The words "OK boomer" are met with a withering sigh from Noni Hazlehurst. You can almost hear the two-time Logie winner and Order of Australia recipient rolling her eyes.
"Yes, it's still around," she says of the phrase used by younger people to mock the "baby boomer" generation. "What they forget is that in the 1960s and '70s a lot of boomers were out there protesting about nuclear war, climate change, feminism - we were doing all the things they say we are trying to ban now. It's just nonsense."
Hazlehurst is a host on What Does Australia Really Think About, a new SBS documentary series which investigates what Australians think about disability, obesity and older people through undercover filming, social experiments, personal stories and a nationwide survey. The series premieres on SBS on August 18 and Hazlehurst is the host of the ageism episode. Performer Casey Donovan hosts an episode on obesity and five-time Paralympian Fearnley looks at disability.
In a world where youth is valued over old age and old people are often mistreated and negatively stereotyped, Hazlehurst is taking a stand.
The much-loved host of Playschool from 1978 to 2001 has been a household name for decades. She has received four Australian Film Industry (AFI) awards (for her films Little Fish, Waiting At The Royal, Fran, Monkey Grip), seven AFI nominations, two Logies and an Order of Australia, among other accolades.
She has had an illustrious career but at the age of 67 she's beginning to notice a difference in the roles she's offered. The characters are less interesting to her, less developed, and more stereotypical.
"When you're in your 20s and 30s, and even early 40s, you get a full character description and it's more likely to be a leading character," she says, "But now that I'm in my 60s, I get offered roles up to 80-year-olds, and a very brief character description."
What Does Australia Really Think About uses surveys reviewed by the University of Melbourne, University of Queensland and La Trobe University. These opinions are then tested using hidden camera experiments. The viewer is taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions - from disbelief to anger and even sadness. But it's not all doom and gloom. The series is all about provoking thought, discussion and - hopefully - action.
Statistics show Australians are getting older. In just 30 years' time, 22 per cent of Australians will be 65 or over yet research shows that bias against old age is more deeply held than sexism or racism. As a society we are failing to celebrate the positives of ageing, of which there are many.
The gap between the generations is nothing new. But Hazlehurst suspects it's getting worse.
"This divisiveness that we're suffering under now, which seems to be getting magnified - this us and them - it really impacts older people because we're the easiest ones to dispense with, and that's really sad."
Eighty-five per cent of people surveyed said age-based discrimination in the workplace is unacceptable. Putting this to the test, producers set up an experiment at a cafe where an interviewer, played by an actor in his 20s, looks for a new barista and the job applicant is a 57-year-old woman. Within earshot of the customers, the interview questions get increasingly ageist.
"What became evident to me is that people, particularly older people, are too frightened to put up their hand and say 'This is unacceptable'," Hazlehurst says.
"There were more young people sticking up for that woman than there were older people. For an old person to say 'Hang on, you rude little shit', well, they have to put their heads over the parapet."
The documentary also looks at the largest growing demographic in Australia: women over 45 who are at risk of homelessness. Twelve women are asked a series of questions and must step forward when a scenario applies to them. The woman leading the pack at the end of the exercise - and therefore most at risk - was immaculately dressed and, on the surface, seemingly well-to-do.
"The key words here are 'on the surface'," Hazlehurst says. "We're so convinced that we have to present a coping front to the world that we don't listen to people's stories. If you scratch the surface and show interest everyone has an amazing story to tell, but we tend to focus on the air-brushed, sanitised, press-release version of people."
In another experiment, two older shoppers attempt to buy a new smartphone, followed by hidden cameras. They are made to feel not only invisible, but outright dismissed.
Hazlehurst also meets a couple with a large age gap who are defying convention by getting married. Age is just a number to Jacqui, 61, and Tem, 28, and they set out to challenge stereotypes by sharing their story in an online wedding magazine.
Then there's aged care. In March the Royal Commission into Aged Care released its final report which revealed systemic failures in aged care, including a failure to recognise individual needs and minority groups. In the documentary Hazlehurst visits Queensland's first-ever LGBTQI-preferred aged care facility. It's a refreshing example of what can be achieved when the cookie-cutter approach is abandoned. When people's stories are not only heard, but listened to, understood and acted upon.
"We rarely see real life reflected back to us, through our media, because when we do it moves us; it makes us want to be active and change things and speak up," Hazlehurst says.
"We're not encouraged to think, but we should be. I think that's why this series is so important. If nothing else, maybe a teacher could show it to their students. It would be a really interesting conversation starter."
