Mike's Minute: The older worker has never been more valuable

The most uplifting part of the week for me in terms of news was the combination of Winston Peters and his very wise words over diet and work. 

The statistics department released the numbers of those who are working beyond 65-years-old. In fact, not just 65, but 70, 80 and 90-years-old. 

For Peters, what made the advice so useful is you can argue he has never been more relevant and effective. 

Age is one thing, but performance is another. 

If you take the politics out of it, he would be the match for anyone in the current political game. There would be few, if any, that would question his work ethic, the miles he is covering and the effort he is making in putting us back on the international map. 

And he is doing it at almost 80-years-old. 

The trouble with age is we still focus on the number. Say whatever you want about Trump but he is a good 78-years-old while Biden was a very poor 82-years-old. 

In fact, I am surprised that 65-years-old is still a thing. It only gets attention because of superannuation. There is an official attachment to the age – you get money for a so-called lifetime of work, you can retire, you are old, so you get a gold card for a ferry ride, etc. 

The really upbeat aspect of all this is that it wasn’t so long ago that age in work was an issue, but for negative reasons. 

Older workers were let go, they had trouble getting new jobs and roles for women of a certain age in Hollywood became a thing. 

It all seems to have been reversed. 

Dare I suggest it has been helped by the reputation, whether real or imagined, that the so-called new generation aren't really as interested in work. 

Covid ruined a lot of us. Work-life balance became a thing. Work from home became a thing. Quiet quitting became a thing. 

As more and more younger people moaned and complained and slacked off, the diligence, consistency and institutional knowledge of the older worker increased in value. 

Winston Peters' knowledge and experience in Parliament is to be seen any Question Time you want to look. He runs rings around most of them. 

He has purpose. And as the Asian cultures in particular will tell you, age is but a number and purpose is everything. 

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