Hi 579,

So what's wrong, from ANY government's point of view, with pegging the old age pension to life expectancy ? Seriously, it is possible that in forty years' time, most people will live well into their nineties. And we forget that - at the other end of the working-life-span - a hundred years ago, people started work at twelve and fourteen, while nowadays, it is more likely to be ten years later or more.

So a hundred years ago, those poor buggers who lasted until they were sixty five, had already put in fifty or more years of hard, physical slog - and they had an average of two years of blissful leisure, if in chronic sickness, to look forward to. How does that compare with the bulk of workers now ?

Of course, the superannuation system will take up some of the burden. But for how long should the taxpayer fund retirement ?

[Disinterested observer]

I think the talk of raising the age to 70 is a scare tactic.

They put out a strong message that they will raise it to 70 but instead they introduce a less less drastic proposal (I don't know what).
Most people will accept the introduced proposal and thank Government for not raising the age to 70.
He thus gets what he wants with much less public objection.

Dear Robert LePage,

Raising the pension age will increase
unemployed. Putting more people into the work
force does not solve the problem especially
when industries are shutting down, forcing younger
people into unemployment.

Older people are not
trained to deal with new technology and are not
able to do physical labour such as construction-work,
mining, road-building, or standing for long
periods of time, et cetera.

Our family has
many friends who wanted to stay in the workforce
but many in their fifties were simply retrenched
and were not able to find other employment. Nobody
it seems, hires people in their fifties .

In areas where some people may find employment -
the current government is talking of budget cuts.
Which means that those already employed will be losing
jobs.

Of course we can fight climate-change and get every
"oldie" out in the bush on their knees planting trees.
I'm sure the government would be happy with that.
But I'm not sure whether the pay for this activity
would be enough for the "oldies" to live on.

Raising the pension age would not improve productivity. Instead, it will:

1. Force even older people to pretend they are looking for work.
2. Force even older people into unethical jobs that either contribute nothing real, or in fact contribute negatively to the general well-being.
3. Force even older people to remain scared of tyrannical bosses and following orders which they find unconscionable.
4. Impact badly on voluntary, not-for-consideration, occupations.
5. Increase the pressure on younger workers to work harder, comply with orders and receive less salary, because there would be more older people in the queue to take their place if they don't comply.

PS. Disclosure: Why should I care, I wouldn't pass the means-test anyway.

(my advice to those who are hurt by this policy, is to take their superannuation money around the age of 65 and retire in another, 3rd-world country, where this sum, small as it may be in Australian terms, will allow them to live there like kings and queens for the rest of their lives).

Foxy if women in their twenties can do construction and mining work these days then men (and women) in their sixties can too,we're long past the days 12 hour shifts of back breaking labour with pick and shovel.
For example the last time I plastered a whole house, with the aid of a mechanical sheet lifter and modern tools it took myself and the owner (who'd never even used a cordless drill before) about the same time as it took in the old days when we handled all the sheets manually and drove in every nail by hand.
Who digs trenches by hand these days if they can get a machine on site?
Most brickies have mechanical conveyors to lift the brick and mortar up to the scaffold so there's no more chucking bricks up and climbing ladders with a bucket on our shoulder.
It's still hard work but it a lot easier than it was when I started and I can see myself still in the game in my 60's, it's not like I have a choice but 15-20 hours a week at $70-90 an hour should still be possible.

All thiose against the raising of pension age need to consider one VERY IMPORTANT fact. WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM.

Come up with a solution to that looming problem and you may well allow peop,e to retire any time after 55.

The only answer is tax reform, which doesn't involve taxing the working man more.