Australia could be in for an “ageing crisis” as the Baby Boomers move out of the workforce and into retirement living, the Property Council of Australia has warned.
Though this year’s Intergenerational Report identified an ageing population as “Australia’s greatest demographic challenge”, Property Council’s NSW Executive Director Luke Achterstraat says that the reports over the past two decades foretelling the issue have not been adequately addressed.
“Despite all the evidence, there are no meaningful plans, or strategies to start mitigating the impacts of an increasingly older population.
“This is causing even more stress on our already strained health and aged care systems,” he said.
Mr Achterstraat is concerned that ideas such as those contained in NSW’s draft Housing SEPP – including raising the minimum entry age from 55 to 60 – are a step backwards for healthy ageing, and points to research showing retirement villages mitigate the two biggest causes of hospitalisation in older Australians: depression from social isolation, and falls.
This, he says, saves Governments more than $2 billion per year, and also helps village residents live independently on average five years longer than people in the general community.
“This is what healthy ageing is all about. It’s why we need more age-friendly communities, accessible to more people, rather than less.
“When Governments make it harder and more expensive to build and operate age-friendly communities, they are clearly not taking Australia’s ageing crisis seriously,” he said.
