Scott Morrison declares Australia’s retirement age will not be increased to 70 years
SCOTT Morrison has declared Australia’s pension age will no longer be increased to 70, despite the fact it would save the federal budget billions.
National
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SCOTT Morrison has declared Australia’s pension age will no longer be increased to 70 in one of his first major announcements as Prime Minister to win back voters.
In a surprise announcement on the Nine Network’s Today show this morning, the Prime Minister revealed the government would reverse a budget decision to lift the age to 70 and keep it at age 67.
He said he “no longer” thought it was a good idea for Australians to work until they were 70.
“Look, I was going to say this next week but I might as well say it here,” he told host Karl Stefanovic.
“I have already consulted my colleagues on that. Next week Cabinet will be ratifying a decision to reverse taking … the retirement age to 70.
“It will remain at 67, which is what Labor increased it to.”
RENDEZVIEW: Why Aussies may have to work until they drop
#BREAKING: Scott Morrison has announced the Coalition will no longer be raising the pension age to 70. #9Today pic.twitter.com/eTn0BuEaeC
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) September 4, 2018
Mr Morrison said raising the retirement age was a budget measure that was no longer needed.
A Productivity Commission report in 2013 had predicted the measure would have saved the federal budget about $150 billion over 50 years.
The Coalition first flagged its intention to raise the retirement age to 70 under then Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
The policy has never been legislated but the Turnbull government confirmed its intention to lift the retirement age in Senate estimates hearings earlier this year.
Under the 2014 proposal, the qualifying age for the age pension would rise from 67 to 70 beginning in 2025.
The age would be lifted by six months every two years until eligibility reached 70 in 2035.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten questioned Mr Morrison’s motives behind scrapping the pension age rise.
“Who is the real Scott Morrison and do you really trust him? In the last three budgets, Scott Morrison was the Treasurer. He wanted to increase the retirement age to the age of 70.”
Pension groups have welcomed the Morrison government’s decision to scrap plans to lift the age.
Council on The Ageing chief executive Ian Yates said: “We always said you shouldn’t increase the pension age outside of a comprehensive review of retirement incomes,” he told News Corp.
He acknowledged the savings for the budget would have been “sizeable” but said the government had been unable to pass the legislation through the senate.
Mr Yates urged the government to now consider reviewing the Newstart Allowance, which was “significantly too low”.
He also said the council had worked closely with Mr Morrison as Treasurer on the More Choices for a Longer Life package for seniors announced in the 2018 budget, which contained measures to help older Australians.
The Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association said the move made sense and meant that many of the 100,000 people over 50 who are on the Newstart allowance won’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.