also be beneficial for opposition comments on the Henry report items that this government has chosen to disregard.
***
Following my previous comments re Oral Health
(Australian 12 May)
“The Denticare scheme scrapped”
The government has not
acted on recommendations to establish a $5 billion Denticare program. The plan
for providing basic dental services to the entire population either free of
charge or on a heavily subsidised basis, despite favourable reaction from
consumer groups.
The Federal Government
says its policy for improving dental health remain, its proposed Commonwealth
Dental Health Program, which would provide 1 million new services for needy
Australians by providing more for state run public dental services.
According to the National Health and Hospitals Network Agreement existing public dental services are still the responsibility of the States.
More policy information is needed on this topic from all parties.
The National Health and Hospitals Network Agreement sets out
where the responsibilities will lie with regards to funding.
The principles of this agreement are not just monetary but outline future strategies for extra beds, in hospitals and Nursing homes
Extra super qualified nurses for doctor’s practices,
Extra nurses to care for the “bed blockers”, where ever they are sent to.
Extra aged care nurses for our ageing population be they in nursing homes or “ageing in place”
What is the policy to attract more nurses into the system.
Is education the answer?
A suggestion is that Career Officers could target schools from year 9 to encourage vocational education, directional to the medical profession in much the same way that the Armed Forces go into schools to recruit.
It takes time for a doctor or nurse to be a fully trained and when they are qualified what policy will be put in place to keep them in this country, to fill the positions that will be ever vacant as the population grows and ages.
Many nurses once trained go to work where the dollar is
highest whether that is in this country or overseas. Nurses from poor countries
are trained here, become wise and still will go where the money is.
The answer is
surely a federal pay structure and status respect that will keep them in
4 May 2010
Health (Part 2)
COAG is over, with total
concentration on the National Health and Hospital agreements being signed. While
everyone was talking hospitals and money and how it was to be allocated, the
statement made about the prevention issues of alcohol, smoking and obesity were
barely heard. However the issue of oral health has still yet to be mentioned at
all.
Swedish researchers Anders Holmlund, Gunnar Holm and Lars Lind have released the results of a study that states; “Cardiovascular disease and in particular coronary heart disease is closely related to the number of teeth a person has left, a person with fewer that 10 of their own teeth has seven times higher risk for death by coronary heart disease than a person of the same age and same sex with more than 25 teeth.”
Good oral health also has an effect on nutrition and diet. Eating a healthy diet of fresh fruit and crispy vegetables full of vitamins can be very difficult or impossible without some good teeth. Oral deterioration leads to a diet of highly processed mushy food.
Not only is this diet not nutritious, the frustration and desperation of it can lead to smoking or alcohol consumption as a substitute.
When we talk
“prevention” Dentistry should be top of the list. Free dental treatment is
mostly only available for emergencies, for all other treatments the waiting
lists are long by the time an emergency comes along it is too often too late to
save the tooth. Worse still a dental check could diagnose mouth cancer early
enough for intervention treatment.
Not being able to eat
properly prevents eating with others thus we now touch on social isolation.
The elderly are being encouraged to “age in place”, HACC will ensure that someone will come for an hour once a fortnight to help with cleaning, someone can come and take them shopping, meals on wheels can deliver. Who observes the actually eating.
The older person living alone is subject to isolation and the depression that is often mistaken for the onset of Dementia.
Health
It is with interest
that we follow the current policy statements on ‘Health’ and notice there is no
mention of preventative medicine. Many pensioners cannot afford private health
care. This means long waiting lists for specialist help, and dental care. We
need a better health care system that also embraces preventative medicine,
especially regular dental care.
The Older Women’s Network has grave concerns over
residential aged care. With everyone becoming more aware of the growth in the
ageing population, the statements with reference to nursing home beds is
becoming mind boggling. Where are these beds?
Where is the staff to service them? Where is the
money coming from?
1 million Australians receive some kind of aged care,
there are 2800 nursing homes across the whole of the country, without enough
staff to care for the clients. There were 12,573 calls to aged care
investigators in 2008-09 and 1411 assaults in nursing homes. (quote
The Age) Before we start shunting the elderly from our hospitals we need
more nursing homes to place them in with a higher ratio of staff to patients.
Nursing homes are not just a place for the elderly, they
also accommodate the disabled and the mentally ill. The increase in some forms
of dementia in younger adults will exacerbate this situation unless addressed
now.
In a multicultural society there must be allowances made
for the understanding of clients who as dementia progresses will lose their
understanding of the English language and revert to their native tongue.
Any policy must include a pay rise for nursing staff and a recruitment drive to train more.
2 April 2010
The
Older Women’s Network
It is committed to
promoting the dignity and well being of older women who have a right to be
recognized for their contribution to the economic, political, social and
cultural areas of life.
OWN believes in a society rich in social capital where mutual respect and trust
are paramount, where diversity and debate are valued and where people and their
networks have a legitimate voice.
Our issues include; health, housing, age care, finance, transport,
discrimination, violence and abuse.
As we get older we
realize how little time we have to make things right. Older women for most of
their lives have multi tasked making important decisions on the run. Which is
why it is so very frustrating to see our politicians, who are paid admirably,
wasting so much precious time at parliamentary sittings acting like children
bickering about inconsequential rubbish. We want our politicians to get on with
the job that they are paid to do.
Older women would like
to see each political party, present their policies in a manner that can be
understood without a Masters degree. Policies that are clear cut, straight to
the point and precise in their meaning with no double talk. We need to
comprehend the differences in each policy that we might then make educated
decisions on which party will address our specific needs and ensure our health
and welfare.
From an ageing perspective we have a wish list that includes:
Good policies on
preventative health, especially free dental care.
A new policy on
disability, carer and age pensions, with a more realistic assessment of rent
allowances. Money could be saved by disallowing pensions to persons living
overseas.
A policy needs to
address senior housing, public housing retirement villages, as well as more
government nursing homes. Nursing homes to have a compulsory higher ratio of
trained staff to clients to ensure better care.
Reciprocal
acknowledgment of senior discount cards across the States is admirable but more
equality on concessions in other areas could be made.
Free retraining of
seniors to enable them to regain employment until pension age.
A policy that
standardizes the laws governing Powers of Attorney and Health Directives, will
give protection from some forms of Elder abuse.