Old ‘pollies’ bring wisdom, experience

A person’s capacity to contribute to government should be gauged by their wisdom and experience – not their age. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen in Australia where some ministers of parliament have only just left school, according to former Australian politician, Barry Cohen.

Winston Churchill became an MP at 90 years old, Charles deGaulle, president of France at 79 years of age, and Ronald Reagan, US president at 78 years. But according to Mr Cohen, they would not stand a fighting chance of getting pre-selected in Australia.

“They favour putting down anyone over the age of 55 years to make way for youth and fresh ideas. Forgive my disrespect, but it’s a load of codswallop,” Mr Cohen says.

Following the Australian Labor Party’s win in the 1983 election, Mr Cohen was Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment from 1983 to 1984 and then Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Environment until 1987 in Bob Hawke’s government.

“We elect a team to run the country, not beat the All Blacks. Strangely the cry to rid parliament of ‘geriatrics’ is happening when Australians are living longer and longer,” he claims.

According to Mr Cohen, our life expectancy has been extended since federation from 55 years of age for men and 59 years for women to 79 years and 84 years; yet “we are demanding younger and younger politicians”.

He says of the 226 members and Senators, Phillip Ruddock who is aged 68 years of age, is the ‘Father of the House’. “There have been constant suggestions in the media that at such a “ripe old age”, he is well past his use-by date,” Mr Cohen says.

At the other extreme, Mr Cohen talks about a 20-year-old Queensland Liberal who won a seat at last year’s election. According to Mr Cohen, this young Liberal was “confident, articulate, glib and for a few weeks he appeared daily on TV”, but then disappeared into the ether.

“It’s still early days, but he has not exactly set the House of Representatives alight. How much experience of life can one have had at 20?” Mr Cohen asks.

In Britain, the average age of members of parliament is 50 years of age (or 69 in the House of Lords); in America, it is 56 years, or 62 years in the Senate. The average age of parliamentarians in New Zealand is 46 years of age; whereas in Australia it is 50 years of age.

“While our House of Representatives is in line with other countries’ lower houses, our Senate is positively youthful compared to their upper houses,” Mr Cohen says.

However, his main concern is whether Australia’s parliament is a reflection of the ages of the general population.

“Not one of our parliamentarians have reached 70 years of age, which is surprising when one realises that the proportion of Australians aged 65 years and over has increased over the past 20 years from 11.1% to 13.6%,” he says.

Those aged 85 years old have doubled from 0.9% to 1.8%; and while the 65 years and over group make up 13.6% of our population, the number of parliamentarians in that category is a mere 4.42%.

“As our lifespan continues to increase, thanks to our scientists and doctors, our parliaments should reflect that trend,” Mr Cohen says. “But how, I hear you ask. I detest quotas, as I did back when Labor introduced them in the 1980s to increase the number of women MPs, for one reason: it is anti-democratic,” he adds.

He maintains that “no one” should be guaranteed a seat in parliament because of their sex, the colour of their skin, race or sexual preference.

“It doesn’t concern me if every parliamentarian is a woman. When I was elected in 1969 there were [no females] in the House and only two in the Senate,” Mr Cohen recounts.

He remains hopeful that all political parties will closely examine their attitudes towards older members of the community and assess their capacity to contribute to the governance of Australia due to their “wisdom and experience”.

Do you agree with Mr Cohen that political parties need to closely examine their attitudes towards older members? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.