Age Concern New Zealand welcomes the findings and recommendations in the latest report from WSP and The Helen Clark Foundation, titled Age-proofing Aotearoa: Rethinking our infrastructure for an ageing population.

“We are pleased to see so many of our own priority areas addressed in this report, backed by robust data analysis. As a charity with a proud heritage leading, advocating, connecting, and collaborating to see the delivery of local services, we do not have the resources to develop such an in-depth data analysis ourselves. We see this as an extremely valuable contribution for decision-makers,” says Karen Billings-Jensen, Chief Executive, Age Concern New Zealand.

At today’s report release at Parliament, Kali Mercier, WSP Fellow and Deputy Director of the Helen Clark Foundation, asked guests to consider their age in 2048, when some regions will be experiencing ‘hyper-ageing’, with 30% of residents expected to be aged 65. “It was a valuable reflection of the future, with some decision-makers present aged over 65 around that time. Their decisions now will be personal for them in 23 years” says Mrs Billings-Jensen.

There are multiple alignments between the report recommendations and Age Concern New Zealand’s policy statements, particularly on housing and urban design. We recognise that renting and home ownership must be viable through the life course, including older age. We have advocated for more affordable housing with diversity and functionality in housing stock. We also advocate for neighbourhoods, towns, and cities that are designed to make it easy for people to access the amenities they need to support their wellbeing.

The report’s data and recommendations support our views, and we endorse its statement that “Alongside facility-based care, stronger investment in home and community support services would allow more people to ‘age in place’, delaying or avoiding impacts on health services and aged care”.

New Zealand is not alone in needing to develop long-term government planning and funding for an ageing population. This is a global shift that data has shown has been coming for many years. Although, it feels late in its planning, we support cross government leadership and multi-party agreement to achieve sustainable economic resilience. We also support the idea that budget allocations recognise the positive impact that investing in one part of the system may result in a reduction in costs elsewhere.

A good example here in New Zealand are community Strength and Balance programmes, a nationwide initiative coordinated by ACC that aims to reduce fails and falls-related injuries among older adults. Age Concern’s Steady as You Go© peer-to-peer exercise classes is one of the programmes and last year had over 5300 older people attending.

Last year, we commissioned a report from ImpactLab which reinforces the social value of investing in preventative programmes like Steady as You Go©, with its GoodMeasure outcomes including improved physical health, reduction of injurious falls, and improved mental health. These lead to reduced visits to emergency services and hospitalisation, resulting in reduced health costs for New Zealand.

We are also actively educating older driver through our Staying Safe refresher driving workshops. This NZ Transport Agency funded programme is delivered across New Zealand and provides information to help older drivers increase their driver confidence, stay connected to the places and supports they need, and prepare for the transition away from driving when that time comes. We were pleased to see a reference to road safety in the report.

Age-proofing Aotearoa is forward-thinking, based on real data that can help inform decision-makers. We support the report’s recommendation of a needs assessment for heath infrastructure. Investment in public health is critical to ensure a health service for everyone, addressing inequities, and ensure every older person can age well.

We are thrilled to have this data validate our own vision and goals, and we look forward to helping to work alongside government and our sector colleagues to help make New Zealand a great place to age.

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