Did you know Australia has the leading rate of aged incarceration in the world?
GRAPHIC: SewcreamStudio/iStockphoto
I’m not talking about putting our aged into jails, I’m talking about putting them into care.
At first this sounds good – how rich are we that we can house all our elderly in specialised houses of care?
But when you think about it a bit more – how poor are we that we dispense with our elderly into specialised houses of care? Out of sight, out of mind.
We spend more on education, and reading rates fall. We spend more on aged care and we need royal commissions.
Maybe there are things that money can’t buy, that happen in families and communities? Familial links we simply don’t understand. I think it’s worth thinking about.
Paul Clark’s musings can be heard on radio across Australia and at atthetop.org.au.
