Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens will be supporting this motion because we do believe that there are barriers to older people being able to access the workforce and being able to work. However, we do not necessarily agree with all of the statements that Senator Day just made. We do note that older Australians are increasingly making up the highest proportion of long-term unemployed and that they are suffering from age discrimination. There are issues about workplace compensation and there are issues around being able to access adequate training as an older Australian. The Willing Older Workers, a group working with older unemployed Australians, has given very compelling evidence about the barriers that older people face in trying to gain access to work in Australia. That is the reason we will be supporting this motion.

Question agreed to.