When academic and seasoned traveller and hiker, Bill Metcalf found that his travel insurance costs had doubled - just because he’d turned 70 - he wanted to know why. More than two years after commencing a legal dispute with his global travel insurance agent over age discrimination, he has celebrated at least a partial victory.  His story has lessons for all of us, as Dr Anne Ring explains in this first of a three-part article on the case.

Above: Bill Metcalf atop Mt. Kailash in remote, far western Tibet - a sacred site for four religions including Hinduism and Buddhism and billions of people. 

Last week we took the campaign on the road, all the way to Canberra to the big house on the hill, where we asked all our federal politicians across all parties to support our campaign to end ageism.

Above: L-R: Senator Dean Smith, Dr Mike Freelander MP, Robert Tickner and Sharon Claydon MP

Out of the mouths of 30-somethings have come views such as that of 32-year-old Benjamin Law, as expressed in a Sydney Morning Herald article: “Sure, we’re all gonna die. But getting ‘old’? That’s a privilege, baby.”

In Woman’s Day, just 10 months before she died in 2005, terminally ill 31-year-old actor Belinda Emmett was quoted as saying, “There is sometimes a sense of frustration.........when people say things such as, “I’m getting so old, I’m so old”, when I think that would be great. I just want to be able to say I’m old. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s those things people take for granted that I won’t ever take for granted again.”

We're big fans of Old School, and thought you might want to check it out.

There is some dispute about what the last socially-acceptable prejudice is, but American activist Ashton Applewhite is punting for ageism.

Author and social commentator Jane Caro is a member of the EveryAGE Counts coalition. She spoke to us about the links she sees between feminism and ageism. 

The Hon Dr Kay Patterson AO, Age Discrimination Commissioner and former Australian Senator, is a member of the EveryAGE Counts coalition. She spoke to us about why she's involved in the campaign to address ageism.

International Olders Day kicks off with a superb anti-ageism campaign