Newsletter June 2024

What we did . . . and didn’t do

As presented to our recent AGM.

This report belongs to the Committee you elected at the last AGM on 31 May 2023.

Wellington Central Grey Power doesn’t run like many associations, which have bigger and more active memberships, monthly social meetings, and in some cases an office open specified hours. Many Associations are finding it harder to keep up that way of operating and the Mana/Tawa Association has closed its doors. Their members have joined Kapiti or Wellington Central or, perhaps, left Grey Power. The greatest problem throughout the country is finding volunteer members for the many positions needed to run an association.

Our constitution provides for five Officers of the Association – Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary. One of our Committee, Damien Cole, resigned due to work circumstances, and we thank Damien for his contribution. With Committee volunteers undertaking more than one task – it could be said that we are in breach of our constitution, but we remain an active association. As with other Associations, some members join primarily to take advantage of the Grey Power Electricity discount. We support that as sponsorship to the Federation is related to members using Grey Power Electricity.

You will be aware that organisations are required to update their constitutions to meet the requirements of the Incorporated Societies Act 2022. We understand that the Federation Board will provide an Association template following its 2024 AGM. On receipt of the template your committee will complete the new constitution and register it within the required timeframe.

The Association is an active member of Zone 4, which covers up to 19 Associations in the lower part of the North Island. Up to three Committee members attend the meetings. As the Zone 4 Representative on the Grey Power Federation Board, I take suggestions from Associations to the Board.

Our Vice President, David Cuthbert, represented the Association the 2023 Federation AGM in Wellington. Damien Cole also attended one day. At last year’s AGM Associations demonstrated a mood for change. The Board adopted a Strategic Plan, and I am assigned to ensure the projects are completed over a 3-year period. I will be seeking Association involvement in some of the projects. Jan Pentecost has resigned as Grey Power President due to family circumstances. The 2024 AGM will elect a new President and Treasurer. Any member can attend the AGM as an observer. The venue is the Brentwood Hotel, Kilbirnie, 18-20 June.

At the 2023 AGM the Health & Disability Advocacy Service made a presentation on their services.

Failing to achieve a meeting with the Mayor, the Committee met with Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon to rebuild our relationship with the Wellington City Council. We presented a submission on the new park being built at Frederick and Taranaki Streets. Our submission included the need for public toilets and almost all the submissions presented while we were present mentioned public toilets.

The Federation Board requested Associations to survey political candidates on specific issues. A questionnaire was sent to Wellington Central and Ohariu candidates and the results forwarded to the Federation President who chaired the election advocacy committee.

Our sponsored Christmas luncheon at the Grand was well-attended.

The Committee’s quarterly newsletter and Federation notifications are members’ link to Grey Power’s work. Email is our preferred method of distribution. We still post newsletters to members who do not have email or haven’t shared their email address with us. And we understand that some people don’t enjoy reading online. With changes happening at NZ Post we encourage members with emails to share them with our membership officer. greypowerwellington@gmail.com

From 1 January 2023 the Federation capitation fee increased from $5 to $7.50 per member. At the 2023 AGM the Association reduced the membership fee and our accounts continue to be in a healthy state. Posting a copy of the Grey Power magazine costs $2 and posting four copies a year costs $8 – more than the capitation fee. The National Treasurer has made a request that members elect to receive the magazine electronically and that is proving quite popular.

The Committee is your committee. Don’t be shy. We welcome new committee members. The workload is not onerous. If you would like to be our Secretary, Treasurer or Committee member you will be welcomed. The Committee meets at 1pm on the first Monday of the month at the Mt Vic Hub.

We started the 2024 year with a presentation by the Aged Care Commissioner. She was generous with her time and enjoyed a light lunch with those who attended. We are planning more public meetings about important issues for seniors later in the year.

So, thank you very much to Committee members, David Cuthbert our trusty Vice-President and minute taker, Bruce McLachlan who continues as our temporary Treasurer, Owen Watson who prepares the newsletter and does a multitude of membership tasks and Alastair Duncan who has brought new knowledge and enthusiasm to our Committee. We are quite a team.

Colleen Singleton

President, Wellington Central Grey Power Association

Last call for rates rebates

You must get the application (for Wellington) in by June 30.

Learning How To Be Old: a podcast

“How odd,” you’re thinking. “As if we need to learn. Who does she think she is?”

I’m Rachel McAlpine and I’m right there beside you as you get older, because we’re all in the same boat.

Aging is a complicated business. It’s shocking, because in our heart of hearts, most of us hope that we are exempt. At times it’s worrying, and even humiliating. At other times, it can be strangely satisfying. Change is the one certainty. As we only have one shot at the business of aging, ideally we will do it well — and do it our way.

I’m not a scientist or a health professional: I’m just an 84-year-old writer who is keenly interested in what lies ahead. So I’m following the research on aging that has been flooding out for the last 20 years at least. I talk to experts and I talk to people like you and I throw in the odd poem too.

For instance, one episode is called “A good conversation.” I don’t want to be the old person that nobody wants to talk to! Random pedestrians in Cuba Street give very diverse opinions — I love this section. And Kirsty Ferguson, a disputes resolution professional, tells me how to work with six problems I have as an older person, from hearing loss to giving unsolicited advice. She’s kind and funny and she keeps it simple. My next episode is about hearing aids and includes some facts that I personally find astonishing, in a good way.

I have a mission and it’s not a secret. I want to entertain, stimulate and encourage you as you grow older, with human stories and new ideas about aging. (Whatever your age, that’s happening.)

Listening to audio-only podcasts is very different from watching a screen. (Find them on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify etc.) Most people listen while they’re doing something else, like walking, commuting, gardening, or washing up. So it’s like listening to a favourite radio programme when and where you choose. This podcast is going to keep surprising you in a good way as it continues to develop. If you see a link to Follow or Subscribe, go ahead, it’s safe! You’ll quickly find new episodes, and unlike your other social media, podcasts won’t bombard you with ads.

What are you thinking? I think this is the only podcast about aging in Aotearoa New Zealand, so I want to get it right. Please give me tips and ideas when you’ve listened or followed. Use my website (WriteIntoLife.com) or my Facebook page (rachelmcpoet).

Rachel McAlpine is the author of numerous poetry collections (How To Be Old, Cuba Press, 2020), plays (The Secret Lives of Extremely Old People, Circa Theatre, Nov-Dec 2023), and other books.

It says: “Our findings are in line with other research showing that over one-third of older New Zealanders are drinking at levels which may result in harm”.

You’re covered

All members of Grey Power are now covered by a $2,000 Accidental Death &
Dismemberment Benefit provided through American Income Life Insurance
Company. For an insurance certificate phone (09) 973 5254 (and they may sell you other insurance).

A new face at the Aged Care Association but the same old problems

Increasingly politicians of all stripes reinvent themselves as lobbyists and Greypower was among a small but select group of invitees in June to the ‘welcome’ for the Aged Care Associations new CEO Tracey Martin.

The ACA is the employer lobby group in the aged residential care sector, representing both ‘mom and  dad” operators as well as the corporates to both funding agencies such as Te Whatu Ora and the government.

Martin, will be remembered as a former NZ First politician, who a number of commentators rated as being closer to the Labour Party than NZ First. Winston Peters cast her aside from the number two position some years ago, the closest the party has come to a woman leader. Now she’s back and raring to go.

Martin is an affable and confident advocate, and is likely to lift the Associations traditionally dour profile. To date it’s most prominent activities have been billboards around election time.

In her speech to the guests, most of whom were in fact ACA members, Martin talked about ‘change’, ‘opportunity’ and how the coalition government might be responsive to addressing the big challenges in aged care, including staffing and recruitment.   If the measure of results was enthusiasm Martin would get 10 out 10, describing the job as her ‘dream job’.

To be fair to Martin, her interest in the sector goes back many years. As an MP she was vocal in her support for equal pay for carers and better sector funding – engaging with unions in a way that few politicians did.

However, in her new role Martin will face a key challenge. Her ‘association” has an entrenched hostility to workplace change, as evidence by it’s decade long legal battle to thwart equal pay and its continued opposition to mandatory safe staffing. The ACA argues that ‘self-regulation’ is the way forward and in doing so sides with the Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper (a former BUPA CEO) who told Greypower AGM in June that as there was no agreed measure and recording system for acuity in the sector that safe staffing was something for the future.

Tell that to overworked care and nursing staff, who find workload and an eroding pay packet little comfort for the care they deliver to our seniors.

Martin will be an asset to ACA, but it will require the Association to think again about how it deals with funders and the coalition government.   Its corporate members, who dominate the sector are in effect property developers whose labour cost is underwritten by the taxpayer.  Yes, they are underfunded on the care side, but on the ‘licence to occupy’  side are doing very nicely.

With equal pay stuck in the courts  and no sign of the nursing and carer shortage easing those of us with friends or family in aged care will do well to keep an eye on the sector and its new leader.

Alastair Duncan is a Greypower member who worked in the care sector for 45 years. He attended the ACA launch on behalf of Wellington Greypower.