The Federal Government has announced its initial response to the Final Report of the Advisory Panel on the Economic Potential of Senior Australians (EPSA).

 

The Government’s response includes the establishment of a new $10 million Jobs Bonuses scheme that will deliver a $1000 incentive for employers to hire a mature age worker for more than three months.

 

“The Government commissioned the EPSA report because we understand that the ageing of our population brings great opportunities for our country and our economy if we better harness the skills and experience of older Australians,” Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement.

 

Other initiatives announced include:

  • $15.6m to extend the very successful Corporate Champions program to provide support to employers who wish to promote mature aged employment at their workplace.
  • $3.9m to extend the Career Advice service by two years to ensure mature age people have access to free, professional career advice.
  • $4.8m to promote lifelong learning by expanding education opportunities by adult and community education providers and community organisations to older Australians.
  • Expanding the More Help for Mature Age Workers initiative, to now be called the "Investing in Experience - Skills Recognition and Training program, to allow industries to benefit from improving the skills of their over 50's workforces.

 

The Government has also outlined further strategies to counter age discrimination in the workforce, including:

  • Providing $2.1 million over four years to the Age Discrimination Commissioner to address age discrimination, age stereotyping and ageism more generally, to feed into a media roundtable and communication strategy;
  • Reviewing Commonwealth legislation to identify age barriers that prevent continued participation in the workforce for people aged 45 years and over; and
  • Working to consolidate the five anti-discrimination Acts, including the Age Discrimination Act 2004, into a single law as part of Australia's Human Rights Framework.

 


The full response can be found here