Anthony Albanese's push to woo older voters the ALP alienated with its taxation and investment policies ahead of last year's poll makes excellent political sense.
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"Grey power" is already a "thing". With one in five Australians expected to be over 65 by 2057 it is only going to become more important.
The decisions to fiddle with superannuation and target franking credits signed off on under Bill Shorten were an "own goal". They certainly had an impact on the result.
Albanese is also wise to take potshots at the "work until you drop" proposals pushed by Joe Hockey, Scott Morrison, and Josh Frydenberg over the life of the incumbent government.
Frydenberg's most recent diktat, a call for Australians to stay in the workforce longer to minimise the "burden" of older, unemployed, Australians on the budget, last November had all the buoyancy of a lead balloon.
Albanese used his fourth "vision statement", delivered on Wednesday, to say seniors were a boon to the budget; not a burden.
That's a refreshing shift given tens of thousands of self-funded retirees are yet to forgive Labor for characterising them as unrepentant double-dippers because they were taking advantage of perfectly legitimate provisions of taxation legislation to claim franking credits.
While the ALP leader is long on vision, citing the experiences of his own mother, a single parent who died at the age of 65, his speech was short on substance.
Yes, a Federal political leader is well within their rights to talk about urban design and housing and the need to make our cities and towns more "seniors friendly". Such utterances have to be taken with a large grain of salt however. These are largely matters for State and local governments.
And, while it is also commendable to talk about increasing employment opportunities for seniors, Mr Albanese is just as vague on how to do this as the current Prime Minister and Treasurer.
His one firm commitment, to increase Superannuation from the current nine per cent to 12 percent by 2025, would do virtually nothing to enhance the retirement income of any Australian in their mid to late 50s.
It is also unrealistic, as the Australian Council of Social Services has repeatedly pointed out, given we've had years of near-zero wages growth.
ACOSS wants low-paid workers to receive as much of their pay packets as possible right now. They are are already struggling to survive.
It is a very strange day in Canberra when ACOSS and the LNP are on one side of the argument and the ALP is on the other.
Older workers, and older people generally, get a raw deal.
Albanese is right to observe older workers, and older people generally, get a raw deal however.
The big challenge is ageism. People over 50 often find it hard to obtain a new job if they are retrenched. It is apparently not uncommon for "veteran workers" to doctor their CVs to make themselves appear younger to at least get an interview.
Older women are disproportionately affected by the loss of employment, and by inadequate retirement savings, than men. This is a direct result of the gender pay-gap, another invisible issue no major political party seems keen to address.
That was once offset, in part, by giving women the pension at 60. That was axed under the Keating government.
It's no coincidence older women are the fastest growing group of homeless.
Senior Australians want, and deserve, concrete proposals on how they can have access to secure, well-paid, and meaningful, employment into their 50s and 60s.
The gig economy just doesn't cut it for this generation.