It’s the issue on everyone’s lips, and a version of it was named 'word of the year' by the Macquarie Dictionary. The cost of living or “cozzie livs” (if you’re hip and read the Macquarie) is an issue that is affecting all generations.

This has been confirmed by National Senior Australia’s recent Policy and Advocacy Survey (PAS) which had an incredible 6,608 responses! The PAS is our new pre-budget mini-survey and part of our wider strategy to use insights from our community to make sure our policy agenda supports all older people – but more on this later.

In our inaugural PAS we asked two simple questions:

• What are the most important issues to you?
• What expenses are you most concerned about with regards to the cost of living?

Faced with a raft of choices, overall more people chose the cost of living as the most important issue (they could choose three from the list). This was followed at number two by private health (cost of private health insurance, specialists, and hospitals).

The cost of living and private health were the two most important issues for older people regardless of the source of their income, their geographic location, and their gender.

While the cost of living attracted more “votes” than private health, the order was reversed for people aged 67+ who don’t receive a pension (either self-funded retirees or working people over pension age).

The only other difference in the top two concerns was among people who rent or have other living arrangements (e.g., living in a retirement village). Among this sub-group the cost of living and housing affordability were the top two concerns (in that order).

The divergence of views widened when looking at the third most important issue.

While overall the issue of primary health care (access to GPs and hospitals) was third most important overall among our respondents, there were differences when looking at specific groups of older people.

The digital economy (and the move to online for essential services) was the third most important issue for people aged 67+, and for older people living in metropolitan areas or living on a part Age Pension.

The Age Pension rate (that is, how much you can get) was the third most important issue for homeowners with a mortgage, renters and for people receiving a full Age Pension.

The survey reinforces that while there are commonalities among seniors, life circumstances have a huge impact on what older people see are the main issues of the day.

It also tells us that a focus on the cost of living is critical in our policy agenda for 2024.

As an advocacy organisation representing the interests of all older people, we are keen to hear your concerns when building our policy agenda. Our PAS survey, which we will replicate every year in the lead up to the federal budget, is just the start.

We will be sending out surveys to our community throughout the year to get your feedback on important issues. The next and most important of these will be our 2024 National Seniors Social Survey (NSSS).

In it, we develop specific modules to get deeper insights into your views and experiences around key issues affecting older people (you can read past reports here).

For example, based on your concerns about private health, we have devised a set of questions for the upcoming NSSS in March. We will use this information to develop a private health research report to advocate for a better private health system for you.

We will also send out requests for feedback to the general community and to our dedicated Advocacy Supporters Group to get contemporary feedback to help our advocacy cause.

Thank you to the 6,608 people who completed our inaugural PAS. It is your input that enables us to be an effective voice for you.

If you want to sign up to participate in more regular feedback opportunities, click here to register for the Advocacy Supporters Group.