The number of people over 65 is projected to more than double over the next 40 years -- while the number of people aged 85 and older will more than triple. So what do we need to do now -- to cope with the pressures? Professor of Healthy Ageing at Australian Catholic University, Laurie Buys explains what it might mean for Australia.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Often we take a lens that having older people is doom and gloom and it's a burden.
00:08 Actually, if you take another way of looking at it, it's a wonderful opportunity.
00:14 We have 30 more years of living than we had expected back in 1909 and we didn't actually
00:21 see longevity coming.
00:23 Longevity means that we have a lot of life expectancy is now is 83.
00:29 We're living longer in better health.
00:31 We have a lot of opportunities to have a really meaningful life and do some really great things
00:37 for Australia now.
00:38 Nevertheless, though, we are going to have a much bigger, older population and fewer
00:43 younger people to support them.
00:45 That's not sustainable, is it?
00:47 Well, again, having a look about who supports who, it's all about if there's an assumption
00:55 that if you're over 65 that you actually require support.
01:00 That's not every 65-year-old needs support.
01:03 Not every 85-year-old needs support.
01:05 Yes, we need some really great in-home care.
01:08 We need some great infrastructure to support people, but by planning, it opens up opportunities
01:17 for employment for older people as well to do some caring work.
01:20 So, again, it's about how we frame the problem or the opportunity around what an aging population
01:27 brings to Australia.
01:30 Being devil's advocate here, though, Laurie, what's striking is the increase in the number
01:33 of people post 80 years old.
01:36 That brings with it inevitably more health issues, less mobility.
01:42 It does if we don't continue to have a healthy living up into there.
01:48 So older people, even in 85, living and exercising, living healthy lives, having meaning and purpose
01:55 in their lives, it actually means that they can live independently for much longer.
02:00 So, yes, we do need the support, but we need support to live, to engage and to deliver
02:06 outcomes for Australia.
02:08 Just because you're 85 doesn't mean that you stop contributing and having the ability to
02:13 be part of society.
02:15 So it's about delivering infrastructure.
02:18 And yes, we have to increase it.
02:20 But giving people the choices is really important.
02:24 And it's about planning for those choices.
02:26 So to offer those choices, then what needs to be done now to prepare for what's ahead?
02:32 It's around planning and enhancing that in-home care support.
02:37 The government's done a terrific job at starting that conversation and delivering some outcomes.
02:41 But it's about enhancing and giving, I guess, more and having more on the ground and planning
02:47 for that, which means we are preparing our care workforce and putting those infrastructures
02:54 in now so that they're ready to go to deliver that choice to the older consumer.
03:01 And Laurie, how do you see the combination of people having to look after their own care
03:05 financially, those who will need to rely on public support and those who can take care
03:09 of themselves, essentially?
03:13 And I think that's probably a conversation to have with business people.
03:17 But it's around getting the balance right.
03:21 It's around getting, I guess, those who can pay who can.
03:25 But it's around the balance.
03:27 And I think there's some very smart people who can do some modeling and to get that so
03:31 that we're not cut short later when it does happen.
03:35 It's about planning those business models now.
03:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]