Posted: May 02, 2005

Early retirement back on agenda!

The Treasurer has recently exhorted the benefits of working into your 70s. He has persistently indicated that he wants to keep older people in the workforce longer and encourage single parents and those on Disability Support Pension to get back into paid jobs. It is of-course clear that his own macroeconomic policies have prevented the economy from generating enough jobs to ensure these groups have the access to paid employment.

But the Treasurer has indicated in many interviews (for example, Retirement is a thing of the past published in the Sydney Morning Herald last year) that he wants more Australians to forgo early or standard retirement and keep working. The upcoming superannuation plans (and CofFEE will be analysing in later publications why these changes demonstrate poor public policy) are predicated on the Government's plan to change community attitudes about retirement and on-going labour force participation.

Well, it seems that the Treasurer thinks this applies to everybody in Australia bar one - an ageing Australian born on July 26, 1939.

Blog entry posted by bill