I RECENTLY wrote about the need for people over 50 to organise themselves into a political force, The Greys.
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But it would appear that I missed an ideal opportunity to start the ball rolling at the SS&A Club last Saturday night.
Veteran rocker Russell Morris was the headline act and he indeed proved to be the real thing.
But the pleasing thing for me was, for once, I did not feel like the oldest person in the club.
The Lioness accompanied me and we had a rollicking good time.
Mr Morris is no spring chicken himself at 69 but I reckon there might have been one or two people there who were of the same vintage.
I am not talking here about walking sticks or wheelers, but chairs were at a premium.
Then during the week, I was fortunate enough to see the eloquent Ken Wyatt, Minister for Ageing and Indigenous Health, on the tube for a National Press Club address.
The minister received a warm round of applause from the crowd of mostly ageing journos when he said “70” was the new “40”.
But again he did emphasise the point that Australia could no longer afford to throw our mature workers on the scrapheap, either from the point of the increasing cost of aged pensions or the valuable resource we are wasting.
But there could be another cost to our community, especially if the extreme radical right of The Greys gain control of the party.
Having paid taxes for the last 30-40 years of their lives, The Greys are likely to want to get in for their slice of the action if the cost of living continues to rise.
Climate change?
Don’t think so.
If energy costs continue to rise it will be a case of burn all the coal you want. And throw in a bit of coal seam gas while you’re at it.
And you can’t donate to worthy causes if you don’t have any money and ditto time to spend as a volunteer also helping them.
And what about Australian farmers?
If you don’t have the moolah to buy “clean and green” you may look at buying cheap imports, no matter how bad for your health they might be.
And while on the question of health who will be able to pay for private health insurance.
The public system will be swamped – until The Greys use their numbers in the parliament to force a number of changes.
Firstly, money will be donated from major infrastructure projects to build more and bigger hospitals – which is probably not a bad thing anyway.
People over the age of 50 will be moved to the top of the waiting lists for elective surgery.
Specialists will be required to work in the public system for so many hours per week or pay a hefty levy while also being required to bulk bill. And the same goes for GPs.
People over 50 will not be required to pay any costs in relation to the registration of their car and will be given rail travel at a greatly reduced cost.
Of course, there would be no fees for attending TAFE or university.
That is even before we get to the taxation system itself.
There are many other ways The Greys will use their numbers to feather their own nests. And who can blame them when we live in an age of “me tooism” and “I’m alright Jack”.
All a bit extreme?
Perhaps so but not entirely out of the question. After all, if you back a rat into a corner you’re gonna get bit.