Grandparents may become endangered

Parents who begin a family much later in life may limit the interaction their children have with aging grandparents who may struggle to keep up. Picture: Martin Novak/ Thinkstock

• Older parents limit the capacity for some to care for grandkids
• Could change face of traditional grandparenting
• Caring for young children gets physically harder with age

AUSTRALIA could be heading toward a generation of "grand-orphans" as societal trends turn grandparenting into an endangered institution.

With an increasing number of women delaying childbirth until their late 30s and 40s more people are becoming grandparents at an older age, limiting their capacity to care for grandchildren.

In 2011, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported a record 12,800 babies born to women over 40, up from just 7100 in 2001, with the median age for Australian mothers sitting at 30.6.

A 40-year-old mother who has to wait the average 30.6 or 40 years for her child to become a parent will be 70 or 80 by the time she herself becomes a grandparent, something Queensland University of Technology social psychologist Associate Professor Evonne Miller says is undoubtedly changing the face of traditional grandparenting.

"The reality is that the trend towards late motherhood is likely to change the role of grandparents and how they interact with their grandchildren," she said.

Cate and her husband Gerold adopted surrogate grandparent Irene Sills (centre) who has now become part of the family. Picture: Justin Lloyd

"Caring and interacting with a baby or toddler is typically much more physically taxing for someone in their late 70s, 80s and 90s than at age 50 or 60."

Ms Miller said other societal factors such as marriage breakdowns and geographical separation were also helping to redefine the role of the grandparent.

"Rather than frequent face-to-face visits, contemporary grandparents - especially those who live overseas or interstate - will use technology such as Skype and Facebook to interact with their grandchildren," she said.

"Instead of daily or weekly visits, grandparents may instead visit for extended times or take holidays together - it is about redefining our expectations about the role of grandparents in families."

Director of Grandparents Australia Anne McLeish said while women shouldn't feel pressured to have children earlier, they should realise the limitations delaying childbirth might place on their own parents.

"Parents need to continue to make the decision that's best for them but they have to understand at the same time that if they delay having children too late then it does limit the help that they can expect from the grandparents," she said.

"There are going to be a lot of children who miss out on the traditional grandparenting role as a result of marriage breakdown, relocation and losing contact with grandparents altogether."

That trend is being reflected in the skyrocketing popularity of Find-A-Grandparent, an online service that matches Australian families in need with "surrogate grandparents".

Director Cate Kloos, who launched the service last year to find a surrogate for her own two children, said she is desperate to recruit more grandparents to meet the demand from families.

"We have heaps of families registered but we could have heaps more if there were more grandparents to go around," she said.

"We get emails from interested families almost every day, but we have to turn them away. There's definitely a huge demand from families."

With Ms Kloos' and her husband Gerold's own parents living in Germany, their children Amelie, 5, and Luca, 3, now have a surrogate grandparent in Irene Sills, 75.

"It's really good because she only lives a couple of houses away from us so we can pop in and see her regularly, she's become part of the family," Ms Kloos said.

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Power use drop leads to emission cut

A decline in manufacturing, the introduction of the carbon tax, decreased demand from consumers and use of renewable energy have all helped cut Australia's electricity emissions, according to a new report. Source: AFP

• Electricity emissions lowest since 2001-2002
• Coal-use being scaled back
• Price-war consumers also helped lower emissions

THE introduction of the carbon tax, power bill shock and a decline in manufacturing is all behind a drop in Australia's electricity greenhouse gas emissions to levels not seen for more than a decade, a report says.

The Climate Commission's report examining escalating global action on climate change, released today, reveals emissions from electricity generation in 2012 dropped by 4.7 per cent on the previous year.

And emissions from electricity hit the lowest levels seen since 2001-02 in the last six months of last year.

Coal-use is being scaled back as gas and green energy grows, with Australia nearly doubling its renewable energy capacity since 2001.

Other reasons behind the fall include price-conscience households and businesses cutting down on power use, an embracing of energy-saving equipment and a run on rooftop solar panels, which hit one million households last year.

A decline in demand for electricity was also partially driven by a decline in some manufacturing sectors, it said.

"The introduction of a carbon price in 2012 has also contributed to the shift away from coal."

Chief Climate Commissioner Professor Tim Flannery said GDP continued to grow while emissions "seem to have peaked".

"Fingers crossed we've turned the curve downwards."

Australia's experience came in the context of "a fundamental global shift" to renewable energy, Professor Flannery said.

The report found accelerating action on climate change worldwide, including by the world's biggest polluters, China and the US.

It notes China halved its growth in energy demand in 2012 as it invested US$65.1 billion in clean energy - a massive 30 per cent of the entire G20 nations' investment in the same year.

That was ahead of the introduction of seven emissions trading schemes this year crossing the country that would cover a quarter of a billion people and be the largest trading scheme on the planet.

Meanwhile, US emissions were declining and the country was second to China in investing in renewable energy, spending US$35.6 billion last year.

"The action is happening, the giants are moving, so if that's a sign for action, it should be all systems go in Australia," Professor Flannery said.

"The last nine months have seen the beginnings of a fundamental global shift, an irreversible shift towards renewable energy."

Thirty-five countries have emissions trading schemes and 98 countries have committed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions.

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Sitting MPs to join Palmer's party

BILLIONAIRE federal candidate Clive Palmer said that by tomorrow, two or more current sitting MPs will defect to his party ahead of the election.

Mr Palmer told journalists today that he will run a candidate in every lower house seat, with two or more being current sitting MPs.

He also revealed his Queensland office was broken into last night, and he claims it is part of a political conspiracy.

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Let's vote on gay marriage now - Milne

Pro-gay marriage activists kiss in Paris after French lawmakers legalised same-sex marriage. MP Tony Windsor is urging the government to have a referendum on the issue. Source: AFP

FINANCE Minister Penny Wong has questioned Independent MP Tony Windsor's idea of having a referendum on same-sex marriage laws.

Mr Windsor wants the controversial issue taken out of the hands of politicians and instead let the people decide.

"Polls on gay marriage say it's what the population wants," Mr Windsor is quoted as saying by Fairfax media.

"A way to resolve it is through a referendum. It's a bit like the gun debate in America - the politicians appear to be out of step with the people."

Mr Windsor voted against the most recent same-sex marriage bill but said his views had softened after attending a civil union ceremony last year.

Mr Windsor says he supports the idea of a plebiscite on the issue but clarified he won't necessarily be leading the push to make it happen.

He said both sides of the gay marriage debate claimed they had the numbers so "if enough Australians wanted one" a plebiscite would be an opportunity to have the issue resolved.

"What tends to happen is politicians get captive to various interest groups," Mr Windsor told ABC Radio.

"It's a bit like the gun debate in America - the politicians appear to be out of step with the people."

But Finance Minister Penny Wong, who is in a same-sex relationship, said she would "sound a note of caution" about the idea.

She said a plebiscite would be a "very high bar to jump".

"My view is the parliament has a responsibility and will one day discharge that responsibility," Senator Wong told Sky News today.

Senator Wong pointed to the 1999 republic referendum which failed across all states despite having strong public support.

"John Howard and Tony Abbott ran a very good fear campaign and we lost that referendum," she said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told reporters today that he thought the September election was not the right time for a referendum on gay marriage.

"I think the coming election should be uncomplicated by other matters...I think the election should be a referendum on the carbon tax .. the current government, do you really want three more years of this?

"If there's ever to be a plebiscite on this subject it should be held quite separate from this election," he said.

But Australian Greens leader Christine Milne says holding a national poll on gay marriage is a "distraction" and the real stumbling block is Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's position.

"The only impediment is that the coalition won't provide a conscience vote," Senator Milne said.

"Tony Abbott should give a conscience vote to his members in both houses of parliament and we can legislate this before the election."

Australian Marriage Equality national convener Rodney Croome said a plebiscite was unnecessary and potentially divisive.

"We fear cashed-up opponents of marriage equality would exploit a referendum to polarise the electorate and demonise gay and lesbian people in a way that will impact badly, particularly on young gay people," Mr Croome said in a statement.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says he generally believes parliament should decide issues like gay marriage but a plebiscite could be a way to break the impasse.

"When you've got a vexed, intractable issue sometimes a referendum ... might be a way to cut through the issue," he told the Seven Network.

"A vote, a referendum, might be a circuit breaker."

Marriage equality advocates, buoyed by decisions in France and New Zealand in recent weeks to pass laws in favour of gay marriage, hope supporters of same-sex marriage will make take the issue to the nation's leaders at the upcoming federal election.

France last week became the 14th nation to allow gay marriage after its parliament voted in favour of a bill legalising same-sex marriages and adoptions for gay couples.

Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome said French political leaders had upheld the European country's guiding principles of liberty, equality and fraternity for all.

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'Feds, not Newman, behind holiday limit'

The State Government is proposing to rewrite the calendar for public holidays. Picture: Thinkstock Source: news.com.au

ATTORNEY General Jarrod Bleijie has distanced the Newman Government from a proposal to limit public holidays, saying the plan was a federal government recommendation.

"The fact is having a standard 11 public holidays across the nation was a recommendation from a Federal Labor Party commissioned report," Mr Bleijie said.

"Federal Minister Bill Shorten wrote to me to ask my thoughts on the proposal."

"I told him that any move by the Federal Government to progress this issue would have to be done with greater consultation because we have more than 11 public holidays in some years.

He said the plan – which would effectively cap the number of public holidays to 11 – was "not a Newman Government proposal".

Earlier, The Courier-Mail reported workers would be prevented from double dipping on public holidays under a plan put to the Newman Government.

The plan would rewrite rules allowing an extra public holiday to be added when Christmas, Boxing or New Year's days fall on a weekend.

The plan to effectively cap the number of public holidays on the Queensland calendar to 11 would save business about $300 million each time such a scenario occurred.

However, it would mean hospitality and retail workers would be paid normal rates when rostered for Christmas, Boxing or New Year's days when they fall on a weekend.

Queensland had 13 public holidays last year after New Year's Day fell on a Sunday and an additional day off was granted to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The next time an additional public holiday is due to be added is for Boxing Day in 2015.

The public holiday cap revelation comes as Justice Minister Jarrod Bleijie yesterday lauded the Government's decision to move Labour Day to October as a win for workers.

"By moving the Labour Day public holiday from May to October, it will break up the concentration of public holidays that generally fall in the April-May period," he said.

"This move will provide a break for Queenslanders during the second half of the year because of an even spread of public holidays."

Mr Bleijie's push to reform public holidays is revealed in a letter to Federal Employment Minister Bill Shorten.

The letter, written in December, came after an independent panel reviewing the Fair Work Act last year recommended limiting the annual number of days when penalty rates are payable to 11.

Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry president David Goodwin backed Mr Bleijie.

Mr Goodwin said hospitality businesses often did not even open their doors on public holidays because of penalty rates, a scenario that had a flow-on effect for tourism.

However, Queensland Council of Unions president John Battams opposed the proposal.

"Most of these people are casuals, most of them are very low paid and the penalty rates they get on these days help them ensure ends meet," he said.

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PM: Federal Budget decisions 'grave'

Confirming newspaper reports today, Ms Gillard told a forum in Canberra the government's revenue had slid $12 billion since the last budget update in October.

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has declared that decisions about the nation's finances are so "grave" and "urgent" every option is on the table at the Budget - even those previously off the table.

Confirming newspaper reports today, Ms Gillard told a forum in Canberra the government's revenue had slid $12 billion since the last budget update in October.

But the PM went further, saying that "everyone" had to cover their share of the burden although she insisted would not "cut to the bone".

"As a Labor Prime Minister, I find these decisions both urgent and grave," Ms Gillard said.

"This revenue discussion is not historical, it's very contemporary.  There is new news here compared to six months ago - and new news here compared even to three months ago. 

"Therefore, I have expressly determined we need to have every reasonable option on the table to meet the needs of the times, even options previously taken off the table."

Ms Gillard said today the May budget will be more about the economic challenges facing the nation, rather than the upcoming federal election.

She said the key challenge was to respond to huge reductions in revenue growth over the next four years, with the amount of tax revenue collected for 2012/13 now expected to decline by $12 billion.

"Tuesday 14 May will be no old-fashioned pre-election budget night," the prime minister said.

"What the treasurer will deliver will not be a political pamphlet - he will outline an economic program.

"The budget will outline the fiscal path for the coming four years, one designed both to take account of the nation's current circumstances and to shape the nation's future."

Ms Gillard said the main goals were to maximise jobs and economic growth, properly fund services over the long-term, invest in ways to strengthen the economy, keep inflation in check and give the Reserve Bank of Australia maximum opportunity to keep interest rates low.

But Ms Gillard said Labor was committed to its medium-term strategy to deliver budget surpluses on average over the course of the economy cycle.

She said domestic economy was stable and resilient.

"Our economic fundamentals are sound," Ms Gillard said.

"We have contained inflation, low interest rates, low public debt."

Australia's prospects looked bright, given the global economic shift toward Asia.

"However - and this is key - while Australia is stable, resilient and close to centres of growth, the wider world economy is quite a different story," she said.

"There is serious, persistent weakness in global growth - and continued volatility in the global economy."

But while the strong Australia dollar showed the nation was a great investment, it came at a price.

"The persistent high dollar, as well as squeezing exporting jobs, also squeezes the profits of exporting firms - with lower profits for these companies comes lower company tax going to government," Ms Gillard said.

"We can't assume this will change soon."

Australia was creating more jobs, exporting more goods and services and buying and selling more from each other, but prices were growing at a slower rate and affecting gross domestic product growth in nominal terms.

"We expect nominal GDP growth for future years to be revised down," Ms Gillard said.

"For the budget bottom line, it's a very meaningful fact - because, naturally enough, companies don't pay tax on volume, they pay tax on value, which is driven by price."

Ms Gillard warned against "economic simpletons" who argue revenue in 2013/14 would be more than this financial year.

This did not take into account a larger population and rising health and aged pension costs which will be far higher than the growth in tax money.

"It's clear that the extraordinary revenue peaks of the mid-2000s won't be repeated," she added.

In the future, new spending in the budget must be matched with savings.

"I trust that all would acknowledge the government has some serious decisions to make and announce in the coming two weeks," Ms Gillard said.

She said Labor's education reforms and disability care programs must not be jeopardised.

"But - because we now are confronted with new facts and far more significant reductions in tax money than was expected - we are going through the process now of making decisions to spend less in some areas than we had hoped, to raise more in revenue in some areas than we had planned," she said.

"The nation and the government must have maximum flexibility to deal with these complex - and rapidly changing - events," she said.

Under questioning, Ms Gillard said she didn't want to play a rule in, rule out game ahead of the budget - but then ruled out changes to the GST.

With just three weeks until Treasurer Wayne Swan hands down his most politically important Budget - and 20 weeks until election day - Ms Gillard announced that fresh Treasury advice shows a "significant fiscal gap".

The new hole in revenue is almost double the surprise $7.5 billion shortfall that caused Labor to abandon just before Christmas its three-year pledge to have a $1.1 billion surplus.

The PM offers an analogy to help explain the cuts that will need to be made in the upcoming budget.

It sets the scene for a bigger than expected deficit when Mr Swan hands down his sixth Budget on May 14.

It will also make it tougher to pay for multi-billion dollar spending plans for schools and the national disability insurance scheme, which the PM has guaranteed will be in the Budget.

But the PM asked voters to trust her government to make the right choices and vow not to "fail the future".

The Treasurer has never delivered a surplus despite the repeated promise "come hell or high water" to have one before the election.

In a speech to the Per Capita think-tank in Canberra today, Ms Gillard said the Budget trouble is not because of too much spending.

"This unusually low revenue, which wasn't forecast even a few months ago, creates a significant fiscal gap over the Budget period," she will say.

The Prime Minister in Canberra addressed the Per Capita Reform Agenda Series Forum at the National Portrait Gallery. The Prime Minister with Treasurer Wayne Swan. Picture: Gary Ramage

"Put simply, spending is controlled but the amount of tax money coming to the Government is growing much slower than expected."

The Opposition, which has also dumped its promise of a surplus, has been attacking Labor over spending which it says is now $100 billion a year higher than when Labor came to power in 2007.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has warned there would be some "hurt" to repair the nation's finances, blaming Labor, which has not had a surplus since 1989.

When asked about the appropriateness of Coalition MP Steve Ciobo's claim today that Julia Gillard was "like an alcoholic" with spending taxpayer funds, Mr Abbott said: "Look it was colourful language, which I wouldn't probably use myself, but I think everyone knows this government spends money like a drunken sailor."

"You will never see fiscal responsibility from this government," he added.

Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey said he was not surprised by the latest figures.

"The Government says it's not collecting enough money but it's absolutely determined to continue with big spending initiatives," Mr Hockey told ABC radio today.

"As every day passes we're getting a new number from the government."

He said coalition policies were subject to "constant review" in light of the difficult financial circumstances it potentially may inherit after the next election.

Former Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has warned future generations will pay for the irresponsible spending of the Gillard Government.

Heading into Parliament House in Brisbane to sell his 1000-page fix for the Queensland economy to MPs, Mr Costello said the federal budget would be in a "far better position if the government hadn't spent money it didn't have".

"You might think to yourself if they saw their taxes were failing like their mining taxes, that they'd actually pull back their expenditure but they went and spent money they didn't have," said Mr Costello who delivered 12 federal budgets including ten surpluses.

"Now they're finding they're in a budget deficit. Who gets to pay for these budget deficits? Future generations.

"That's all it's about now - Labor passing on the debt to future generations."

The new Treasury advice is believed to show the biggest hit has been to company tax receipts. Ms Gillard says the high dollar and continued effects from the global economic crisis are still hurting business.

The Prime Minister in Canberra addressed the Per Capita Reform Agenda Series Forum at the National Portrait Gallery. Picture: Gary Ramage

"The prices for what Australian companies sell overseas are lower, imports are cheaper, local competition is fierce. Those things add up to business making less profit than planned," she will say.

"When businesses make less profit than planned, it also means government gets less money in tax than expected."

But the PM has rejected calls for the Government to slash and burn, saying it is more important to have a Budget that protects jobs and economic growth and invests for a fairer future.

"We won't, during this time of reduced revenue, fail the future by not making the wise investments that will make us a stronger and smarter nation," she says.

"What is more, these necessary investments are affordable if we make smart decisions."

The PM will seek to use the speech to cast the Budget as a choice for voters, claiming the Coalition would be too brutal.

"Our opponents and their friends crudely flaunt the bitter language of the cut throat and the brandished axe," she says.

"We govern for all Australians, we govern to strengthen the economy and to spread the benefits to all."

Despite repeatedly promising a surplus, before dumping the pledge last year, Mr Swan has now hit out at calls for a surplus as "mindless austerity".

Mr Swan said despite the pressure on the Budget "we will never cut to the bone, putting jobs and growth at risk by taking an axe to the economy".

He said 900,000 jobs had been created since Labor came to power in 2007 while 28 million jobs had been lost worldwide over the same period.

''We can proudly point to an economy that is 13 per cent larger than at the end of 2007 while half of all advanced countries are yet to get back to the starting line.''

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Uni prof 'sold prisoner's organs'

A Sydney University professor has been accused of being involved in removing organs of executed prisoners without permission. File photo. Source: Supplied

SYDNEY University is reviewing the honours given to a former Chinese health minister after reports that he presided over the removal of organs from executed prisoners without their consent.

Huang Jiefu, currently an honorary professor at the university and the former vice-minister of health in China, was involved in removing organs of executed prisoners without permission, ABC television's 7.30 reports.

The university's vice-chancellor Dr Michael Spence said a staff member had written to him this month, proposing that the university should consider revoking his honorary professorship.

"I have asked Sydney Medical School, which was responsible for Huang's appointment, to investigate carefully these submissions, and to recommend what action the university should take," Dr Spence said in a statement issued to university staff.

"On the basis of those recommendations, I will respond to the staff member in due course.

"In short, Sydney Medical School condemns the retrieval of executed prisoners' organs for transplantation in China.

"However, it supports Huang's work to reform China's organ transplant system, which has been recognised internationally."

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'Tragic mistake' retaining abusive priest

Disgraced former Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale leaves the Melbourne Magistrates Court, date unknown. Picture: Peter Ward Source: Herald Sun

THE former bishop of Ballarat made a "tragic mistake" by not removing one of Australia's worst pedophiles when he first became aware of sexual abuse allegations against the priest, the current bishop of the diocese admits.

Bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew about child abuse complaints against Father Gerald Ridsdale as early as 1975 but let him remain as a priest and moved him to other parishes, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Church records reveal 67 abuse complaints have been made against Risdale, who is currently in jail for sex offences.

The church admitted on Monday that it effectively facilitated abuse by allowing a known abuser to continue to have access to children.

In 1975 police told Bishop Mulkearns of complaints against Ridsdale, but he was moved to other parishes, the inquiry heard.

Ridsdale should have been removed when a child abuse complaint was first made, current Ballarat bishop Paul Bird said.

"From my reading of the accounts it wasn't wilful blindness. It was a tragic mistake on his part," Bishop Bird told the child abuse inquiry on Monday.

"He explained it to me ... It was, he believed, the accepted opinion at the time that dismissal was not the first option, but that a person might be referred for treatment in the hope that they can correct their behaviour.

"Tragic consequences. A terrible mistake on behalf of Bishop Mulkearns.

"Gerald Risdale should have been taken out of the ministry when there was a first report of offences."

Bishop Bird said Bishop Mulkearns decided against appearing before the parliamentary committee because he had recently suffered a stroke and had a poor long-term memory.

Another former Ballarat bishop, Peter Connors, agreed the church had effectively facilitated sexual offences against children by putting a known offending priest in positions that enabled him to continue his abuse.

The inquiry heard 109 abuse complaints have been upheld in the Ballarat diocese since 1975, most against Ridsdale.

Bishop Connors said he had been told by a victim about a ring of pedophiles in Ballarat East, but as far as he knew Risdale acted alone.

"I have no knowledge of a priest being involved in a nest of pedophiles in Ballarat East. If the Christian Brothers were, I can't answer for them," Bishop Connors said.

Bishop Connors also told the inquiry Bishop Mulkearns destroyed two documents, both relating to psychological reports for a priest, Father Paul David Ryan.

He destroyed one on his on volition and one on legal advice.

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