Guest Blog from Tony Gibson

Some years back I was privileged to attend a day workshop with Harvard Professor John Kotter who is a wonderful story teller and human being. John uses a fable about a penguin colony in Antarctica. A group of beautiful emperor penguins live as they have for many years. Then, one curious bird discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their home, and when he raises the issue, no one listens to him in “Our Iceberg is Melting”. This is a great story for addressing change and very relevant to the Ageing Population iceberg Australia is faced with. The productivity concerns, lack of savings in superannuation or government coffers and the waste of human capital that is occurring with mass early retirements to the seaside are a major dilemma for policy makers.

At the local government level in Australia Positive Ageing Strategies and Economic Development Plans appear largely based on old thinking about a person’s productive life ending somewhere between 50 to 65 years of age. The tinkering around the edges approach to strategy development and planning seems to accommodate current developments with a larger percentage of the community being over 65, capable and well, but do they? My feeling is these plans or strategies do not cut the mustard effectively addressing the ageing population dilemma for councils or communities. These plans are something like the safety plan on the Titanic with good intention, but not supported by behavioural change to steer a safe and prudent course around the melting icebergs.

I advocate that local councils should seize the opportunity and lead the Australian community on the Ageing Population challenge. The economic, social, cultural and environmental implications of not addressing the melt of the Ageing Population iceberg are a significant risk factor for sustainable communities.  By using similar approaches to that described by John Kotter local governments could utilise the energy for urgent changes leading their communities. Councils are well placed to take this opportunity and be at the forefront building the coalition for change collaborating with their communities.