In 2014, Per Capita launched the Blueprint for an Ageing Australia. It sets out the steps that must be taken to ensure that ageing is an asset, not a liability. Longer lives present Australia with an enormous opportunity: longevity is a gift, but only good if you can live well. We could be doing more to ensure longevity isn’t just enjoyed by the well-educated, the well-healed, and the well-housed. We have to remake our social structures to make the most of the great gift of longer lives.
Per Capita has spent several years researching and developing policy around specific ageing issues, such as housing, participation and pension adequacy, and has come to the conclusion that we need to move beyond producing policy reports to bring about long-term systemic change. This is the rationale behind establishing the Centre for Applied Policy in Positive Ageing (CAPPA) – a “do-tank” within a think tank – to start trialling social innovation projects to find what works and what doesn’t.
The work of CAPPA is part of Per Capita’s commitment to understanding the real lived experience of inequality as it pertains to ageing. While we still do the hard work on policy development, we also want to engage with individuals and organisations “on the ground” to give our research resilience and credibility.
CAPPA was born out of the idea that a think tank could be doing more than producing research or policy papers, Millane says. “And, to be perfectly honest, you can’t just wait for governments to do things, because you could be waiting a long time” she adds. As a policy think tank, we continue to do the hard ideas and policy development work; with CAPPA, our “do tank” , we complement this work by “road testing” our policy proposals.
For more information on the specific initiatives being undertaken by CAPPA, please visit the CAPPA section of this website.
