The AGED PENSION is welfare support for the needy, nothing else.
Paul1405,
NO, the Aged Pension is support for people who no longer receive a wage !
As I said often enough, we've paid for that support up front !

I must admit not knowing a lot about this thread, by thread I mean, OA pensions, welfare, or any other form of financial assistance.
I have never availed myself of ANY govt offerings, because I am a proud and righteous person and because I believe I am not entitled to anything, even though by law, I am.
Reason being, because I am a proud person, as someone already pointed out, I accumulated my own wealth and created my own means of income, through properties, both industrial and even some residential, by way of rents, and when the banks were not as greedy as they are today, even interest on cash in the bank.
Well now the more intelligent source of income is taking the cash and building some houses, thereby creating a win for the people needing cheap rents, and denying the banks the many filthy and greedy activities they engage in.
And believe me there are many.
The only thing I think my wife and I have, and I'm not sure whether our older son might have orchestrated it, is a 'seniors card', which I believe we have used the odd time we have gone to Sizzlers.
We don't use ANY govt facilities, or services like bus, train, etc, so we are totally self sufficient and the only discounts or benefits I ALWAYS seek is from the business or industry, and that is my right to get something as cheap as I can, and seeing that they are not govt entity's, I am entitled, and it is incumbent upon me to get the best price I can.
When buying something from these businesses, I don't ask, 'how much is it', I say 'what is your best price', because I know there is a profit in it and I know that there is a good chance it is over-priced.

The old Age Pension is & should always be for wage earners. Self-funded retirees have had the support of Govt by way of tax breaks, write-offs etc. So, it's only reasonable that they should not be eligible for the Old Age pension.
Wage earners do not get these concessions throughout their working life. We wouldn't have an economy if everyone were to have a business so, we therefore have employers & employees.
In the majority of cases, the employers are financially better off than employees who, in the majority of cases do not earn enough to be self-funded in retirement. Govt make no provision for such ability !
I know people who proclaim loudly & proudly how they're 'no burden' on the Govt but what they don't proudly & loudly proclaim is the fact that they were a burden on the rest of us all their lives by way of tax breaks, negative gearing & write-offs etc etc.

Good points Individual.

Yes, some people do get tax breaks throughout their working lives through various tax concessions.

As someone has already pointed out, tax breaks aside, if you don't plan ahead and drink, smoke, go night clubbing, pubs, the footy and generally piss your money up against the wall, trying to live the "good life", you won't have anything to show for it later in life, when you really need it.
Don't think for one minute I am some kind of business mogul, I am, and always have been a "blue collar worker", like everyone else.
If you've followed my comments and attitude here on OLO, you will agree, I don't talk/think, like some glorified academic mogul like Packer or anyone you describe as getting tax breaks and living in the top end of town.
No I've said it before, those of you, which consists of the majority of Aussies, believe in the mantra, "I work to live", unlike myself who has lived by the words, "I live to work".
Now I realise that the mind set of most people is to "have fun and enjoy life", well I hope you had fun and enjoyed your life, but hows it looking for you now?
It's a shame that people have wasted their lives away when they were young and viable, to now having to struggle and find themselves living a very dependent lifestyle, now that they are old and infirm or unable to work.
I have never seen the OA pension as a generational thing but more a practical thing, but based on a mix of charity and necessity.
So if I can do it, and I'm just another average Joe with knuckle rash and an attitude, then there is no reason why everyone else can't do it, but for the fact you all preferred to have fun spending money, instead of enjoying accumulating it.
And believe me, it is enjoyable accumulating it, if only for the feeling of security and independence knowing you never have to go "cap in hand" just to survive or stay alive.

Altrav, if I had my time again, I would have also saved and invested in housing.

As it stands, i have done ok, but will probbaly eventually get a part-pension, albeit the rules for pensions will keep changing over the next few decades