A new ANU computer algorithm can provide near instant answers about how to get the best bang for welfare dollars. It says we should boost Newstart and cut either pensions or family benefits.
Bill Shorten says Labor’s plan to make super contributions on behalf of women on paid parental leave would have a “big impact”. We find its impact would be be minuscule.
Increasingly insecure pathways to home ownership are not just a problem for property markets. The fallout is likely to hit retirement incomes, the welfare base, gender equity and the broader economy.
Retirees are often urged to downsize to free up suburban properties for the next generation and for higher-density development. What’s being ignored is the costs of moving into a unit or apartment.
Any significant decline in home ownership or equity in a home impacts higher care needs: older people will not have an asset to sell to fund the bonds required to enter aged care accommodation.
For the increasing proportion of people living in private rental accommodation who can expect to be dependent on the age pension, the prospects of financial and housing insecurity are grim.
Super is the wrong tool to provide an adequate support in retirement for low-income earners. Our research shows top-up measures to help this group are poorly targeted and too expensive.
Senator Jacqui Lambie told Q&A that a third of Australian age pensioners are living below the poverty line and that it’s estimated to rise to two-thirds within five years. Is that right?
The Coalition has reached a compromise to get its superannuation reform past its own party, but the changes will make it harder for women and older workers.
Having made a commitment to reduce spending, the federal government will have its work cut out with this year’s budget, which may require revisiting policy ideas that have caused it pain in the past.
What aspects of the government’s reforms succeeded in assisting people into employment? And did the reforms improve the population’s economic well-being? Or have they left some groups worse off?