Let’s start celebrating our ‘fit and healthy lifestylers’

Tasmania’s reputation for an ageing population could be leveraged by proactively promoting the state as an ideal place to retire.

Margaret Steadman volunteers at the Migrant Resource Centre in Glenorchy. Picture: ZAK SIMMONDS

MARGARET Steadman is among the fastest growing population cohort in Tasmania — and she’s doing retirement the only way she knows how: by embracing its freedom to pursue a host of interests.

With her busy diary, community commitments and determination to stay fit, the 2017 Tasmanian Senior Australian of the Year is the epitome of an active retiree.

TASSIE ON THE CUSP OF GREATNESS

Every Friday, the 75-year-old volunteers at the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania at Glenorchy. And on Mondays she helps out at the Source Community Wholefoods cafe at the University of Tasmania. Ms Steadman is also a keen gardener, does weekly Zumba and fitball classes, and rides an electric bike.

And like 84 per cent of respondees to the Mercury’s Future Tasmania survey, the mother of two and grandmother of five is worried about climate change.

Unlike many, though, the former Sustainable Living Tasmania executive officer and prison educator has time to give to the cause.

“The good thing about being so-called retired is that you’re in charge of your life in a way that you’ve never been when you were working or rearing a family,’’ she said.

“I think it’s a great time of life. You can choose what contribution you make, as long as you have some financial security. I’m not wealthy at all, but I have enough and I own my own house and in that sense, I have security and that’s really important. If you don’t have that, I think getting older is really a challenge.”

Demographer Bernard Salt said the current trajectory of Tasmania’s ageing population was unlikely to be arrested, but it could be offset with smart responses. Future Tasmania research shows that while our population of 20-34s will shrink by 397 people, our 65+ band will grow by 13,908 between now and 2029.

In addition, State Government figures show the number of people aged 85 years and over is growing rapidly. And as life expectancy continues to surge, we need to be ready to support more elderly and very elderly people.

But Mr Salt said the situation could be leveraged — by proactively promoting Tasmania as an ideal place to retire: “There is an incoming demographic for retirement and a retained demographic for retirement.”

While the prospect of an abundance of oldies would not light everyone’s fire, Mr Salt said a rapidly ageing population was Tasmania’s reality. And the state therefore needed to turn that reality into an asset, he said.

With its natural and cultural riches, relative affordability and numerous avenues for community connection and engagement, Tasmania had numerous elements to help it position itself as a retirement paradise, Mr Salt said.

“You might have a festival of retirement — a retirement week — where you are showcasing your best,” Mr Salt suggested. “You would want to say, here’s how we do it in Tasmania — it’s not high-rise, it’s based around food, art, culture, community and connection.

“All the qualities you identify as your best points, you allow visitors to draw that conclusion.”

Mr Salt cautioned against overusing the “R” word, but instead referred to it as trying to attract people who were “fit and healthy lifestylers”.

Beyond active retirement, Tasmania is already a leader in ageing research.

The University of Tasmania’s Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre is leading research in the state and nationally on the degenerative disorders leading to the condition.

Its research fields include neuroscience, medicine, nursing, psychology and sociology, as well as the economics and policy relating to dementia.

And it could not come at a more valuable time. As the global population ages each year, dementia has become a forefront public health concern.

Tasmania has the oldest population in Australia and is therefore likely to be proportionately hardest-hit.

Again, it’s a tough reality, but Mr Salt says an innovative and compassionate response to dementia care offered another opportunity.

“We need new ways of ageing for Baby Boomers,” he said. “And it could include different styles of dementia villages.”

Research for the Future Tasmania series shows that jobs in healthcare and social assistance have soared nationwide over the past decade, including in Tasmania — with growth in the sector bigger than any other industry.

Read the full Future Tasmania series in today’s Mercury.