The latest Intergenerational Report shows Australia less old than it was going to be, but poorer. And eventually needing to pay more tax.
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Articles on age pension
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Lifting Australia’s retirement age happened with little protest. But it hits some more than others: especially Indigenous men and women, and tens of thousands of older people pushed onto JobSeeker.
Managing expectations before a budget is always tricky. Two committees are making this especially so for Treasurer Jim Chalmers ahead of his second budget.
Michelle Grattan and Mike Callaghan discuss the government's change to super, the complexities regarding it, and whether young people should be able to access it for a house deposit
Many of the 2.5 million Australian retirees on the age pension would like to work, but only a fraction do – partly because it can mean losing some of their pension.
Depending on circumstances, it may be time to re-think the bias to paying down housing debt over wealth accumulation in super. At least to do the sums, so you can make an informed choice.
The government’s retirement incomes review should concentrate on boosting rent assistance and Newstart and fixing the pension assets test. These would achieve more than boosting super.
All that would be needed is to adjust retiree tax scales and tax their super fund earnings at their marginal rate.
Super is inefficient, costly and directs money where it isn’t needed. There’s a way out.
No single super contribution rate suits everyone, and there’s only a clear case for an increase if there’s no age pension.
Retires who don’t own their homes do awfully out of the pension. Here’s a way to rebalance it.
Newstart increases are projected to get smaller and smaller relative to pension increases. By the end of the century Newstart will be just two fifths of the pension.
Often misunderstood, deeming rates are back broadly where they should be.
It’s a good idea to deem income, but of late we’ve doing it badly.
47% of Australians aged 55-64 have mortgage debt, up from 14% in 1990.
The promised surpluses won’t last unless we stop giving older Australians more and more and asking them to pay less and less.
Budgets will increasingly acknowledge that welfare is about us, rather than us versus them.
The Conversation played host to really important new ideas in 2018. Some will take years to develop. Others will never come to fruition. But they’re important.
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.
Top contributors
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Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR), UNSW Sydney
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Peter Whiteford is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan Institute
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Professiorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University
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Emeritus Professor of Housing and Housing Studies, RMIT University
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Director, ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University
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Chief executive officer, Grattan Institute
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Associate, Grattan Institute
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Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National University
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Professor, Curtin Law School and Curtin Business School, Curtin University
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Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
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Teaching fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Honorary Professor of Geography, University of Cambridge
