Scott Morrison to ditch Coalition policy to raise retirement age to 70

Scott Morrison says he’d been contemplating ditching the commitment to raise the retirement age to 70 “for a long time”.

Scott Morrison says he had been contemplating his decision to abandon the Coalition government’s long term commitment to raise the retirement age to 70 “for a long time”.

The treasurer-turned-Prime Minister this morning announced the policy of lifting the retirement age from 67 to 70, which was first adopted as part of the Abbott government’s 2014 budget, would no longer be pursued.

Because the measure has never been legislated, there will be no hit to the budget.

Had it been legislated, the move was forecast to save about $5bn over a decade.

The current retirement age of 65.5 is set to move to 67 by July 2023, under legislation Labor introduced when it increased pension payments under the Gillard government.

Mr Morrison said today’s decision came after a series of announcements as part of this year’s budget which were designed to support older Australians to live longer, healthier and more active lives.

“If they want to keep working, well they can, and things like the pension work bonus and programs like that will support them in that choice, but for those who aren’t in that position, then the pension will be there and the retirement age will remain at 67,” the former treasurer said.

“It’s all about recognising the effort they’ve put in and the choices that they want to make, because that’s the sort of Australia that I want to lead.

“What I have done is respected the policies that we’ve put in place since that was first introduced in the ’14-‘15 budget.

“Now I would encourage you to go back and look over the most recent budget and look over the healthy lifestyles package for senior Australians that was that budget, which was actually promoting, encouraging and using the carrot, the incentive to encourage Australians to work longer, if that’s what they choose to do, and to support them in those choices.

“As a new prime minister, I believe that that measure is no longer necessary, and it will remain no longer necessary so long as we continue to keep the strong economic policies that sees the growth continue.”

Asked when he had changed his mind, Mr Morrison said: “I’ve been contemplating this for a long time.”

“There’s no cost over the forward estimates. There’s no cost over the forward estimates, and the medium-term cost will be reconciled in the midyear statement,” he said.

Askd whether he would be getting rid of other unpopular policies, Mr Morrison said he would continue to make announcements about what he thinks are the “right priorities for Australia”.

“I’ll do that in close consultation with my team and I’ll work with them each and every day to ensure that we have an even stronger Australia that keeps our economy strong, that keeps Australians safe, and keeps Australians together,” Mr Morrison said.

“I have consulted with my cabinet colleagues, and as I said this morning, it’ll be ratified by cabinet next week.”

PM ‘borrowing Labor policy’

Bill Shorten said the Prime Minister’s decision prompted the question: “Who is the real Scott Morrison and do you really trust him?”

Mr Shorten said Mr Morrison had kept the policy of increasing the retirement age in the last three budgets, over which he presided as treasurer.

“He wanted to increase the retirement age to the age of 70. Labor opposed increasing the retirement age to 70 from the very first time it was suggested a number of years ago by the LNP. It’s just a dumb idea,” the Opposition Leader said.

“Labor opposed it for the last three years, and now Mr Morrison’s temporarily borrowing Labor policy.

“That’s good, but the real issue is, if he was three years as treasurer and believed we should increase the retirement age to 70, and in the last 13 days he’s been prime minister and now he doesn’t believe it, what does Scott Morrison really believe?

“Is he the man who was the treasurer for the last three years with all the things he believed then, or is he someone different now?

“Scott Morrison needs to explain what Scott Morrison really believes, and it’s not at all clear, and I think most Australians know that if Scott Morrison wins the next election, if he gets control of the Senate, then the world’s oldest retirement age, LNP dream, is back on the table.”

.@billshortenmp: @ScottMorrisonMP for years has said he's wanted to increase the retirement age to 70. Now he's dropping it so he can keep his day job.

MORE: https://t.co/PHXhD3coQb #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/NVcSkP77KB

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) September 5, 2018

Announcing the policy change on breakfast television this morning, Mr Morrison said he “no longer” believed it was a good idea for everyone to work until they were 70.

“I was going to say this next week but I might as well say it here,” he told the Nine Network’s Today show.

“I have already consulted my colleagues on that. Next week cabinet will be ratifying a decision to reverse taking the pension, the retirement age to 70. It will remain at 67, which is what Labor increased it to.

“In this year’s budget I announced a whole package of measures to help Australians live a longer, healthy and more active life and that included things like the pension work bonus and supporting people who are older to actually get access to the pension when they are running a business, and I think those measures are positive measures.

“I don’t think we need that measure any longer when it comes to raising the pension age and it is one of things I will be changing pretty quickly.

“I have talked to my colleagues about it. We will ratify it next week. The pension age going to 70, gone.”

#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

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said Mr Morrison had consulted with his cabinet colleagues who agreed it was a “sensible and pragmatic” move.

“I think if you’re a tradie or a brickie or a shearer in rural or regional Australia you don’t want some suit in Canberra telling you that you’ve got to work until you’re 70, and you know, it’s hard, back-breaking work what a lot of our people do, and I think being told that they’re going to have to work until 70 I think was probably a step too far, and it’s a sensible move by the new Prime Minister to make sure that that decision has been overturned,” Mr McCormack told Sky News.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud also said Mr Morrison had consulted cabinet colleagues about the decision and they “fully support” it.

“Obviously it was brought forward in light of a television appearance, and I know that there is cabinet solidarity around that decision,” Mr Littleproud told ABC radio.

“I wouldn’t say it was policy on the run. I think this is something that the Prime Minister has been looking at even in his previous role, and he’s well equipped as the (former) treasurer to have a full appreciation of any impact on the budget and from our understanding, the preliminary understanding is that there will be minimal to no impact and I think that the prime minister is well-equipped, because the economy that we have at the moment is because of the hard work that he put in as treasurer.”

“The fruits of the labour that he put in terms of the reform is now coming through, and he’s been able to make this facilitation of the retirement age, and I think it’s a good move.”

‘This is not done with the best interests of Australians at heart’

Labor frontbencher Ed Husic said the opposition had long advocated against having one of the highest retirement ages in the OECD.

“We said for quite some time that this wasn’t right,” Mr Husic told Sky News.

“What was extraordinary about this morning was that Scott Morrison went onto breakfast TV and breezily announced he was basically turning his back on $5bn outside of the cabinet process, which is quite staggering, and not just in terms of the fact that he’s walked away from proper cabinet process, which remember Malcolm Turnbull promised, and clearly this is so 2015 when they can walk away from what they said, that they’d re-establish cabinet government, but the other thing that needs to be considered too is who pays for this?

“They haven’t announced how they’ll make the savings to cover this. Which group within the Australian community will pay for the way in which Scott Morrison sloppily announces $5bn to be written off outside of the cabinet process?”

Mr Husic said making such a decision outside cabinet was “big” and needed to be seen in the context of internal Coalition machinations.

“What you’re seeing at the moment in the Coalition is people handing out information selectively as part of this ongoing civil war in the Coalition, and you have to wonder,” he said.

“The Coalition has been arguing to do this since the 2014 budget. That is to raise the retirement age to 70.

“All of a sudden, in the aftermath of a bloody and divisive Coalition battle where the public is marking them down on their division and dysfunction, they make this announcement.

“This is not done with the best interests of Australians at heart. This is being done with the best interests of the Coalition in mind.”

‘Faith is important to us as a family’

This morning, Mr Morrison also defended his decision to send his children to a private school.

On Monday he revealed he sends his nine and 11-year-old daughters Abbey and Lily to a Baptist school because it reflects the values he and wife Jenny hold.

“I went to public schools. I went to Clovelly Primary School and then to Sydney Boys High School,” Mr Morrison said.

“My kids were going to a public school but I wanted them to go to a Christian school. Faith is important to us as a family. That’s a choice we made as a family.

“I don’t have any issues with the quality of public education but I wanted my kids to go to a Christian school. That’s a choice if every Australian would like to make they should be able to make.”

‘How do you unite a bunch of Muppets?’

In an earlier appearance on Seven’s Sunrise, Mr Morrison declared the “curtain has come down on that Muppet show”, in a reference to the turmoil within the Liberal Party which resulted in him leapfrogging conservative contender Peter Dutton for the prime ministership.

Host Samantha Armytage responded by asking the Prime Minister: “How do you unite a bunch of Muppets?”

“Well, I’m doing exactly that in terms of my colleagues. We’re coming together,” Mr Morrison said.

“Those events drew to a close many, many years of bitterness on a whole range of issues from previous generations.

“It’s a new generation of Liberal leadership that is focused on the future, which is focused on the needs of the Australian people.

“That’s what my team is doing, and that’s what the Australians expect us to do. I mean what happened was not acceptable. It was not good. I totally accept that.

“But when you’re placed in command and you’ve come out of that process, and you’re placed there to actually lead the country and your party forward, that’s what my focus is.”

PM Scott Morrison says the 'curtain has come down on the muppet show' and a new curtain has come up. #auspol pic.twitter.com/gz8vLWr4tn

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) September 4, 2018