Should the age for the pension be raised to 70?

musicmum

The only reason they are raising the pension age is to save money to pay themselves more, wake up people, we have the second highest paid politicians in the world, Italy is the highest. What we cannot afford is paying them so much, and they don't have the same rules when it comes to pensions. They are getting paid lifetime pensions without assets tests, this is so unfair. We can afford pensions and welfare so don't believe the media hype all the time about welfare. If you are young enough you need to plan to be a self funded retiree, for a lot of us it is too late and we will never have enough money so will rely on Newstart instead of the pension for a bit longer if you a retrenched. Make sure you vote for independent who will work for the people not themselves.

Migaloo

Some people are not that well at 70 so l do not agree with working to 70 years of age , while on this subject why do the public have a means test and pension cut when politicians have a lot more and still collect their big pensions as well .No l do not agree with rising the pension to 70 years of age , some jobs like concrete layers would find this so hard at 70 years old out in the hot summer laying drive ways in Q.L.D

PGS

When politicians have to live by the same rules as the rest of us, it could be a reasonable discussion. Whilst their pensions are so easily accessed & they can still 'earn' millions while collecting their pension, it's hardly a level playing field.

afn1960

I am 56, unemployed and in this town there is no work , I dont have the funds to move where the work is,not even funds to buy a car my super is almost nonexistent.
I am struggling every day to reach 65 retirement now I have to wait till I am 70 , thats crap.
If the Government wants to save money they should take a Pay cut and only get the bare minimum of what they are worth, some are not even worth that much.

Goulah

Joe Hockey is 51 or so and I truly wonder if he would say that when he was 70.

PGS

Joe Hockey is 51 or so and I truly wonder if he would say that when he was 70.

Joe Hockey doesn't actually WORK for a living. If he had a physical job, it would be an earlier age.

Luke

Great. No I have to work till I'm 70! I could be dead before then. What is it all for!

col001

Bewildered. Average age mortality increases 2 years, at best, every decade. Many people through illness, injury or simply worn out due to stressful work won't make it to 70. Hockey will because the heaviest thing he had to lift in his whole life is a pen.

They claim pensions are putting too much stress on the welfare bill, but there is no real evidence to support this. The Superannuation Guarantee Levy was introduced in 1992, 24 years ago. Workers work on average 45 years (retiring at 65) meaning for more then half their working life their employer paid money in to a super account for you.

Our politicians tell us that "full-time" unemployment is running at 6%. So according to their theory 94% of eligible workers have super accumulation. Next they tell us that pension welfare is on the increase, how can it be because as each year goes by retirees would have accumulate more funds. Fact is I know a number of recent retirees who are self or part self funded, so the system is working.

Secondly the baby boomer era, which younger generations seem to think is the problem is drawing to a close. The first of generation X could be retiring in 15 years time, if the retirement age remained at 65. But that's when Abbott/Hockey claimed welfare pensions will be at their highest.

As I said bewilderment, it just doesn't add up.

elljay

Many Aboriginal people have jobs. Its a statistical fact that Aboriginal people die at a younger age. 65 was ridiculous let alone 70. Or is this fact not taken into your consideration Mr Hockey.

super88

Whatever government is in power they will gradually make eligibility for a pension more difficult for new pensioners. They will increase reliance on superannuation and personal assets before eligibility is considered.
Those that have no resources to support early retirement (for whatever reason) will be forced to seek eligibility for other forms of assistance, and/or spend and sell assets they already have, before they can get an age pension.
Eventually the only people who will get a government pension on retirement will be politicians.

typhoon

Putting the pension age up to 70 is ridiculous when many workers will not be capable of working till then due to physical incapacity. Just think of all the electric scooter parking bays that will have to be put in to cope with some of the older workers mobility needs. Their argument for this is based on the premise that people are living longer; but how much of this is due to better medical intervention and not about better capacity to work at an older age?? What jobs does joe hockey expect ageing tradies to do with bung knees,bung backs because very few of them will be working as tradies anywhere approaching 70?
What world does joe hockey live in?

jjdrer

Putting the pension age up to 70 is ridiculous when many workers will not be capable of working till then due to physical incapacity. Just think of all the electric scooter parking bays that will...

Exactly. They will probably need to recharge their batteries to go back home too. I know a guy who is not quite 60 years old who is about to have a 2nd knee replacement due to an accident. He had the other knee done a few years ago. You ned to be able to retire early enough to enjoy other things in life, be it more time with family or friends, hobbies, travel or whatever they choose. I know of a few people who have worked until after retirement age, suffered ill health not long after and their GP told them they should have retirement earlier. One gentleman I knew personally died of a virus which caused his muscles to waste away, become paralysed, couldn't even talk and died a few weeks later.

chickenman

would be ok if it applied to politicians as well !

Inez6306

Working until past 70 and 80 is a family tradition for small business owners. For others, compo does NOT cover you past age 65 even though an employer has to pay a jacked up rate to cover employees, there is no 'income protection' past age 55, Employers won't look at most CVs over age 50.
So how exactly does ths government edict help older Australians?

del31

I had to give up work at 63. there is no way I would have worked to 65 , even if I was able to . some people want to work past 65, let them.

Migaloo

I had to give up work at 63. there is no way I would have worked to 65 , even if I was able to . some people want to work past 65, let them.

Yes l agree , we do not all work in an office , l had to give up work also t 65 due to ill health , up till then l worked like a dog doing a mans job.

Rocky

I had to give up work at 63. there is no way I would have worked to 65 , even if I was able to . some people want to work past 65, let them.

Gee i had to get out of work at 58 Bladder Cancer would have like to work until i was 65 but could not ..... And yes if a person want to work until 70 that's there choice they should be made to.....

marlu

I had to give up work at 63. there is no way I would have worked to 65 , even if I was able to . some people want to work past 65, let them.

I think that working to 70 should be choice, There is more to life than work. Some people may just want to enjoy life before the eventual end or have a partner to look after or may be ill themselves, Not one size fits all.