Hi Indy,

"the old age pensioners "handouts" to which they actually contributed all their working lives" That is a fallacy, there was no "contribution" towards your aged welfare made by you during your working life. Aged welfare is paid from the taxes collected today. YOU may have had some form of superannuation which YOU would have collected on retirement.
p/s What about people who never worked, or worked a short period only, they also receive aged welfare, at the same rate as those YOU claim "contributed", where was their "contribution"?

where was their "contribution"?
Paul1405,
I have commented on that many times & I find it poor in the extreme of you but unsurprisingly to pick loopholes as a reason to reply. You don't reply to questions put to you in many other posts. it must be eating you up inside not to have answers or have the mentality to come up with relevant replies ! i suppose it can't be easy to reply sensibly when you lack sense ! Just like you won't be able to find a reasonable answer to this question. Where is your contribution ?

That is a fallacy, there was no "contribution" towards your aged welfare made by you during your working life
Paul1405,
No fallacy, there was a 7.5% contribution from every wage packet. The fact that the Uni parties moved the goal posts mid match is not the workers doing.
Also, when it subtly vanished from the deductions, the wage didn't jump back up by 7.5%.
Then, they brought in Superannuation which was primarily targeting public servants as they get most of the benefits from it but they had to include wage earners to make it more acceptable. Yes, Super helped me however, just upping the pension would have done the same if not better for a lot less cost overall. No extra costly bureaucratic involvement required ! The upcoming 4.75% pay rise is already costing workers before they even see the first few Dollars as businesses have to increase their charges to hand the money back to the Government ! Rather futile economics really !

Hi Indy,

In a wealthy society like Australia I believe we can, and should support anyone who for legitimate reasons who can't support themselves, that includes the elderly. That support should be in a way that maximises the living standards of those supported. Agree? Its my view the best way of providing for retirement is through a sustainable national superannuation fund investing in Australia, and not through direct pension payments. There should be a minimum safety net payment of 25% of average weekly earnings which at the moment is about $1,000 fortnight, plus all the fringe benefits PBS, Medicare etc. In fact at one time the goal of the pension was to pay a liveable payment of 25% (AWE), its never been achieved.

Australia is a gold mine, regardless of politics, its a wealth producing nation, and why shouldn't Australians, like you and me, be given every opportunity throughout our working life to invest in that wealth, and see the reward in our retirement. Agree?

The situation today with the Aged Pension is not too bad, but over time, with an rapidly ageing population its not sustainable. The alternative is to have people work longer, and at the same time cut retirement benefits, that's the reality for the future for the elderly if things don't change for the better. Agree?

There is enough money for all services, it just needs to be withheld from those who get most of it for doing literally nothing. The State & Federal bureaucracy is the sponge that sucks the coffers dry, not workers in retirement !

Hi Indy,

You are too harsh on the public service, there is a case for a strong PS as a necessary utility of government. In any large bureaucratic organisation like the PS there is going to be waste through mismanagement and laziness. The vast majority of PS do a good job, they are held to account for what they do, or don't do.

My granddaughter who is turning 21 soon, asked me about superannuation in her job. Was it a good or bad thing, I said good, also wanting to know would that be used as her retirement, I said most likely it will be counted as a part of your retirement. She supports paying tax to aid pensioners, even if one day she doesn't get a government pension herself.