It is proposed that the term of membership of the Board be increased from two years to three years (Clause 25).

The Constitution is currently being reviewed by COTA Queensland’s Governance Committee.

 NOTICE OF SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING 27TH JULY 2012

‘Grey Nomads’ can be defined as people aged 55 and above who are semi retired or retired that travel for an extended amount of time throughout Australia using a caravan or motor home as their base.

It is important for ‘Grey Nomads’ to be adequately prepared and equipped to handle the harsh travel conditions and limited access to medical services that exist in some of the rural and remote areas in Australia.

The webpage’s design has been developed to support  ‘Grey Nomads’ to:

Please promote this webpage to your consumer groups to improve access to a range of resources.

To view the Healthy Grey Nomads webpage please visit www.gpqld.com.au/healthyqueenslanders/

Volunteers

‘Every One Counts’

National Volunteer Week (NVW) is the largest celebration of volunteers and volunteering in Australia, and provides an opportunity to highlight the role of volunteers in our communities and to say thank you to the more than 6.4 million Australians who volunteer. 

COTA salutes its volunteers

COTA’s volunteers are highly valued members of our organisation.  Thank you to each and every one of you for your contribution!  Your time, energy, and professionalism are very much appreciated. 

Here is a showcase of two of our wonderful long-term volunteers: 

VOLUNTEER

 One who offers services freely

(The Australian Oxford Dictionary) 

Golfers do it, Cricketers do it, Mums do it, Dads do it; Tuckshops to Community Banks are underscored by Volunteers. Hospitals, Olympics, Neighbourhood watch.

Very seldom will you hear “I am sorry I volunteered” except maybe for a Family re-union. For the most part people are proud and happy to volunteer, happy to say “I share in this undertaking”.

Being a COTA volunteer gives us an objective view of the vision and achievements of a large organisation, without the constraints experienced by Management and Staff.

Hours? We choose, Workload? We choose, Customers? ever grateful, Demarcation? non-existent, Redundancy? We choose, Salary? Priceless.

I have had the honour and pleasure of meeting with Centenarian volunteers, a delight to be with. Instead of having one foot in the grave get both feet into volunteering. 

Thankyou to COTA for affording me the opportunity to serve, thankyou especially COTA Queensland Team for allowing me to serve with you, and, thankyou to all my fellow  volunteers.

Bryan Spiller.

Sue Bowles

I joined COTA Queensland in 1999.  The office then was in Buckland Road, Nundah.  We were a small office with support, a library, computer classes and Project Officers.  Safe and Confident Living was important to us at that time as it still is. We were also involved with NESB (Non-English Speaking Background)  and CALD issues.  HACC was an important part of COTA Queensland and supported our endeavours, and still does.  We conducted forum and conferences to support various projects.

In the early 2000′s we saw a lot more development in COTA Queensland across the community of older persons and we became much more active in Policy and Advocacy and in doing that we have gained much strength and recognition within the community.

Involvement  in community work was something my Grandparents, my Mother and my brother along with our children have always done. Volunteering has become a way of life.  It has been most interesting, for me, to be able to see the years go by as COTA Queensland has  become recognised as a leader within the community of  older peoples  lives, and we continue to talk with State  and Federal governments  on all issues.

I have been able to follow my interests whilst volunteering and meeting people, stakeholders, staff all add to the pleasure of volunteering my time.

How to become a COTA volunteer

The COTA volunteer program enables members to take an active
part in their organisation and assist with its continued development. 

The volunteer program is designed to have a dual role.  It seeks to use the talents, combined experience and skills of our membership base while providing opportunities for volunteers to engage in tasks where they can develop new or existing skills and actively contribute to the organisation. 

All volunteers are provided with a comprehensive orientation program and training is provided on the specific program of area of work. 

We are seeking people to join our Peer Education program.

Contact the Community Education team  for further details education@cotaqld.org.au  call 1300 738 348 (the cost of a local call within Queensland)

 ”Tonight’s Federal Budget contains two major measures that benefit older Australians, a number of smaller measures that will be welcomed by particular groups of seniors, and some unfortunate penny pinching” said Ian Yates, Chief Executive of COTA Australia, the peak consumer body for older Australians.

COTA Australia Media Release – Federal Budget

Australia’s peak aged consumer body, COTA Australia welcomed the Living Longer Living Better package of aged care reforms announced by the Prime Minister and Minister for Ageing this morning.

The package outlines a 10 year reform plan that includes improved information through the Gateway, a major increase in Home Care packages, increased funding for dementia care and a fairer system of user contributions that will make sure people will pay according to their means.

Living Longer Living Better Media Release

Commonwealth Aged Care Reform

The Conversations commenced on 19 August 2011 in Adelaide and concluded in Alice Springs on 1st February 2012. The following conversations were held:

Over 3,400 people attended these Conversations, which ranged from about 40 to around 250 people. The majority of attendees were older people and their carers. In addition there were sometimes aged care workers and service providers in attendance.

This report provides a summary of the Conversations and identifies the common themes and issues that were discussed.

 Summary Report on the Conversations on Ageing

• make ageing a policy priority and
• commit to action on key issues impacting on older Queenslanders now and into the future.

We believe that governments should deliver responsive and accountable services that assist communities to build inclusive and accessible environments for all ages.

This requires leadership and planning, based on a vision of belonging and values of fairness.

Principles of an age-friendly society  include:

• ensuring that older people have a basic level of financial security
• developing age-friendly environments
• availability and accessibility of effective health care.

An age friendly society will bring benefits not just to older Queenslanders, but to all members of the community, through better design and planning in homes, the environment, work, training and education, and health systems.

We believe that the newly elected Queensland Government should set targets and objectives  as part of a Seniors Strategy to address chronic disadvantage and isolation experienced by seniors, particularly thoseliving in regional and remote communities of  Queensland.

 Read the full submission here:  COTA Qld Submission Election 2012

Ten Australians die of bowel cancer every day; 70 every week.  Up to a third of those deaths could be prevented if the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program was a available to the recommended target group – everyone aged 50 and over every two years.

Unfortunately, the free home test provided by the program is only available to people turning 50, 55 and 65 as a one-off test.

Cancer Council Australia is campaigning to the Government to expand the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in the 2012-2013 Federal Budget.

You can support our campaign in any or all of the following ways:

• Send a letter to your local Federal MP seeking support for a fully funded National Bowel Cancer
  Screening Program.

• Write to the Prime Minister, Treasurer or your local Federal MP in support of expanding bowel cancer screening.

• Go to www.getbehindbowelscreening.com.au and click on “Support the Campaign” tab.

• Inform your friends and relatives about the campaign.

Every day the Government delays, more Australians die. Please add your voice to this issue today.

Click Here to read the Cancer Council fact sheet ‘Early Detection of Bowel Cancer’

The Consumers Federation of Australia is the peak body for consumer organisations in Australia. It represents 34 full member organisations, including all of Australia’s major consumer organisations. http://consumersfederation.org.au/2011/12/unit-pricing/

Unit prices – are they legible and prominent?

December 5, 2011

Unit pricing involves showing the price of goods per specified unit of measure e.g. per kg or litre.

What we want

1. Full retailer compliance with the prominence and legibility requirements of the Federal government’s mandatory Industry Code of Conduct, and with all other requirements, including provision, accuracy, and use of correct units of measurement.
2. More public education by retailers and the ACCC to increase consumer awareness and use of unit prices.
3. Consumers who are unhappy with the way supermarkets are displaying unit prices, or any other aspects of unit pricing, to ring the ACCC’s Unit Pricing Hotline on 1300 746 245.

Background

After a long and concerted campaign by the consumer movement for the introduction of mandatory grocery unit pricing, CFA was delighted when, in 2008, the Federal government finally announced that it would be introduced nationally. This was a great victory for consumers because for years most supermarkets vigorously opposed voluntary or compulsory unit pricing. The new laws took effect on 1 December 2009. They require all supermarkets, with a floor space of more than 1000 square metres, to display the unit price (price per unit of measure) of almost all the packaged grocery products sold.

Trade measurement legislation already required that the unit price be shown for grocery products sold loose by measure or in random weight non-rigid pre-packs (for example, meat, and fruit and vegetables). The new code therefore applies mainly to grocery products in constant measure packages (for example, breakfast cereals, jam, milk, and toilet paper).

Unit prices, displayed in addition to selling prices, help consumers compare the value of products by package size, brand, and type of packaging (including unpackaged). They also facilitate comparison of substitute products and help consumers spot sneaky price increases resulting from reductions in package sizes.

Unfortunately, the government’s system has a number of serious flaws. For example, the regulator – the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – must decide what constitutes “prominent” and “legible” presentation of unit prices.
The ACCC guidelines say “prominent” means it must stand out so that it is easily seen and “legible” means it must not be difficult to read. The problem with this approach is that it is open to wide and possibly subjective interpretation.
In our view, in most supermarkets unit prices are not prominent.

And, in some supermarkets, too many unit prices are difficult or impossible to read.

Our concerns have been confirmed by the results of a national survey in November 2011

(http://www.choice.com.au/media-and-news/media-releases/2011%20media%20releases/supermarket-pricing-system-needs-birthday-boost.aspx)

of almost 1000 consumers commissioned by CFA members, the Queensland Consumers Association and CHOICE.

The survey found that around 60% of the shoppers at the 2 dominant supermarket chains would find unit pricing more helpful if the print size was bigger and the unit prices stood out more.

The causes of inadequate legibility include: print being too small and/or not dense enough; obscuring by label holders; inadequate background contrast; and badly angled labels. These, and other, flaws, including inappropriate units of measure for some products, reduce consumer awareness and use of unit pricing.

Unless, consumers can easily NOTICE, READ and USE unit prices, the system will not fully achieve its great potential to save consumers money and time and increase competition between manufacturers and between supermarkets.
Supermarkets ensure that consumers can easily notice and read ALL selling prices. They can easily, and should, do the same with ALL unit prices.

Action is required by the ACCC to obtain full compliance with the Code’s prominence and legibility requirements, and with all other requirements (provision, accuracy, units of measurement, etc).

The survey also revealed that although 80% of respondents were using unit prices and many found them very helpful, almost 30% of shoppers were either unaware of unit prices, did not use them, or found them only slightly helpful. But almost half of these shoppers would find them more useful if there was more education about what unit prices are and how to use them.

So it is clear that supermarkets and the ACCC need to provide more and better information designed to increase consumer awareness and use of unit prices.

The reasons why this is essential include:

• Extremely limited, and in some cases no, consumer education by most supermarkets and the ACCC – a new concept such as unit pricing which can be used in many ways and can deliver major benefits to consumers needs, and deserves, a major, coordinated and comprehensive consumer education program.
• For many months prior to 1 December 2009, the two major supermarket chains did not provide unit prices for all grocery products– this discouraged consumers from using unit prices.
• As indicated above, many unit prices are not easy for consumers to notice (not sufficiently prominent) and many are difficult or impossible to read (not sufficiently legible) – which makes it more difficult for consumers to be aware that unit prices are provided.

Changes to the amount and quality of information for consumers about unit pricing should include increasing awareness that unit prices can be used for more than just comparisons between package sizes within and between brands (for example, boxes of corn flakes) – other important possible uses include comparing packaged with unpackaged and packaged products (for example, loose and vacuum packaged bacon), packaging types (for example, cheese in re-sealable and non re-sealable packages, different forms of a product (for example canned versus frozen corn kernels) and substitute products (for example, long grain and jasmine rice).

Anyone dissatisfied with how supermarkets display unit prices, or any other aspects of unit pricing, or wanting more information, should ring the ACCC’s Unit Pricing Hotline 1300 746 245.