Australia’s Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan
By Linda Belardi.
Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan has called for a culture of non-discrimination and respect for human rights to be embedded in the aged care system.
She said that while current legislative reform to remove the religious-based exemption to sex discrimination laws was a significant step forward, the sector had not yet achieved a gold standard in human rights recognition.
Speaking at the inaugural LGBTI Aged Care Conference in Sydney on Thursday, Ms Ryan said that aged care must be available to all in need without discrimination, it should be delivered respecting difference and diversity, and be acceptable to those receiving the care.
Entrenching a culture of human rights also meant that aged care workers must be appropriately trained in human rights and anti-discrimination, she said.
To this end, Ms Ryan welcomed the Federal Government’s commitment to fund a LGBTI sensitivity training program worth $2.5 million over 5 years.
“Given the substantial public funding of aged care in Australia it is not in any way acceptable for an aged care provider, including a church-based provider to discriminate against LGBTI people in need of care,” she said.
“We will need further action however to ensure a culture of respect for human rights is entrenched throughout the aged care sector, so that all people can receive the best possible care without discrimination on any basis.”
Ms Ryan called on aged care providers to take the lead in publically stating their commitment to LGBTI inclusive care and employment policies.
“It is time for those church-based providers who say we don’t discriminate in the provision of care or in employment of staff to make that clear in public statements,” she told the Sydney audience.
Ms Ryan said that the upcoming launch of the Aged Care Gateway would present an ideal opportunity for service providers to transparently outline their inclusive policies.
In the current legislation on sex discrimination, exemptions still allow religious-based aged care providers to discriminate against employing LGBTI people.
“I hope that while we wait for further legislative development [in this area] that providers will themselves review these policies and make clear, as some have, that they will not discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation or sexual identity in the employment of care workers,” she said.
During the time that legal protections remain for discriminatory employment practices, leadership will need to come from the sector to accept and promote diversity in staffing, she said.
International convention of rights
To strengthen the overall protection of the rights of older people, Ms Ryan has been campaigning to introduce an International Convention on the Rights of the Older Person.
“While in Australia certain rights of older people are protected compared with what happens in other parts of the world, other important rights are undervalued and unprotected, especially in relation to minority groups like the LGBTI community, CALD and indigenous people,” she said.
Ms Ryan said the introduction of a new convention could guide the development of a comprehensive national strategy for protecting all older Australians.
“I’m pursuing discussions with the Australian Government, advocating that as a UN member state Australia should join the growing number of UN member states supporting this globally significant development.”
The Australian Government is yet to state its position on the international convention for older people.
Ms Ryan said that LGBTI people are more likely to experience ongoing discrimination throughout their lives. Research shows that one in four LGBTI people have experienced verbal abuse and almost one in ten have experienced physical abuse.
I fully support Ms. Ryan’s call and would highlight to her that there are thousands of age service providers in Australia providing care focused squarely on the individual needs of our elders. In her efforts to influence Government perhaps rather than grabbing the topic of the day she will campaign for the right of every older Australian to access taxpayer funded care, rather than continuing to ration these services and overlay complex regulation and bureaucracy over already complex regulation and burgeoning bureaucracy. Every Australian, young or old, has the right to access care and to expect that care to align with their needs without discrimination of any kind, social or financial.
This is a very important issue and I support the Commissioner’s call for Australia to be a signatory to the international convention on the rights of older people. As a group older people are discriminated against by a society whose norms are essentially ageist and the changes Commissioner Ryan is seeking are a key part of the changes that must come.
Dr Kate Barnett
Deputy Director, WISeR, The University of Adelaide
Wholeheartedly agree with the comments made by Ms. Ryan on non discrimination and we should be open in the way the sector achieves this. I don’t think it is the major issue that Ms Ryan alludes to within the service sector as we do provide a diverse and very personalised service to those we care for.
To some degree the Government themselves are exacerbating the issue by giving priority to “Special Needs Groups” when they talk about funding applications and service provision when the actual service providers already include these “politically identified” groups within main steam services. For example, if they want the LGBTI people to be included, why do we have to treat them as a separate category?
Ms Ryan should, perhaps, focus more on the inclusion of older people more widely in society and as our population ages make sure those in this age group continue to feel included and valued. Aged care is doing its bit, how about the rest of society?