The ORIGINAL Baby Boomer site.

   Home | Subscribe | Links | Contact Us

Sorry we are a bit late with this one but I have been overseas. I needed to see the birthplace of my father in County Waterford in Ireland.
 
It was worth the trip as it painted a picture of part of my life I had not addressed and that is my heritage. Three of my children were with me as we walked through the neighbourhood of his birth in Knockboy County Waterford. It was a moving moment.
 
I wanted to talk about Boomers as achievers this month and how proud I am that we are still doing it as well as we did 40 years ago but a sad reminder of our timeline as well.
 
Three different Boomers who have reminded me of firstly how important it is to keep going and secondly that we can still make a difference.
 
Tidal Energy might not be the topic on everyone’s lips at the moment but Boomer Aaron Davidson explains what it is on his web site www.tidalenergy.com.au  
 
Imagine our energy needs being met by the tides. Something like the Gulf Stream flowing down the east coast of the USA and travelling through a turbine to produce enough energy for all those cities. Aaron lives on the Gold Coast and is still achieving and what a great Boomer he is.
 
Secondly, our music man Keith Blake who contributes as a volunteer for junior and senior sport each week and has done so for decades. He is currently planning new clubhouses for his footie team Normanby in Brisbane but is still with the Centenary Junior RL club he helped found and is still achieving.
 
Two Boomers stories representing the hundreds of thousands who are still a part of society and making a difference at their level.
 
Finally I wanted to mention why it is important we still keep going. An old school friend died on the 19 September. His name was Barry O’Brien and like us all, he loved music.
 
Barry played in a band called Image that used to do gigs at the Kenmore dances in Brisbane in the 60s/70s. He retired recently to do some travel after 40 years of working but was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that killed him in a few weeks.
 
Life churns on so make it a BONZA one!
 
NOTE:
BONZA advocates for:
1. Mature Age Leave for over 50s so they can have some quality time out from their workplace and freshen up doing interest things.
2. Over 50s need a separate government office, Maturelink, to highlight the importance of Mature Age looking to Move Forward in life not plan for retirement only in our older years. This is even more essential now we have to work to 67.
3. A need for incentives from government for families to build granny flats for the aged care of family members at home. A family approach to an Ageing Australia in line with European and Asian cultures.
4. A need for Community Health Clinics that the aged can attend and not clog the hospital system just as we had some priority at birth due to our numbers.
5. A strong community based program for aged to take an interest in the local community through supporting schools, group exercising, supporting welfare groups and strong social clubs for the aged.
6. Government incentives to allow us to retain/build assets so that we can support ourselves more as we age.
7. Developments of the Uni of the Third Age so that minds are kept active through study and research.
8. Break Centrelink up into a smaller office. Aged Pension to Retirement Offices, Familes to Medicare (completely), Disabled to revamped CRS offices, Youth to Youthlink (could be in Centrelink with Maturelink so mentor roles are easier) and Newstart to Job Network who could also pay them when there is compliance with job seeking.
9. Skills for the Bush project. A database of jobs available in Regional Australia set up through Local Govt so that over 50s can work their way around Australia. This would fit in well with the Mature Age Leave concept.
10 A Mature Age Policy for every workplace so employers can offer loyal staff some incentive to keep going. They will need their skills as the skill shortage approaches.
11. A referendum to decide whether euthanasia should be part of Australian life.
Lots to do folks so let’s get on with it and have a BONZA LIFE!
Brian Murphy
Editor
BONZA

Archives:

Bonza Life September
Bonza Life August
Bonza Life July
Bonza Life June
Bonza Life May
Bonza Life April
Bonza Life March