UQ project looks at seniors' participation in local governance

A new University of Queensland study is looking at ways Ipswich City Council can communicate better with seniors.

According to researcher Andrea Petriwskyj, from UQ's Australasian Centre on Ageing, many older people want to have their say about issues in their local communities.

“The ageing population will mean that local councils will need to think again about how they involve seniors,” Ms Petriwskyj said.

"Older people have a right to be heard on issues that affect them, but some of them aren't getting their say.

“The proportion of the population made up of people aged over 65 is expected to almost double by 2051, so responding to the needs of seniors will become an even more important issue for local councils all around the country.

"There is a great amount of diversity among people over 50, which makes finding out what those needs are and how best to deal with them more complicated. Sometimes councils find it difficult to know how to reach some seniors.”

Ms Petriwskyj's PhD study on involvement by seniors in local government activities such as consultation, decision-making and community projects explores people's motivations for being involved, the barriers seniors experience when they try to become involved, and some ways that local councils can deal with these problems.

Ms Petriwskyj will soon be sending out a survey in the mail to selected seniors in Ipswich. The survey will look at seniors' involvement with Ipswich City Council and how that is affected by differences in age, ethnic background, location of residence and other important demographic factors.

“The best people to tell councils what seniors need are seniors themselves. That's why this survey is so important,” she said.

Ms Petriwskyj's research is funded by the Australian Research Council, The University of Queensland, an Australian Association of Gerontology Scientific Research Fund's R. M. Gibson grant and a National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre's Emerging Researcher grant

It is being run out of the Australasian Centre on Ageing and the UQ Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre, in partnership with The Ipswich and Gold Coast City Councils, and the Queensland Government Department of Communities.

The Linkage project explores the potential for a range of organisations and individuals to work together to promote and achieve ageing well in the community.

Media: Andrea Petriwskyj, telephone (07) 3346 9227 or a.petriwskyj@uq.edu.au