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

I rise tonight to discuss mature-age workers, a cohort of Australians I am very worried about, particularly in the midst of this crisis and recession. The data paints an unsettling and upsetting picture for anyone concerned about the wellbeing of older Australians. It shows that our older workers are having a particularly difficult time in the labour market, especially through the coronavirus crisis. For example, employment for people aged 50 years and over fell by 3.4 per cent in April this year. The number of Australians aged over 50 who are unemployed or working zero hours significantly increased in the month of April. Australians aged over 55 also spent a much longer time looking for jobs compared to the younger age groups.

One of the shortcomings of this data from the ABS is that it hides the cohorts that are specifically struggling at this time, including older Australians from CALD backgrounds, disabled people and women. Older workers face a myriad of barriers in the workplace, including ageism and discrimination. These are especially pronounced during a recession, when jobs are scarcer. We have all heard accounts from people who have been told to remove their age from their CV and to dye their hair if they want to keep their job, or have been refused training on the basis of their age.

Tonight I want to express my strong concern that the government isn't considering the needs of older workers enough at this time. One of the ways we could better support older unemployed workers is by improving the job active scheme. I have spoken a lot about the job active scheme in this place. I often hear from people who have been discriminated against by their provider on the basis of their age. For example, they been told to look for volunteer roles instead of paid work. We need to embark on a process of educating employment consultants to ensure they are equipped to sensitively assist older unemployed workers. There needs to be a greater focus on career guidance and a pathway for providers to specialise in helping disadvantaged older workers.

The Career Transition Assistance program is one way employment providers can help older workers. While I welcome the recent announcement this program now has a separate funding source, I have concerns that it is not geographically dispersed, and the referral rate to date has been incredibly low. Another way we could better support older workers would be by retaining the rate of the jobseeker payment. Before COVID, people aged over 45 years made up the largest age cohort on jobseeker and they spent the longest time out of work. Setting income support payments above the poverty line would prevent older people ageing in poverty on the aged pension. This should be coupled with the relaxed eligibility requirements around income and asset tests until the economy has recovered. We still have a lot of work to do to ensure older workers aren't left behind. Older workers were already doing it tough juggling health issues, caring responsibilities and facing discrimination in the workplace and when trying to find work.

The government needs to step up and show leadership at this critical time; otherwise, a whole large cohort of older Australians who are seeking work may never find work again. Where is the recovery plan for older workers to ensure they have specialist support to help them find work and access better training? Where is the reach out to expand the Career Transition Assistance program so it is better geographically dispersed, so that more people, older Australians, can access it? While we have such a large cohort of older Australians who are being discriminated against, where ageism is playing a clear role in keeping people out of work, we cannot drop these hardworking Australians, who will want to regain work, on to $40 a day. It is unconscionable to do that to this group of Australians.