What a pleasure to read a well-researched, clearly written book about the changing demographic of Australia that doesn't make me feel guilty for staying alive. We baby boomers have always been a social problem. As children, there were too many of us and we had to sit three to a desk. Not enough homes, not enough schools, and, to top it all, many of us couldn't speak English. As teenagers we were problems by definition, and then, hey presto, the women among us were taking jobs away from breadwinners. Being a problem is nothing new, and so it is no surprise at seventy to find myself being criticised either for using up resources or for still working and thus taking jobs away from young people.

A frightening fact I learned from Butler is how wide of the mark Australia's population predictions have been. It wasn't Jeff Kennett's wrong-headedness that made him close so many schools. Treasury underestimates of the birth rate led to a shortage of 250 primary schools and 10,000 teachers. By 2055 – if they've got it right this time – there will be forty million Australians.

Butler assures us that our economy will be in good shape because our dependency ratio – the ratio of workers to non-workers, lifters to leaners – will remain stable due to migration. Apart from being outraged – me a 'leaner'? – this dependency theory is full of holes, like its outdated definition of the working age: fifteen to sixty-four. How many fifteen-year-olds are working? It assumes working age (and productivity) ends, and will continue to end, at sixty-four. Very short-sighted, when so many want to and can keep working well into their seventies and beyond. Butler does question some assumptions of the dependency theory; he recognises that the old are not just wrung-out schmattes, but have retirement savings and contribute many hours in volunteer work. If he is right when he says that in future one in five Australians will be employed in aged care, then we are creating a whole new industry. Our needs – and our dollars and talents – will provide impetus for all sectors of the economy: housing, retail, hospitality, health, education, and more. Today and tomorrow's world will have far less need for physical lifting, and more for grey matter.

I always want to know what motivates an author to write a book. Advanced Australia is not original research, though it is data-driven. There is much here that those interested in ageing policy will know already. Mark Butler has been the Labor member for Port Adelaide since 2007, and was minister for mental health and ageing in the Gillard government, a post he specifically requested. I am guessing that in writing Advanced Australia he wanted to reflect on and consolidate all that he had learned as the minister for ageing, to pass it on to other holders of that office, influence policy and lawmakers, and leave his own legacy in the field.

Mark Butler (photograph by Alexina Duel, via Wikimedia Commons)Butler's influence on policy will be severely restricted by the fact that he is still a politician, and even more so, a Labor one. No one in the current federal government is going to pay attention to a book that takes many opportunities to slag off the Howard and Abbott governments, and heaps praise on the Hawke, Rudd, and Gillard governments. Advance Australia is too party-political to influence conservative politicians.

Butler believes that the 'new old' will vote in smaller numbers for the Coalition: 'A strong Labor agenda for the Baby Boomer's Third Age has the potential to turn what has been a long-standing electoral weakness for Labor into a substantial advantage.' Butler's job as a serving politician means he has to watch what he advocates for. He cannot afford to antagonise voters.

Commenting on a recommendation that, above a threshold of $750,000, the value of the family home be included in the asset test for the old age pension, Butler says, 'But there is still an overwhelming lack of support for means-testing the family home.' It is a fraught issue, especially when modest inner-city homes are valued at well over $1 million. For a politician, 'overwhelming lack of support', means 'forget about it'. An independent policy analyst would dig deeper.

I am grateful to Advanced Australia for dispelling the gloom and doom about the economic and political impact of an ageing population. Facts I learned made me curious for more. Did you know that male life expectancy in Russia is sixty, the lowest in Europe, and lower than most major nations outside Africa?

Staying within the framework of dividing social needs by age can restrict our thinking and create fake divisions in our society. A premature baby, a single parent, an unemployed teenager, a redundant miner – all require income and other supports to develop their capacities. It is not about a magic number – whether sixty-five or seventy or even 101. It's about structuring society so as to make the best use of the abilities of all of us.