Pension plan retired

Seniors applaud move to rule out raising entitlement age to 70

WELFARE and seniors’ groups have welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to scrap plans to lift the pension age to 70.

But some – including business and industry – feel it’s nothing more than a politically motivated “vote winner” before the next election and will hurt the Budget.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday said he wouldn’t pursue the change, which the Liberal Party has been arguing for for years.

The Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association said the move made sense and meant that many of the 100,000 people over 50 who were on the Newstart allowance wouldn’t have to wait an extra three years for the age pension.

“CPSA is very pleased that sustained campaigning against the pension-age-to-70 policy has paid off,” the not-for-profit group’s Paul Versteege said in a statement.

The proposal to incrementally increase the qualifying age for the pension to 70 by 2035 had caused anxiety for many people, Council on the Ageing chief executive Ian Yates said.

The focus instead needed to be on removing barriers and increasing job opportunities for older Australians, he said.

“It was the people who wanted to work, or who needed to work but knew it would be difficult to get a job, that this caused anxiety for,” he said.

“It’s much better placed for government to be supporting those people staying in work or getting back to work than increasing the pension age.”

The Australian Council of Social Service said it, too, was pleased by the decision but repeated its call to increase Newstart.

However, National Seniors Australia described it as “clearly a vote winner”. Chief advocate Ian Henschke said the entire pension system – not just eligibility based on age – needed to be reviewed by an independent tribunal.