From the President’s Desk. In this report, President Rhonda Weston AM covers a number of topics including the origin and meaning of University of the Third Age, discussion of some of the challenges and benefits of U3A, an update on U3AAA, and a progress report on the international conference celebrating 50 years of U3A worldwide next May in Rockhampton – an event not to be missed.

University of the Third Age – What’s in a Name?

I pose the question about the name of our organization, University of the Third Age: does the word ‘University’ diminish your interest in U3A?

Do you know that in Australia we follow the Cambridge Model of U3A, where “learners teach and teachers learn”.

Do you know that the word university is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means ‘community of teachers and scholars’.

Is that or is that not exactly what U3A is:  a community of like- minded people who learn and participate for pleasure and for their own personal growth? At U3A we share our gifts and expertise with our contemporaries in a friendly and welcoming environment.

At Network, we would appreciate your feedback on your thoughts about the perception of the name U3A and University of the Third Age.

U3A Challenges and Benefits

In this post-Covid, technological world we now live in, there are new challenges facing us each and every day: the challenges of continually learning new ways of managing our day-to-day tasks, and the challenges of ensuring that our health and wellbeing and that of our colleagues. These challenges are at the forefront of our thoughts.

Belonging to an organisation such as U3A can alleviate many of our daily concerns and build friendships that will remain strong and positive into the future.

Statewide, Network is moving ahead with great enthusiasm with the Liaison Person program. As I mentioned in our last newsletter, this new initiative has been received with alacrity, and personal visits to 75 per cent of our U3As have already taken place.

U3A Network continues to partner with COTAQ and nbn, with combined promotions such as the enormously successful webinar on ‘Your Digital Legacy’. By popular demand the webinar will be repeated on October 19th. Full details are on our website.

U3A’s National Body

I have recently returned from Bendigo, Victoria where I represented Queensland member U3As at the U3A Australia Alliance meeting, held in conjunction with the U3A Network Victoria State Conference. It is easy for some to forget that U3A is a national and international organisation and not just the one class you attend. The U3AAA have finalised their Constitution and plans are in place to incorporate as a Company Limited by Guarantee.

The U3AAA committee is made up of representatives from each state plus ‘U3A OnLine’. Once incorporated U3AAA will have a stronger voice at the federal level.

Seniors’ Month

As we celebrate Seniors’ Month, many U3As are participating in Seniors Expos and other community events. The promotion of U3A at these events can only benefit our organisation and our membership. Attracting new Tutors is always our greatest challenge.

50^th Anniversary of U3A Worldwide

The planning for the International Conference, celebrating 50 years of U3A worldwide and hosted by U3A Rockhampton, is well underway. The celebration is part of our annual U3A Network State Conference and Annual General Meeting.

Information about the conference and associated events is available on the Network and Rockhampton websites. These will be updated regularly with the latest information. Registrations for the conference will open on February 1st.

Information on the annual ‘Art Exhibition’ to be held in conjunction with the conference will also be available on the Network website from November.

Why attend a conference you might ask? The following are responses to this question:

Conferences typically provide special guest speakers, breakout sessions, one-on-one engagements, group outings, and events for social interaction. The learning facet of a conference can expose attendees to new ways of operating and can help them discover ways to be even more productive.

and

The role of a conference is to gather like-minded individuals from across the country or across the globe, to learn, discuss thoughts, network, share ideas, create new ideas, and to ignite motivation. The benefits of attending a conference are different for everyone.

I look forward to meeting you in Rockhampton in May 2023.

Rhonda Weston AM

President
U3A Network Queensland

Please download and share a PDF of the President’s Report here

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Stereotyping, discrimination, and mistreatment based solely on a person’s age – known as Ageism – can have devastating effects, even leading to the denial of medical treatment in aged people, which is an outrage to their humanity. One organisation, ‘EveryAGE Counts’, is leading the fight against ageism and has adopted as its battle cry, “Can Australia really get rid of ageism? Yes, we can!”

To this end, EveryAGE Counts conducted a webinar recently to launch ‘Ageism Awareness Day’ to discuss how to make ageism a thing of the past.

Dr Marlene Krasovitsky, Director and Co-Chair of EveryAGE Counts, and moderator for the webinar, said that ageism affects older people in many ways, primarily in fewer job prospects, being stereotyped as old, and in a higher incidence of mental health issues. Collectively, this reduces the quality of life of older Australians and denies their rightful place in society.

EveryAGE Counts proposes a better alternative – an Australia without ageism – in which older people would be valued equally with younger people, not be discriminated against for employment, and  able to achieve other life goals based on their abilities rather than suffer perceived stereotypes of what people of older age can and can’t do.

Importantly in this new-age, knowledge would be shared – younger to older and older to younger; older people’s voices would be heard and they would not be patronized as they are now. No one is asking for special treatment, just equal treatment.

Marlene introduced the distinguished speakers for the webinar: Ita Buttrose AC OBE, an Australian of the Year and legendary media personality; Robert Tickner, former Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and humanitarian advocate; and Colin Maddocks; EveryAGE Counts advocate and former University of the Third Age president.

“Today, we mark this day to challenge all those negative stereotypes, assumptions and prejudices about older people that limit, marginalise, exclude and disempower them,” Marlene said. “It’s time to change the way we think and feel about getting older, and the way we think about older people. This is how we begin to dismantle ageism.

“This year we turn our attention and our energies to ending ageism, so our theme this year is simply that, ‘Ageism, End it’.”

As first speaker, Ita Buttrose said, “the onus really is on us, those of us who are getting older. We need to wear our age wIth pride and not hide the fact.

“Now that I’m eighty I’m proud that I’m still working and I find questions about ‘when am I going to retire’ to be quite offensive.

“People need to take their ‘blinkers’ off and look around to see how active older people are in work, in physical activities and in the community, even looking after active and demanding grandchildren.

“Grandparents are the biggest provider to childcare to working parents in Australia. Take that out of the equation and working parents would not be able to go to work at all.

“My argument is, if grandparents are okay to care for children, then we are good enough to get a job, if we want to get a job.

“I think we need to be bolder, bolder about being older, and every time we experience some sort of nonsense about being old we need to fight back. Fifteen per cent of the population in Australia is over sixty-five so we are quite a powerful cohort of people.

“We should fight back about terms like ‘old fogie’, old whatever; we shouldn’t accept it, we shouldn’t be courteous, we shoudn’t be rude about it either, but we should be more forceful that it’s not acceptable.

Ita said that older people should not be regarded as onlookers in life but rather as participants in life and be included. “We want our wisdom and experience, in the workspace, our professional networks and institutional knowledge, to be recognised and appreciated. We have so much to contribute.

The second speaker, Robert Tickner said that while the focus is on the human rights of older Australians there was a firm commitment to intergenerational solidarity of all age groups. “This is not just about us, there’s a general principle involved as well,” he said.

“The point about the violation of rights in healthcare is just one of the stark examples of what has become discrimination and mistreatment of older people, and the Royal Commission into Aged Care certainly brought that home to us. Ageism underpins so much of this mistreatment.

“Age discrimination starting at age 50 is pernicious in the Australian employment scene, to the extent that thirty per cent of employers won’t employ anyone over fifty years of age. So talking about ageism isn’t something woke, trendy or superficial, it is a fundamental conversation about human rights.”

The third speaker, Colin Maddocks, has significant experience in the effects of ageism, through his management roles within the University of the Third Age movement that has 35 autonomous member associations throughout Queensland with 23,000 members.

Colin cited instances of ageism in practice, including a friend experiencing a condescending act from his GP who put his hand on the friend’s shoulder saying, “and how are you feeling young fellow.” Colin said that his friend’s reaction was “I felt old all of a sudden, whatever old feels like.”

“Ageism has to be addressed,” Colin said. “We are a very rich cohort in the life cycle, we have a lot to contribute and there is nowhere near enough recognition of the contributions we make. The EveryAGE Counts advocates are going to work toward an Australia that just does not tolerate ageism, just as we now don’t tolerate racism and sexism.”

Marlene Krasovitsky posed the question, “what can we do individually and collectively to end ageism?”

Ita suggested using the Media – online, print and electronic – to raise awareness and cited the example Sir Rupert Murdoch to continues to work into his nineties in charge of a massive media organisation.

Also suggested was a campaign to redesign urban centres to suit older people that historically been all about their use by younger people. “If we changed it and designed our living spaces for when everyone gets older, younger people wouldn’t be impacted and older people could continue to live the same way they have always lived,” Ita said.

The need to involve older people in solutions rather than having to tolerate the problems of poor urban design is seen as important remedial action. Ita said, “I’m a patron of Dementia Australia and we say we don’t do anything without input from people with dementia. Older people always have to be involved in decision-making to get it right, that’s how you get a better result.”

Commenting on the confidence of the late Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh as “the best example of older people being active and still working, in the world,” Ita said that they both lived to grand ages. “Obviously, working, contributing, having your wisdom respected is very good for you as you get older. We need to look for these examples all around us and emulate them and praise them.”

Marlene Krasovitsky asked Robert Tickner about whether a government campaign would have a major impact on ending ageism and protecting the human rights of older people.

Robert cited the work of the late Susan Ryan, the former Age Discrimination Commissioner, and her work in this field, including her 2016 report ‘Willing to Work’. “One of her recommendations was for an extensive public campaign to tackle this pervasive presence of ageism, and it’s terrific to hear that there is such a high level of public support for such a campaign.

He said a public campaign would have real benefits in building a stronger, more cohesive society and have real economic benefits as well. “Such a campaign would tackle the pernicious discrimination that occurs in workplaces.”

Robert said there are an increasing number of local government agencies around Australia that want to get involved in the anti-ageism campaign, and he suggests involving those Councils in helping to end ageism.

He reflected on the almost revolutionary outcome of campaigns over many years in support of the representation of women in society and government.

“There have been extraordinary changes that have happened in relation to the roles of women and the human rights of women in recent decades. “Back in the 1960s you couldn’t work in the Commonwealth Public Service if you were a married woman, for goodness sake. It’s only been since 1980 that we have had a continuous presence of women in the House of Representatives in the Parliament of Australia.

“So, if we have been able to make such extraordinary gains in the rights of women in our society in that time we ought to be able to make world-leading changes in the way we treat older Australians and the whole process of growing old.

“What a magnificent contribution it would be if our movement could unlock a huge increase in the opportunities for older Australians to participate in our community, economically, politically, socially.

“That would be a revolution too. We should do it.”

Colin Maddocks, as an active member of his Sunshine Coast community, said that “we need to remind ourselves that it is behaviour and language that is intrinsic to this culture of ageism, so it’s quite a challenge but it’s a challenge we are up for.

“It starts with us, and sometimes we are our own worst enemy. What do we say and how do we say it? If we say to others that ‘we need a Nanny nap this afternoon’ then we are already underlying some of these stereotypes that we are trying to overcome so we need first to challenge our own behaviours, our own language, and how we may be impacting ourselves and our own cohort in a negative way.

Colin said the adage, ‘what you walk past you condone’ is also important. “If we see behaviour that is discriminatory, that is patronising, that is demeaning, then let’s speak up. Let’s call out such behaviour and language just as we would call out sexism or racism.”

In answer to a question from a participant online regarding Workcover Australia assessing 55-plus workers assessed as increased risk, Robert Tickner suggested a ‘carrot and stick’ approach whereby employers are encouraged to treat older Australians equally but also to remind company board members, CEOs and other employers that age discrimination laws are to be kept in mind. “If you breach those laws and become subject to a class action then there is huge potential for adverse publicity that is really bad for business, and there may be substantial compensation being payable as well,” he said.

Ita Buttrose continued the point that the economic advantages of marketing to older people are substantial. “The money that the older population has that advertising fails to capture because it doesn’t address this population properly is astonishing, and they need to take their blinkers off and look at what we are all doing.”

To a question about not qualifying for a home loan because of age, Ita recounted a conversation with her accountant that her age may rule her out for a bridging loan.

“You think, because I’m old, because they think I’m going to die, that’s what it’s all about, they don’t think we are going to be around long. So, they’ve written us off. Not only are we old but they think we are going to ‘cark it’ so they don’t care about us.”

Robert Tickner agreed that older people tend to be too polite and reminded the audience that sometimes we have to take a stand. “Why on earth should judgements be made about a person’s age in relation to a loan. The question surely is the bank’s security and the capacity of the person to repay the loan. It’s an outrage.

“All these human rights advances we have achieved in this country weren’t achieved by respectful letters to politicians; people did have to take a stand. Actions taken by women over the past hundred years to advance women’s rights were at times heroic: women, Australian women, literally chaining themselves to the House of Commons in London in support of the right of women to vote in Britain, that kind of amazing international solidarity around those issues.”

In closing, Marlene Krasovitsky encouraged all those attending the webinar to join the ‘EveryAGE Counts’ movement against ageism and add their voices to the campaign to “Make Ageism a Thing of the Past.”

Report on ‘Every Age Counts’ webinar on 7 October 2022
by John Armstrong, Vice President U3A Network Queensland

The webinar may be viewed at everyagecounts.org.au/ageism_awareness_day_2022

Source: Every Age Counts website.

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U3A Network Queensland President Rhonda Weston AM represented Queensland U3As at the recent U3A Australia Alliance meeting, held in conjunction with the U3A Network Victoria State Conference.

U3AAA is the national U3A organisation and that recently finalised their constitution and plans to incorporate as a Company Limited by Guarantee  The U3AAA committee is made up of representatives from each state plus U3A On Line. Once incorporated, U3AAA will have a stronger voice on a federal level.

Photo: Glen Wall, Chair U3AAA; Rhonda Weston AM, President U3A Network Queensland; Anne Griggs President, U3A Network Victoria, Gerald Mansour Victorian Commissioner for Senior Victorians and Randy Marshall.

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Most of us know about the medical gap, which is the difference between what Medicare and your private health fund will pay towards your treatment (the MBS fee) and what your specialist doctors or hospital charges. The patient often needs to pay the difference, known as the gap.

So, how do we avoid or minimise what ‘gap’? Firstly, if you have private health cover contact your health fund for a list of healthcare professionals with gap cover arrangements. If you are treated by anyone on the list and they agree to participate, there’ll either be low or no medical gap cost involved.

The gap shouldn’t be confused with the private health plan excess (the amount you contribute upfront, as part of your medical cover) or co-payments (the fees that you pay if you’re admitted into a private room in a public or private hospital). Depending on your policy, these payments may also be required.

There are three ways you may be eligible for access to gap cover doctors participating in the Medical Gap cover scheme:

1. No gap means no extra fees for you. Your health insurance provider sets a maximum limit for how much they’ll pay over the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) fee. The MBS is the list of suggested fees set by the government for standard Medicare-covered consultations, treatments and general services. If your doctor charges above the MBS, but under or up to your insurer’s ‘no gap’ threshold, you’ll be covered with no extra fees to pay.
2. Known gap cover means capped extra fees for you. If your doctor participates in a ‘known gap’ scheme, you’ll have known out of pocket expenses for each procedure that he or she performs. Prior to the procedure, make sure the doctor gives you an “informed financial consent”, which lists all costs so you are aware of exact out of pockets. Not all health funds offer a known gap option in their scheme. With that in mind, it pays to review a provider’s policy carefully before committing.
3. No gap cover means you’ll incur all out-of-pocket expenses. If you visit a doctor that doesn’t participate in any level of gap cover, you’ll need to pay the total costs that are charged over the MBS standard fee.

As an example: after many years working outdoors and playing football, James has  booked in for knee replacement surgery. Medicare covers part of his fee and so does his private health insurance Hospital policy (PHI). James’ chosen surgeon charges more than the standard MBS cost, so there’s an outstanding medical gap. This means that James has to pay the out of pocket expenses which covers the gap between what Medicare covers, and what the surgeon charges.

Why does this medical gap exist?

The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is sent to members of the Australian Medical Association. It describes the different procedures a doctor can perform and suggests fees Medicare believes practitioners should invoice. Since there’s no rule that says doctors are obliged to charge what Medicare has assessed for each procedure, some choose to charge more. This is known as the medical gap.

Let’s look at the figures. Medicare pays 75 per cent of the MBS fee for treatment of private patients in hospital. Your private health insurer pays the remaining 25 per cent. When a specialist considers Medicare’s schedule fee, they take into account their costs and the circumstances of each particular case and patient to determine a price.

Speak to your doctor before treatment

Ask your doctor about their fees before you’re treated, and they’ll happily break down the costs, including how much is covered by Medicare and insurance. Legally, they have to reveal these costs to you.

It’s a good idea to ask if other doctors or specialists will be involved, and if and how they’ll be billing you for their service.

For more information about private health insurance go here.

For more information about the medical gap and other medical expense issue go to the Department of Health and Aged Care website here.

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The benefits of belonging to U3A are many and varied, some predictable and conventional others unexpected but nevertheless enjoyable, and travelling with U3A friends is high on that list.

Members of U3A Beaudesert Travel Group (TAG) decided that Toowoomba would be a nice place to spend a week, and U3A Toowoomba President Rhonda Weston AM and the Management Committee were quick to welcome and meet the Group.

The enthusiastic group of travellers were offered a brief tour of the U3A complex and then joined ‘Singing for Fun’ for some old-time nostalgia followed by afternoon tea and lots of chatting.

As a national and an international organisation, U3A  brings together likeminded folk who enjoy retirement and travel.

“I hear so many stories of members who have unintentionally come across other U3A members while traveling,” Rhonda said. “How much more could be gained if we take time to arrange visits to local U3As before we set out.”

“The U3A Network Queensland  website has a list and a map of the location of all Queensland U3As. You do not have to belong to a Travel Group to benefit from visiting colleagues around our state or nation.  Before you leave home on your next adventure it may well be enriched by reaching out to U3As along your way.”

Photos: Members of U3A Beaudesert Travel Adventure Group on a week-long visit to Toowoomba take time to meet at U3A Toowoomba.

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A great challenge for Australian society is to mitigate the separation of generations that affects the quality of life for our seniors and the engagement of our youth. Senior living facilities and education campuses are often designed in a way that maintains this isolation and deepens the divide.

Recognising the need for new ideas to support participation and social interaction led to the establishment of the GrandSchools Project, a federally funded project exploring solutions for intergenerational learning and living campuses across urban and regional Australia.

Members of U3As are invited to participate in a hands-on design session, exploring what an inclusive inter-generational learning and living campus might look like. The session will start with brief presentations outlining best practice in the design of senior living and describing the Grandschools model: a campus that integrates senior living and secondary education in the one physical environment, one that promotes intergenerational inclusivity, active living and learning. The design solution would have benefits in the psychological health and wellbeing of participants of all ages.

The second half of the session concentrates on ‘design imaginings’, known as a design charette, to develop ideas of how an intergenerational learning space can benefit marginalised youth and people with unique life experiences.

Participants would be guided to work in groups, to share their ideas for creating intergenerational spaces.

The session forms part of the Grandschools project and participants will be asked to sign a consent form to allow their contributions to be used for research purposes. A research information sheet and consent form will be sent to all participants before the session, and can also be found here if you wish to view them before reserving your event ticket.

Information Sheet and Consent Form

If you would like to be part of re-imagining how we might live, work and play into the future, you are  invited to be part of the conversation!

Go to the GrandSchools website here for more information, and to get tickets to the event at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre at Southbank go to the Event Registration Page here and click on Get Tickets.

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Good News! The extremely popular webinar ‘Your Digital Legacy’ conducted in August is being replayed on 19 October to allow people who missed the first webinar to learn about this important subject.

Every day, without realising it, we are leaving digital footprints as our digital legacy. These can be a valuable treasure for those we leave behind, but they can also leave you open to identity theft and fraud if you don’t plan for your digital legacy.

nbn®, COTA Queensland and U3A Network Queensland would like to invite you to join us on this FREE Webinar taking place during  Seniors Month in October, that will cover how you can manage and plan for your Digital Legacy.

Join us via Zoom on Wednesday 19th October at 10am until 11am. You may register for the webinar today by emailing your name and email address to: info@cotaqld.org.au

Our special guest for this webinar will be Solicitor Peter Smith from GSD Law will join us for the Q&A session to answer some of the general legal questions related to digital legacy planning and execution.

Your Digital Legacy is shaped by the digital information you created online before your eventual passing. We often put a lot of thought into what happens to physical assets after we have passed on, but what about the digital assets and digital presence that remains? Here are some examples of digital information that you may want to protect, and make known to others after you are gone:

The 45-minute webinar will take you through the process of safeguarding your Digital Legacy step-by-step, showing you how to:

• Spring clean your digital presence
• Create a digital register
• Leave clear instructions to your digital executor
• Nominate a manager of your accounts
• Making a start on your Digital Legacy

Please note, this webinar will not be recorded.

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It is indeed encouraging that when a new program is introduced it is accepted with enthusiasm by our members. Having recently returned from a 3,000 kms, 8-day road trip to North Queensland for the President’s Council and Tutor Coordinators’ meetings held in Townsville, I can only say that our Network Liaison Person Program has been favourably received.

It was a pleasure to meet with Management Committee members in Rockhampton, Capricorn Coast (Yeppoon) and Gladstone, and to sit and chat about the issues they face and the role that they would like Network to take. As always insurance and how to attract tutors are hot topics in these conversations.  If your U3A has not responded to our invitation to participate in the Network Liaison Program please consider the benefits that participation could bring to your U3A. Liaison visits have also been made to Dalby by David Bowden, Gympie by Trudy Graham and Southern Gold Coast by Margaret Cook.

Top Photo: Rockhampton Regional Council meeting with Councilor Drew Wickerson, Henry Cope, David Weston, Mayor Tony Williams, Rhonda Weston AM, Deputy Mayor Neil Fisher and U3A Rockhampton President Cheryl Wick.

The recent North Queensland Presidents’ Council and Tutor Coordinators’ Forum hosted by U3A Townsville brought together Presidents and delegates from Atherton Tablelands, Cairns, Mackay, Magnetic Island and of course Townsville. Network Secretary Alison Taylor, Assistant Treasurer Larry Frazer and myself represented Network. David Weston, Toowoomba Tutor Coordinator, attended the Tutor Forum as a guest. Several delegates were new to management committees and attending their first Network event, and their feedback on the day was extremely positive.

The following from Muriel Kilcullen, Treasurer U3A Mackay:

“I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with you both and the other delegates from various locations and whilst it isn’t good that our memberships have declined with the advent of Covid, it was good to know that we aren’t in this boat on our own.  Thank you so much for your support, your positivity and encouragement. I’m due to return to Mackay on Sunday with renewed enthusiasm and a few ideas for boosting our numbers and getting some new activities underway.  I am certainly hoping to convince our committee to make the trip to Rockhampton in May next year.  It sounds exciting.”

While visiting Rockhampton I met with Henry Cope, Chair of the 2023 Conference Committee and his team. Plans are well underway to provide you with an interesting, informative and fun conference. Those of you who remember the 2015 international conference that Network organised will recall that the first two days was for all delegates and the third day was for Queensland delegates only, and 2023 will be similar.  Pre and post conference events and tours are being planned. Several people have mentioned they will be taking advantage of their pensioner pass on the train to travel to Rockhampton. One U3A Travel Group is planning to attend en masse. The U3A Rockhampton website has further information and as usual there will be a dedicated conference website connected to the Network website. Watch this space.

Photo: Presidents and delegates from Atherton Tablelands, Cairns, Mackay, Magnetic Island and  Townsville.

A gallery of photos from the trip have been posted on our website here.

Network has committed to offer several webinars each year on topics relevant to seniors. We have partnered with COTAQ and nbn to provide this service to you. The interest in the recent webinar ‘My Digital Legacy’ was extensive and due to popular demand will be offered again. John Armstrong, Network Vice President has provided a full and detailed report of this webinar which is posted on our website here. Details of the repeat webinar will be advertised.

To the U3As who participate in the Network Insurance program we are fast approaching the renewal date. Treasurer Bronwyn Peddler will be requesting information from you to enable Network to finalise your insurance for 2022/23. This request will be hitting your inbox in the coming days, please respond as soon as possible.

As we count down to the end of the year, I am convinced that while 2022 has brought challenges those challenges have made our organisations stronger and more resilient.

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U3A members throughout QLD are most welcome to join the Ageism Awareness Day Australia-wide event on-line on Friday, 7 October from 10am to 11am. EveryAGE Counts will host the launch event, and this is certainly an event not to be missed!

Marlene Krasovitsky, Co-chair and Campaign Director said, “It brings me great joy to share with you the amazing news that Ita Buttrose AC, OBE will be our special guest for our Ageism Awareness Day panel discussion. Ita Buttrose is a truly exceptional Australian: a legendary media trailblazer, businesswoman, best-selling author, committed community and welfare contributor and former Australian of the Year.

“We hope you can join us for this momentous event. Register now to join and we’ll be in touch with further speaker announcements shortly. We will be sending updates and log-in details directly by email.”

Register online here

The panel will comprise Ita Buttrose AC, OBE, co-chair of EveryAGE Counts and former Australian Minister in the Hawke and Keating Governments, Robert Tickner AO, and Past President U3A Sunshine Coast, Colin Maddocks.

For more information about EveryAGE Counts please visit their website.

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