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Gen X Australians are caught by intergenerational caring

By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>

A LOT OF THE FOCUS of the Federal Budget has been on fixing intergenerational equity problems.

But Toby Ellis, the managing director of Australian lifestyle and rewards platform Citro says Citro research shows that Gen X has been left out of the equation.

He said the survey of Gen Xers showed that one in two felt they were excluded from public conversation.

“It’s not just about being left out of the conversation. In fact, 90% of the Gen Xers we surveyed described themselves as exhausted, uncertain, stretched or coping,” Mr Ellis told Talking Business.

“In fact, only 3% described themselves as thriving, so that’s not great. 

“And two-thirds of Gen Xers said they were feeling emotionally and mentally stretched by caring responsibilities,” he said.

“So we’ve got a real problem that we’re not really talking about.”

Society has changed in recent decades

Mr Ellis acknowledged there ‘were issues’ for younger generations with housing and cost of living – and there were older Australians who were the focus of retirement policies.

Part of the problem, too, is that Gen Xers are now talking care of parents who are in retirement.

“Gen X often falls between the cracks and it’s hard because they’re caring for kids but also they’re the sandwich generation,” Mr Ellis said.

“Some of them are caring for parents at the same time.

“All the while, they’re navigating health changes, work pressures and lots of growing insecurity.”

He said the issues of housing facing younger generations also impacts their parents as they’re finding ways to support their kids.

Mr Ellis said while Gen Z could only find a home with the help of ‘the bank of mum and dad’, mum and dad also faced their own mortgage challenges.

“Our survey found that one-third (of Gen Xers) expect to retire with mortgage debt,” he said.

Retirement confidence is retiring

Mr Ellis said AMP’s recent Retirement Pulse survey found less than two-in-five Gen X Australians felt confident about retirement.

“So what that means is you’re worried about retirement, you’re worried about having a mortgage in retirement but interestingly from our survey, three in five expect to work longer because of these worries,” Mr Ellis said.

“One in two lack confidence about employability because they see that two-in-five are experiencing age-related bias so as a Gen Xer, you’re worried about carrying a mortgage in retirement when you’re also nervous about being able to sustain your employment to pay for the mortgage while you’re trying to get on with it and care for the people you love.

“Financial and mortgage stress sit through the generations.”

Mr Ellis said the issue is that we need fewer Gen Xers, or indeed any generation, feeling they can’t cope.

“We’re also talking about the biggest contributors to productivity,” he said.

“Gen Xi is looking after kids is looking after parents and they can’t look after other members of the community if they are not feeling okay themselves,” Mr Ellis said.

“And so, in order to look after the younger generation, in order to look after the older generation, they’re helping to care for … as the sandwich generation, they need to be okay, that’s really important.” 

 

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness 

https://shows.acast.com/talkingbusiness/episodes/talking-business-19-interview-with-toby-ellis-from-citro

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Pancare finds new ways to combat Australia’s deadliest form of cancer

By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>

UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL (GI) cancers have become the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Australia – surpassing lung cancer – with 9,301 deaths in 2024.

Accounting for roughly 18% of all national cancer fatalities, these diseases, which include pancreatic, liver, stomach, and oesophageal cancers, cause 50 deaths every day.

To this end, we have Pancare, the leading charity foundation that looks after these cancers.

To do this, it set up Par 5, a new and innovative business program that sits within the Pancare Foundation.

New business approach to charity 

Doug Hawkins, CEO of Pancare Foundation said it was a completely different approach to charities and fund raising.

“Instead of taking on the traditional charity style partnership with organisations, we have effectively become the broker of a highly cultivated network of businesses who engage with each other and trade products and services with each other, and outside of that network with organisations we can bring to that network,” Mr Hawkins told Talking Business.

“And the suppliers in those relationships and transactions share their revenue with Par 5 and Par 5 uses that revenue to fund cancer research to try and improve those patients’ survival rates that are among the worst in the country,” he said.

“It’s interesting, it’s unique, it’s never been done before in our sector. Whilst business networks is not a unique idea, Par 5 is very unique in terms of the sophistication we have in the way we cultivate the network and the methodology we run to bring businesses together to create procurement opportunities that probably otherwise wouldn’t exist.

“Ultimately, it creates a new and scalable revenue stream for cancer research which doesn’t exist today.”

Pancare backed by progressive  businesses

The members of Par 5 are medium- to scale-up-sized enterprises.

“They are hand-selected through a sophisticated and considered process to bring the right profile and products and services into the marketplace so that we provide enough breadth of service offerings to enable your average organisation to procure something or multiple things from that network and create a really good volume or transaction throughout,” Mr Hawkins said.

He said it was highly collaborative and organisations came to it with a community spirit.

“They are there because they want to see change for upper GI cancer. That’s a key driver,” he said.

“They also want to see business growth opportunities for their organisations so they come to it with a community spirit – but I want to derive business value from participating in this network.

“Oar 5 can provide them with opportunities or enhance their opportunities of winning business or procuring services,” Mr Hawkins said. “Whichever way they participate in the network enables them to improve the performance of their business but ultimately help fund cancer research which impacts all of us.”

Flipped charity model around

Mr Hawkins said this was completely different to the traditional charity model.

“We have flipped that model on its head and go to organisations and say we believe we can add value to you as a business partner,” he said.

“We bring network capability and the ability to open up opportunities for you that otherwise would be difficult or wouldn’t exist.

“So it’s a true business partnership that starts with the enterprise first,” Mr Hawkins said.

“It’s very much a great opportunity for any organisation that gets involved in Par 5 to help improve their business and whistle doings so, they can help support increased funding in cancer research.”

www.pancare.org.au

www.leongettler.com

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness 


https://shows.acast.com/talkingbusiness/episodes/talking-business-13-interview-with-doug-hawkins-from-pancare

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Baseline app helps parents, coaches and teachers to care for children’s concussions

By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>

IMAGINE a platform that helps parents and educators deal with the concussions that can afflict school-age children.

A child with concussion might be listless tired and cranky. They might also be uninterested in play. They might change their eating and sleeping habits.

Now kids are moderately vulnerable to concussion. They can get it during contact sports like football, rugby and basketball, there can be playground accidents or they can slip and fall in hallways or running up or down stairs.

School-age children’s brains are still maturing, which may make them more vulnerable to head trauma, and many might not recognise or report symptoms like dizziness or confusion.

What’s more, 92% of concussion injuries in children don’t involve loss of consciousness – which would make it harder to detect.

Baseline platform assists in caring for concussed kids

Jennifer McCloy, who has a background in crisis communications and venture capital, set up the digital platform Baseline to help sports clubs and parents to manage concussions.

She said she set up Baseline when a friend – a sports doctor with the Waratahs rugby league club – told her that concussion was poorly managed even at a professional level. So the sports doctor had developed an app to help herself manage concussions for the Waratahs.

“I could see it was something that wasn’t being done properly, so we decided to work together,” Ms McCloy told Talking Business. 

She and her co-founder decided then to approach schools and insurers and bring them on board with the platform.

 “Obviously we have a team of medical advisors behind us helping us with that and it’s something that, as I’ve learned a lot more about more over the last couple of years, it’s a pretty alarming issue and pretty worrying, for parents particularly,” she said.

“I think it’s part of Australia to play contact sports. We just want to make sure kids can do that in a safe and protective manner.

“One of the goals for us is to help sport continue because a lot of these sports are going to come up against some really big insurance issues if they aren’t addressing concussion properly.

“We’ve seen that in the state with the NFL, they have a $500 million class action.

“And the AFL is probably the only sport in Australia that would be able to self-insure.”

Ms McCloy said Baseline can onboard players and children from the age of seven and do a baseline test on them.

Baseline tests involve pre-injury assessments creating snapshots of a person’s healthy brain function.

“It will be saved in the platform,” she said. “Then if there is a concussion, it [the person’s mental and physical ‘baseline’] will be there on the spot.” 

Jennifer McCloy is on Linkedin.

www.leongettler.com

 Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness

https://shows.acast.com/talkingbusiness/episodes/talking-business-32-interview-with-jennifer-mccloy-from-base

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Free Mental Health Month webinar for employers and HR leaders on October 16

THE FACTS ARE, one in two Australians experience a mental health condition in their lifetime – and workplace stress is a known leading contributor. Most organisations are under growing pressure to rethink how they design work and support employees.

Rehab Management, one of Australia’s leading occupational rehabilitation and corporate health providers, will mark Mental Health Month (October) with a free webinar that asks,  what actually makes a workplace mentally healthy?

The free webinar – What makes a mentally healthy workplace? Exploring what helps us thrive at work – will run on Thursday, October 16, from 12pm–1pm AEDT.

It will be presented by Michelle Barratt, head of innovation and psychological services at Rehab Management. 

Open to human resources (HR) professionals, business leaders, managers and workplace health specialists, the session will explore practical strategies to proactively foster mentally healthy workplaces and thriving teams.

“The old model of reacting once people are struggling is no longer enough,” Ms Barratt said. “We need to proactively design work that supports wellbeing, right from recruitment through to offboarding.

“This isn’t just good for employees – it’s essential for productivity and retention in today’s competitive labour market.”

The session will cover timely issues such as:

  • Designing mentally healthy jobs for modern, hybrid workplaces;
  • Rethinking candidate fit for high-risk occupations;
  • Setting new hires up for long-term success;
  • Proactive wellbeing engagement strategies;
  • How organisations can part ways with employees without undermining wellbeing.

The webinar will also showcase Rehab Management’s newly launched psychology arm, Senda Psychology.

Positioned as a next-generation workplace psychology service, Senda is designed to meet the complex needs of today’s workforce. It delivers proactive, evidence-based programs – from Employee Assistance and Critical Incident Response through to tailored Manager Assist coaching – moving beyond traditional, reactive models to embed mental wellbeing into the DNA of organisations, Ms Barratt said.

“Australian businesses are telling us they’re struggling to keep up with the wellbeing needs of their workforce,” Rehab Management chief executive officer, Renee Thornton said.

“Through Senda Psychology, we’re helping organisations go beyond box-ticking to create workplaces where people genuinely thrive.”

Event details

What: Free Mental Health Month webinar – What makes a mentally healthy workplace? Exploring what helps us thrive at work.

When: Thursday October 16, 2025, 12pm–1pm AEDT

Who should attend: HR professionals, business leaders, managers, workplace health and safety teams.

Presenter: Michelle Barratt, Head of Innovation and Psychological Services, Rehab Management

Register here

For more information: https://www.rehabmanagement.com.au/news/what-makes-a-mentally-healthy-workplace/

About Rehab Management

Rehab Management is a national occupational rehabilitation and corporate health provider. With more than 25 years experience supporting employees to recover from injury, manage health conditions, and thrive at work, Rehab Management aims to deliver tailored programs that enhance both organisational performance and individual wellbeing. Its newly launched Senda Psychology service delivers evidence-based psychological programs to help organisations build safe, productive, and mentally healthy workplaces.

www.rehabmanagement.com.au

Register for the free October 16 webinar here.

 

 

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Speaker flies the Australian Parliament House flag across the country

THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick MP, officially launched the Australian Parliament House (APH) Flag Roadshow yesterday at Jindalee State School in south-west Brisbane.

Under this program, the iconic flag that usually flies above Parliament House in Canberra will travel around Australia, accompanied by local Members of Parliament, visiting schools. 

This is an extension of the Speaker’s existing civics program to increase access to civics education and opportunities to experience Australian democracy, outside Canberra. 

The APH Flag Roadshow program is designed to promote Australian democracy and is a gateway to broader discussions about civic engagement.

“The massive, iconic Parliament House Flag is something our young Australians should have the opportunity to see in real life,” the Speaker said.

“This is an important way we can encourage students to develop an interest in and understanding and appreciation of the Australian National Flag – in a very practical way.

“I look forward to working with MPs from across the political spectrum, to deliver this program to schools across the country.”

Jindalee State School was the first school to kick off this brand-new program. With teachers and student leaders carefully unrolling the flag, and around 600 students participating in the display of the 12.8m x 6.4m flag on their school oval.

Jindalee State School Principal Vanessa Munker said, “Our student leaders were very proud, that our school was chosen to have this iconic flag on our school oval.

“All of our students, from prep to year six, were very excited to hear that they were the first students in the country to take part in the unveiling before the flag travels to other schools across our nation.

“This is a wonderful initiative to help bring awareness of the history of the Australian flag, and it is a piece of parliament that not all students get to experience.”

The APH Flag Roadshow complements the Parliament in Schools program, established by the Speaker in September 2022. An initiative to bring Parliament to regional and remote schools across Australia who may not get the opportunity to visit Canberra.

The Parliament in Schools Program has been delivered to over 129 schools across Australia by the Speaker, in collaboration with the Parliamentary Education Office and local Members of Parliament.

www.aph.gov.au

 

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For Steph Schatz, community health and wellness is Second Nature

By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>

IN THIS DAY AND AGE, looking after your health can be a major operation that might need the attention of many.

The Second Nature Program in Australia and New Zealand. works on WhatsApp, teaming participants up with dieticians and health coaches.

Steph Schatz, who heads up the operation here (Second Nature started in the UK under the NHS), says people who sign up with the program are introduced to a dietician and health coach who will be there right alongside them. 

Second Nature also works as a team effort because everyone who signs up at the same time will be there to share their experiences and insights on WhatsApp.

“Essentially, it’s a holistic lifestyle change program. It’s evidence based and it’s 100 percent digital, which means that it’s all delivered on an app on your mobile phone,” Ms Schatz told Talking Business.

She said when people sign up to the program, they are put into a group.

“Your group is there as your community and they are there to help support you through the program,” Ms Schatz said.

In addition to that, people are signed up with a health coach and accredited dietician who are all locally based.

“They are there to help guide you and support you on your journey,” Ms Schatz said. “They will answer any questions you might have, or provide you with the tools to help make the behaviour changes to work towards your goals.”

Taking a 360-degree approach

Second Nature also has what it calls ‘a 360 approach’.

“Typically a lot of diets focus just on nutrition and typically that comes down to a lot of calorie counting which, unfortunately as we know, doesn’t quite work, particularly in the long term. We’re not human calculators,” Ms Schatz said.

“So what we do is focus on nutrition with some general guidelines that can be personalised to fit in with your lifestyle – and we also take into account all the areas of your lifestyle that will interplay so looking at things like sleep, stress, exercise and mindset.

“So we focus on the holistic approach rather than just one area.”

Ms Schatz said because of the way Second Nature has been structured, the company can scale up the program with people constantly joining it.

The Second Nature Program also works well with older people who are comfortable using phones and iPads.

Second Nature started back in 2014 in the UK and, in 2017, it started to come on board there with the National Health System (NHS). From there onwards it started to deliver a lot of success, particularly in the diabetes space, as the digital health provider in the UK.

Second Nature launched in Australia and New Zealand in 2019.

Ms Schatz said what the program has done here is launch to its consumer base.

At the moment it is focused on “delivering a fantastic service and confirming the outcomes it has in the UK,” she said, “and to see if there are other ways to deliver in Australia, similar to the UK model.”

www.secondnature.io/au

www.leongettler.com

 

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness.

https://play.acast.com/s/talkingbusiness/talking-business1-interview-with-steph-shatz-from-second-nat\

 

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