Just suppose an Australian was setting up a business in the Korean city of Seoul which aimed to attract Australian tourist customers visiting that country. It would be a good idea to have staff that spoke English and even better if they were from Australia and able to chat about Australian events to make the customers feel more at home.
A beauty boutique in Sydney created a huge kerfuffle when they placed a sign in the window with the wording " Korean Staff Wanted ". Apparently, this breaches our anti discrimination act, but the shop owner was quick to claim that all she wanted was people fluent in the Korean language - which is reasonable if this boutique was hoping to attract Koreans visiting this city.
There are often compelling reasons for seeking staff with special attributes and the anti discrimination act does make exceptions. Some nursing homes for the elderly are focussed on the needs of individual ethnic residents and it is desirable to have staff that not only speak that language, but follow the customs that are peculiar to that national identity. The aim is to make the residents feel at home by serving traditional food, following ethnic custom and even celebrating the national days of their former home country. This is allowable under the act.
Unfortunately these anti discrimination laws do little to combat the hidden forms of discrimination that are practised across a wide swathe of society - and one of these is age discrimination. It is the hiring policy of many businesses to totally exclude applicants above a certain age barrier, although this is never stated in job advertisements. As a result, people with industry experience and ability waste a lot of time preparing applications - and live in false hope of the end of a long job search. It is fast becoming legend that anyone over fifty is "unemployable "!
We have an ageing population and perhaps the work situation needs a new approach from the opposite ends of the age spectrum to create more employment. We already accept that those seeking their first job will lack experience and need tuition to become competent employees - and this is covered by a wage scale geared to age. Pay increases each year - until that person becomes an adult.
Perhaps we need to consider a similar wage reduction for older applicants seeking work. While they may have years of experience to offer, it is a fact of life that vim and vigour decrease with age and in many cases there would be value in having casuals able to iron out business peaks. It seems that "casual "employment is fast replacing "permanency " and the availability of a "floating" pool of labour has the ability to match the varying needs of business peaks and troughs. Making the employment of older people more attractive to employers could be a combination of a small wage discount for the loss of speed and agility caused by ageing, together with making their hiring free of payroll tax. A variety of other government tax incentives could sweeten the deal !
That can not be achieved without the review of our present labour laws. Rigidity must give way to flexibility if we are to open an avenue of employment for those seeking work - who are prepared to accept that the old "nine to five "era is finished and we now live in a 24/7 society. Many mature people are less choosey about the hours of work - than their more entertainment prone younger counterparts.
It is actually a form of discrimination if the same laws and conditions are equally applied to employees of all age groups. Those of mature age need an "edge "to be considered when an employer is considering filling a vacancy - and at present no such incentive exists. Cutting the elderly a little slack to get them back into the workforce not only helps the Australian economy, it restores hope and dignity to those whose working life has been artificially shortened.
Unfortunately, creating favourable conditions will probably generate political opposition and any such change will be vigorously opposed by the unions. If we are to remain "the clever country "we need to mesh need and demand and bring it together with the right legislation to make it work.
Not an impossible equation - provided common sense applies !
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