Queensland Bike Week 2012
Published February 14, 2012 | 
Be a part of Bike Week 2012 from 10th to 18th March – Queensland’s nine-day cycling spectacular, offering a feast of cycling events for all ages and abilities, and featuring the BDO Brisbane Coot-tha Challenge, Great Brisbane Bike Ride & Goldcross Cycles Family Fun Ride.
More serious riders might like to take the challenge of one of the most unique rides in Australia; 85kms featuring both mountain and city terrain, with a timed 2.3km climb up Mt Coot-tha. The BDO Brisbane Coot-tha Challenge, along with the Great Brisbane Bike Ride and Goldcross Cycles Family Fun Ride, mark the finale of Bike Week 2012. Visit coot-tha.bq.org.au for event info and entries, including fundraising for the Endeavour Foundation.
The Festival will present a range of rides and (mostly) free activities catering for the cycle-fanatics and cycling newcomers alike! Go to www.bikeweek.bq.org.au for details of all the available rides. Some events can be entered on the day but are subject to capacity, and will incur a late fee, so all participants are encouraged to register online to guarantee their spot.
Finding lost superannuation
Published January 25, 2012 | The Australian Taxation Office SuperSeeker tool at www.ato.gov.au/individuals/ can help you find any lost or unclaimed superannuation. SuperSeeker can also help you to lodge a request to have any funds that you do find transferred into another super account.
To conduct a search you will need to provide full names, date of birth and your Tax File Number (TFN).
Using SuperSeeker on the phone is also quick and easy. Phone the self-help line on 13 28 65, Fast Key Code 1 then 2.
You are not obliged to transfer your lost super, but you should consider contacting the fund that reported you as a lost member to update your contact information and remove your details from the lost super register.
Where unclaimed super or other super amounts are found, you can follow the links to the claim forms provided by SuperSeeker to make a claim. Alternatively, you may phone 13 10 20 for more information about these accounts.
The lost members register (LMR) holds lost member records from all regulated super funds in Australia, other than self-managed super funds. Super funds are required to provide updated information by 30 April and 31 October each year.
Mental health of older Australians is being ignored
Published January 25, 2012 | The mental health of older Australians is being ignored despite key mental health issues such as men over 85 having the highest age-specific suicide rate and the elderly having a prescription rate for anxiety, insomnia and sedative drugs at 500% of the general population, according to a statement released by The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age.
The statement, ‘Priority must be given to investment that improves the mental health of older Australians’, is calling for the government to include older people in all mental health planning to improve their quality of care, remove discrimination and obtain better understanding of the mental health needs of older Australians. “It is vital these issues be considered in the Commonwealth Government’s Ten Year Roadmap for Mental Health Reform and response to the Productivity Commission Report into Aged Care,” said Dr Roderick McKay, Chair of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age.
“Untreated mental illness robs older Australians of their quality of life, physical health and independence at significant cost to individuals, family and community. While there are effective mental health treatments for older people, limited resources deny them equitable access,” said Dr McKay.
“In the next 20 years, the number of Australians over 65 will double, yet the mental health care of older people has been largely ignored in the mental health reform agenda,” said Dr McKay.
“To improve the quality of mental health care for older people we require national benchmarks in mental health services for older people, and national principles for providing coordinated care across different services for older Australians with mental illness. Basic mental health training for people working with older Australian is also essential,” said Dr McKay.
“To remove discrimination against older people with mental disorders we require community and residential aged care services that are inclusive of the needs of people with mental illness, we need removal of all barriers to older Australians in residential aged care accessing the same mental health services as the rest of the community and removal of all exclusions from access to mental health services on the basis of having dementia,” said Dr McKay.
“To obtain a better understanding of the mental health needs of older Australians we must undertake a survey of the mental health and wellbeing of older Australians which will identify all older people, fund research on effective mental health interventions in older people and fund mental health promotion activities,” said Dr McKay.
ACFT scams survey 2012
Published January 25, 2012 | The Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce (ACFT) would like to know about any scams that you have received and how you have responded to them. Gathering this information will help to improve the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of scam offenders.
Take a minute to fill in the 2012 ACFT scams survey at www.survey.aic.gov.au/survey/AustralasianConsumerFraudTaskforceOnlineSurvey2012.
You can also visit the Australian Institute of Criminology website www.aic.gov.au.
The survey will run until 31 March 2012 and should only take a few minutes to complete. Your participation is entirely voluntary but please only complete the survey once.
Older workers prefer to ease into retirement
Published December 28, 2011 | WORKING 40-plus hours a week until the proverbial gold watch on retirement day is a dwindling ambition for older workers in Australia, with more than four in 10 planning to move to part-time work before calling it quits.
But for 13 per cent of workers aged over 45, life without a job is inconceivable — they plan to work until they drop.
An Australian Bureau of Statistics report also finds a discrepancy between older workers’ perceptions of how they will pay for their retirement and how retirements are currently funded. Just over half of Australia’s workers aged 45 and over who intend to retire say superannuation will be their main source of post-retirement income, with a further 26 per cent saying it will be a government pension.
But just 17 per cent of existing retirees say super is their main income source, with 66 per cent reporting it is the pension that pays the bills.
The ABS report Retirement and Retirement Intentions comes amid a growing debate on how to keep more people in the workforce as a means of alleviating pressure on the economy created by an ageing population. Employment Participation Minister Kate Ellis has told a Melbourne conference the government remained committed to helping older workers stay in jobs as long as they wanted.
“Older Australians, with their skills built over a lifetime, make a massive contribution to our economy and our community, Ms Ellis said.
“We want to clear the way for older Australians to be able to stay in the workforce if they want to, and this means tackling issues such as age discrimination or looking at how workplaces, equipment and jobs can be modified to better suit older Australians.”
She released a report from the government’s consultative forum on mature age participation in the workforce, which has found age discrimination ranked second only to injury or disability as a barrier to older people finding or keeping their jobs.
The ABS report found more than a million people plan to ease into retirement through part-time work, and 653,800 never intend to retire.
“About 41 per cent (of full-time workers over 45) intended to retire from full-time work and then work part-time before retiring from the labour force,” the report says.
“Of these, 65 per cent planned to continue on with their current employer (and) 20 per cent intended to change their employer. The remainder did not know.
Source: The Australian
If you would like to find out more about employment for older workers go to www.olderworkers.com.au
Support for grandparent carers
Published December 28, 2011 | Grandparent carers will be able to share experiences and build their parenting skills through 25 new newly launched peer support groups.
Australia has more than 11,000 families where grandparents are the full-time carers of children.
Grandparents who care for their grandchildren make enormous personal sacrifices and significant contributions to the broader community.
Their selfless efforts can be socially isolating, and they are often faced with emotional, physical and financial difficulties.
Parliamentary Secretary for Community Services, Julie Collins said the Federal Government is providing for the establishment of 25 MyTime for Grandparents peer support groups nationally.
“They give grandparent carers a supportive environment to meet, seek peer support and find out about services and assistance available to them.
“A facilitator provides grandparent carers with information about support services and resources, while a play helper provides activities for their children.
“The groups will support around 300 families where grandparents are raising children each year,” Ms Collins said.
The Parenting Research Centre is coordinating the MyTime for Grandparents program nationally. It is based on the successful MyTime peer support network for parents caring for a child with a disability.
The Government has established dedicated grandparent advisors in Centrelink offices in Perth (Warwick), Sydney (Caringbah and Penrith), Melbourne (Oakleigh) and Brisbane (Caboolture).
These advisors improve grandparent carers’ access to Centrelink payments and services, and provide information and referral to other government and community services.
All grandparent carers are entitled to the full range of Australian Government payments, including Family Tax Benefit , Child Care Benefit and Parenting Payment, on the same basis as other families.
For further information on MyTime for Grandparents go to www.mytime.net.au/grandparents or freecall 1800 889 997.
Courtesy: www.seniorau.com.au
Small changes reduce diabetes risk for the whole family
Published December 6, 2011 | For many people, reducing excess weight gain and so reducing the risk of diabetes could be as simple as cutting out biscuits with morning tea, having half a glass instead of a full glass of fruit juice in the morning, and weighing regularly on the bathroom scales.
“It’s that simple. Diabetes is primarily lifestyle related and it is preventable. Small changes like these are incredibly effective,” says Professor Helena Teede, consultant endocrinologist with Jean Hailes for Women’s Health and Head of Diabetes at Southern Health.
“And for people who are overweight, losing as little as three to five per cent of their body weight can help reduce their risk of developing diabetes by up to 60 per cent.”
So losing around two-and-a-half to four kilos if you are currently 80 kilos could be enough to more than halve your risk of developing diabetes in the future. Knowing your other numbers – your blood pressure, blood glucose level and cholesterol level is also vital to identify any potential signs of diabetes and heart disease risk early so it can be treated and potentially serious complications can be prevented.
Prof Teede has urged Australians to make ‘small and simple’ lifestyle changes to reduce their risk of diabetes following the latest statistics from Diabetes Australia.
Avoiding weight gain as we age and at risky times of year, such as Easter and Christmas is important, as each kilo increase in weight can increase diabetes risk by up to 10 per cent.
Regularly checking our weight on the scales at home, every week for example, can identify any weight increase quickly, so it is easier to stop in its tracks and make the small changes needed, says Prof Teede.
“We also need to create environments that encourage people to be more physically active. We need footpaths so our children can walk to school and safe bike paths so people can cycle rather than driving a car,” she says.
“We also need to make it easier for families to choose healthier foods, such as using the traffic light system that quickly identifies healthy foods so people don’t have to try so hard to work out complex food labels. Greater regulation and incentives are also needed to improve the quality of the food we have on offer in Australia.”
“People also need to talk to their health professional about what their risks for diabetes are and what their plan should be to stay healthy long term. Everyone wants to eat better, feel better and be more active but wanting that is not enough. We need to start making the simpler changes today that will help us enjoy that healthier lifestyle.”
For more information go to www.jeanhailes.org.au and you can calculate your risk for type 2 diabetes at www.diabetesrisk.org.au.
Launch of Age Positive website
Published November 27, 2011 | In September, Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan, launched her Age Positive website to coincide with International Day of Older Persons.
“In Australia, as in many other western countries, we have found ourselves in the situation where ageing is viewed negatively and destructive generalisations about our abilities once we pass a certain birthday – be that 45, 50 or older – are accepted as true” Commissioner Ryan said.
Her Age Positive website, www.humanrights.gov.au/age-positive/index.html, features stories from real people telling of their dynamic, active lives in older age.
“We’ve invited people from the community to send in their positive stories of ageing, and their photographs, so that people can view them – not only for inspiration, but also so they can see that the stereotypes that have developed in our community about older people are flat out wrong in most cases,” said Commissioner Ryan.
Ms Ryan said that negative stereotypes about older people are not only causing discrimination in employment practices and the provision of financial services, but in an environment of skills shortages, they are costing both businesses and the community economically.
“Ageism and age discrimination is not only seeing people forced out of work or into more tenuous work, it is – through discriminatory policy in areas like superannuation and workers’ compensation – also costing many people their ability to secure financial independence in older age,” said Commissioner Ryan. “For the good of us all, these attitudes have to change.”
Ms Ryan said that a great many people wish to keep working and developing in older age, and are just as capable as they had always been. She said it is time that businesses took steps to ensure they continue to have the opportunities they had before they were judged “too old”.
“One of the areas in which older people are stereotyped as being ‘past it’ is in relation to the use of technology, including the internet,” said Commissioner Ryan. “So I have begun visiting internet kiosks around the country, dedicated to older people, so I can hear and see how they use this technology and what their needs and experiences are in the broader community.”
The Age Positive website at www.humanrights.gov.au/age-positive/index.html is continuing to accept stories and photographs.
New research tackles depression in older Australians and their carers
Published November 11, 2011 | The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, has visited the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) to launch the start of research into a ground-breaking program that aims to tackle depression among older Australians and their carers by improving their fitness.
The study is the first of its kind and will investigate whether the use of the Otago Exercise Program by older Australians and their carers can reduce the incidence of depression and improve mental wellbeing.
The Federal Government is providing more than $690,000 grant funding for the four year study.
“Carers provide the majority of direct care to older Australians and the invaluable work that they carry out underpins the lives of many families right across the country,” Mr Butler said.
“Often this care is provided at a cost to their own physical and mental health.
“As Australia’s population ages and an increasing number of older frail and disabled people require care, it’s important we support people who are adjusting to the needs and responsibilities of being a carer and help them to stay happy and healthy.
Providing support to carers will improve their quality of life and the quality of the caring relationship.
“The National Ageing Research Institute has been a model for translating research into practice since the early 1970s and this research is a wonderful example of health and medical research improving the physical and mental well-being of older
Australians, their families and carers.”
Carers and care recipients will take part in the personalised home exercise program together which will include balance and strength training. Improving the fitness of carers and care recipients will help build confidence, reduce isolation and
depression and prevent falls.
Important numbers you may need to call
Published October 8, 2011 | Seniors Enquiry Line - 1300 135 500
Seniors Card - 131 304 or 1800 175 500 (free call outside Brisbane)
Department of Veterans Affairs - 133 254
Veteran Affairs Network - 1300 551 918
Centrelink: Retirement - 132 300
Veteran Affairs Network - 1300 551 918
Commonwealth Carelink Centres - 1800 052 222
Disability, Sickness and Carers - 132 717
Elder Abuse Prevention Unit Helpline - 1300-651-192
Employment Services - 132-850
National Information Centre on Retirement Investments (NICRI) - 1800-020-110