New Plymouth Positive Ageing Trust

It’s great to be here, and I’d like to thank Mayor Peter Tennent and Jonathan Young MP for their warm welcome and introduction.

We have a lot to thank New Plymouth for.  This district has been leading the way for positive ageing in New Zealand for over a decade now.

New Plymouth has also given us John Cunningham.

It was John Cunningham who publicly asked the Hon David Carter, then Minister for Senior Citizens, to find funding at the end of the International Year of Older People to allow work on positive ageing to continue. 

That question led to the formation of the Volunteer Community Coordinators, who do an incredible job working with the Office for Senior Citizens. 

Their work helps identify what’s going on for older people at a community level, and what action is needed.

John is still the VCC for this area, and he was instrumental in bringing the first local council – yes that’s your local council – into the Government’s Positive Ageing Strategy Action Plan back in 2003. 

Since then, 35 other councils have got involved and are now contributing to the latest Action Plan.

You can be proud to have a strong leader like John in your community, proud to have a forward thinking council, and proud of the work you’ve all done.

As our demographics change, older people’s interests will increasingly be the interests of the country.

Today one in eight New Zealanders is aged 65 or older. By the middle of this century that number is projected to increase to one in four.

This Government sees New Zealand’s changing demographics not just in terms of challenges, but also in terms of opportunities.

Within my own portfolios, as both the Minister for Senior Citizens and Associate Minister of Local Government, I see huge opportunities for local government, with support from central government, to take the lead on older people’s issues.

You’re already demonstrating the power of this type of local action here in New Plymouth.

After getting on board with the first Positive Ageing Action plan, you formed the New Plymouth Positive Ageing Trust to ensure that older people in this district are actively involved in promoting positive ageing and planning the best way forward for the people of New Plymouth in the future.

This is the kind of community-led action the Government wants to support, encourage and even learn from.

When I came into office, one of the many documents that crossed my desk in the first few weeks was a briefing from the Office for Senior Citizens.

It identified what the opportunities and the challenges of my portfolio would be, and outlined the ten goals of the Positive Ageing Strategy.

Based on that, I decided I was going to champion three positive ageing priorities over the next few years.

These were the ones I thought would have the most impact on older people in their day-to-day lives, and the ones I thought we could get the most traction on at this time.

The first was employment of older people – encouraging flexible work options and negotiated retirement plans.  Today’s older people are different from their grandparents, and even their parents. 

We’re living longer, and in better health, and doing more.

It is a reality that already greater numbers of older people are opting to stay in the workforce longer, and the benefits, if they choose to do so, are not just economic.

Older people who keep working have more opportunities for social connectedness and often experience greater wellbeing.

It is to New Zealand’s detriment if we don’t appreciate the wealth and depth of wisdom, experience and know-how that older workers bring to the workplace.

Older people are important members of our society.  Their skills, knowledge and experience provide an invaluable resource.

Our ability to tap into the resources older people provide, by enhancing their opportunities to participate in society in the ways that they choose, will be critical for ensuring social and economic development.

So, I want to make sure that in New Zealand, we have the right policies in place to support older people to stay in work if they wish to.

Many older people are caring for someone – their partner, an elderly parent, sometimes even a grandchild.  Flexible work arrangements make it possible for them to continue to contribute at work while still meeting their other obligations.

It’s worth noting that even though unemployment has been rising, the unemployment rate for older people remains lower than the national average.

I am really impressed with all the work you do in collaboration with the business community, on raising awareness of the effects of an ageing population on the workforce, and promoting the advantages of employing mature job seekers.

This is a prime example of tackling this issue head-on. 

It’s the type of response I want to acknowledge, encourage, support, and champion.

The second priority I am championing is changing attitudes about ageing.

It’s about promoting the contributions older people make to their communities, while encouraging older people to continue to stay involved.

Our contribution and value to society don’t end when we stop work – there are many ways we can stay involved and continue to give.

These can include working with groups like the New Plymouth Ageing Trust, other groups like Rotary or Lions, and helping out at local schools.

Being involved, being seen, and having something to give helps change the younger generation’s attitude towards what it means to age.

The last priority I’m championing over the next few years is raising awareness about elder abuse and neglect prevention. 

This is part of the highly successful It’s Not Ok campaign, and targets older people, their families, caregivers, and friends.

It’s sad, but true, that most elder abuse is committed by family members. 

On Elder Awareness Day this year, back in June, I launched Take the Time: Value Older People.  This is a booklet raising awareness about elder abuse and neglect. 

It was produced by the Taskforce for Action on Family Violence in conjunction with Age Concern NZ as part of the Its Not OK campaign. 

The Government is showing its support by dedicating $1.5 million dollars each year towards funding elder abuse and neglect prevention services, and national co-ordination. In New Plymouth, that funding goes to Te Hauora Pou Heretaunga

These three priorities, when actively promoted, addressed and championed, can have a very real affect on the day-to-day lives of older people.

They will be my personal priorities over the next few years.

But this is not all the Government is doing to support older people – we’re aware of the challenges, what needs doing, and also the opportunities.

We’ve been in Government for nearly a year, and a challenging year at that.  But in that time, we’ve introduced a raft of initiatives designed to make older people’s lives better.

We’ve had to work within tight fiscal restraints, as now is not the time for unaffordable spending promises.  It is a time for practical programmes to drive economic growth. 

It’s about investing wisely for the long-term good of the country.  The best thing we can do for older people now and in the future is make this recession as short and as painless as possible.

So what have we done?

We’ve taken a responsible attitude towards managing New Zealand’s economic wealth.  We’ve made the tough, but necessary calls to cut some spending in order to preserve our international credit rating and to keep debt at manageable levels.

We all know borrowing to invest doesn’t make smart financial sense, so we’ve suspended the automatic contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund until we’re back in budget surpluses. 

We will, however, make a partial contribution in this tax year of $250 million dollars. 

None of these financially-wise moves will have any impact on current entitlements.

In fact, we’ve committed almost $20 million dollars over the next four years to maintaining NZ Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension after-tax married rates at a minimum of 66 percent of the average wage, rather than letting them drop back to 65 percent.

In anticipation of an increasingly ageing population, we’ve kept KiwiSaver, but re-worked it to make it more affordable for all New Zealanders.

As at 30 June 2009, over 1 million New Zealanders were actively saving for their retirement through KiwiSaver. 

Encouraging people to take responsibility for their own financial independence while being good stewards of New Zealand’s Superannuation Fund means in the future, with on-going support from the Government, older people will be able to maintain their standard of living as they move into retirement.

Health is always a major concern of older people, and this Government has already taken steps to put more money into health where it counts. 

We’ve invested an additional $3 billion dollars in health priorities over the next four years – including $750 million dollars in 2009/2010.

This Government is committed to ensuring this investment is focused on the frontline where services are delivered.

Budget 2009 highlights that affect older people include:

• $4 million dollars over four years to provide more training for health professionals in rural areas


• $70 million dollars for up to 800 additional health professionals over four years to increase services for New Zealanders requiring elective surgery


• $89.5 million dollars over four years to improving quality and supervision in aged residential care facilities and respite care for those being care for by others at home


• $60 million dollars over four years for hospice and palliative care.

As a result of that extra funding, hospices average funding level is now 70 per cent met by the taxpayer.

That’s more money going into community palliative care, inpatient care, a volunteer support network, day care facilities, bereavement counselling and social work and chaplaincy.

All of these actions will have an impact on the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders and this has long term effects for everyone.

One of the key indicators of an older person’s standard of living is whether or not they own their own home, and if that home is warm.

In New Plymouth, you beat the national average on home ownership - 59 per cent of households own the dwelling, compared to 54.5 per cent of households for New Zealand as a whole.

We’ve also fast-tracked over $120 million dollars of investment into state houses.  This is part of the Government’s Jobs and Growth plan.  We’ll up-grade older state houses and build new ones. 

Increasing the affordable housing stock will help younger people get into homes earlier, pay them off faster, and have more chance of owning their own home as they retire.

Warm-up New Zealand will receive $323 million dollars over four years for a campaign to fit homes with insulation and clean heating devices such as heat pumps and approved wood burners.

Warmer homes are healthier homes and once again this will have an impact on people’s health as they age.

As a government we are trying to address some of the challenges that New Zealand faces with an ageing population. 

How do we maintain accessible and appropriate healthcare for all when more and more people are likely to need it?

How do we plan for retirement with an ageing population and decreasing workforce to support it?

How do we keep older people engaged in the community and recognise their on-going contributions?

How do we address elder abuse and neglect when older people can be reluctant to speak out?

None of these challenges have easy answers, but by working together and focusing on the opportunities we do have, I believe we can find long-term solutions that work for the whole country.

We would do well to remember those opportunities whenever we can, so we can ask ourselves, are we taking advantage of what we can do?

Are we working well with local councils to promote positive ageing initiatives?

Are we supporting employers to hire older workers who want to continue working?

Are we supporting those people who wish to stay in the workforce longer?

Are we promoting a range of suitable housing options for older people?

Every October 1, New Zealand, along with many other countries around the world, celebrates the United Nations International Day of Older Persons.

The International Day provides a focus for us to concentrate on the huge contribution older people make to society in every walk of life; as grandparents, friends and as mentors to the younger generation.

You have been celebrating the International Day, here in New Plymouth, for a decade and you are leaders in this field. 

I would like to think every community was doing the kind of things that you are doing here, so older people know how much they are valued.

I believe in New Plymouth you are making the most of those opportunities, and you are making a real difference in the lives of older people.

I applaud you for your work, for the leadership of people like John Cunningham, who, like all good leaders, isn’t working alone.

And I applaud you for the out-standing work your council has done.

I encourage you to continue to come up with ideas, create action plans, and put initiatives into action.

I want to hear about what you’re doing, and how it’s working, so we at central government can learn from you.

And we’ll continue to listen to your concerns and put in place the types of policies and programmes needed to support the great work that’s being done.

Thank you.