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Julie Bishop has called on Australians to better value people aged over 60, saying they "still have a great deal to offer" the economy and society.
The Foreign Affairs Minister, who turns 59 this year and frequently works 20-hour days, said she would judge "very quickly" if she felt she was no longer capable of maintaining her pace.
"I believe 60 is the new 40, I'd like to say 30 but that would be ridiculous," she quipped.
"I think it would be good for there to be an acknowledgement that experience and the wisdom that comes from experience actually should count for more than it does."
Ms Bishop's first ministerial appointment was in 2003 as the Minister for Ageing in the Howard government and she used the appointment to highlight the social and economic benefits of keeping older Australians in work.
"I had a lot to do with this issue and the fact is employers and others in the community think people have a use-by date just because they reach a particular age," she said.
"I think it should come down to an individual's capability and capacity to continue to perform at a high level."
She said age limits imposed on commissioners at the industrial relations body Fair Work Australia could be counter-productive because "some of our best legal minds are just hitting their peak at age 65".
"I'm not suggesting that people who are no longer competent should remain in positions but people have a great deal to offer," she said.
Ms Bishop has previously called on television news editors to have more women in their 60s present the news, singling out what she said was the "fabulous exception" of Seven's Sussanah Carr in her hometown of Perth.
"Let's see more of that, let's see more people who really are at the top of their game," she told Fairfax Media.
She also revealed that in a glamour shoot for Harper's Bazaar magazine, which crowned her Woman of the Year, she specifically asked for her image not to be photoshopped.
She said while she understood why magazines airbrushed models she noted it "can be taken to extremes".
"In terms of me, there are plenty of examples of photographs that I wish had been photoshopped," she joked.
Ms Bishop said in the "era of celebrity" it was harder for some women to continue in public roles but said there were growing notable exceptions, like Helen Mirren, whom she described as "fabulous beyond fabulous".
Deloitte Access Economics research commissioned in 2012 by the Age and Disability Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan found a five percentage point lift in the participation rate of workers 55 years and over would result in an extra $48 billion in extra GDP.
Other research has found 35 per cent of Australians aged 55 to 64 years and 43 per cent of Australians aged 65 and over have felt discriminated against when trying to get into the workforce. Seniors Australia CEO Michael O'Neill welcomed Ms Bishop's "well-informed" comments on older Australians.
He said there were "outbreaks of recognition" of the opportunities seniors provide but warned there was still a long way to go because "ingrained attitudes haven't shifted in any significant way for decade".
"We glamorise younger people in the workplace, younger people in society far more than recognising older people in an equivalent way and what we undervalue is the experience and wisdom that comes with age," he said.
Mr O'Neill said people over 55 who lost or left their job spent on average 72 weeks looking for work with most "unlikely to get another job" and forced to quit the workforce altogether, often ending up on the disability pension.
In 2013, the Productivity Commission found that increasing life expectancy was not matched by a correlating increase in a person's working life.
The commission also said the age at which people can begin to draw on their superannuation, as well as retirement tax arrangements, were a disincentive for people staying on in the workforce.
