Several Victorian councils are cracking down on ageism and have launched a campaign to stamp out phrases like “silly old bugger” and “old dear”.

The campaign urges people to call out ageists in the community and to take a quiz to find out how ageist they are.

City of Whitehorse mayor Andrew Munroe said six other councils in eastern Melbourne have combined to promote the campaign. 

“What we are trying to say to our wider community is to respect and not deny opportunity for our older residents, because that can affect someone’s self confidence, quality of life, job prospects and their health,” he said.

“The idea of the quiz is to get people to think about, is this something that is a warm and friendly statement or does it have a deleterious affect.

“We are trying to move the dial a little bit to cause people to think, our older residents do have an important place in our community.”

Press PLAY to hear more about the campaign 

(Photo: iStock by Getty Images.)