Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

In following the extraordinary contribution from the member for Corangamite, I would say that, if she wants to take a bipartisan attitude, she might acknowledge that the decision to locate the National Disability Insurance Scheme head office in Geelong, in the member for Corio's electorate, was actually made by the former Prime Minister with the agreement of the former Liberal Premier. We are quite happy to give credit where it is due, which, unfortunately, the previous speaker is not.

When giving his response the minister might be reminded that this is a Social Services consideration in detail, so I hope he will stick to—and we will, of course, make sure that he does—the appropriations in this portfolio, not in other portfolios.

The question I want to turn to now is on a very significant change that the government has admitted that it is determined to pursue, and that is the policy to increase the pension age to 70. This means that people born from 1 January 1966 will have to work until they are 70 before they have access to the age pension. Of course, there are many people in their early 50s and late 40s who are thinking about their retirement—how much extra they are going to have to put away in superannuation and so on. They are now having to face the fact that this government is determined to increase the pension age to 70. We all remember the origin of this idea. It was the 2014 Commission of Audit, which contained the most horrific recommendations that led to this government attempting to cut billions of dollars out of the pockets of pensioners and families.

You might all remember the extraordinary attitude of the member for Warringah and the former Treasurer Joe Hockey. We had the famous quote of 'lifters and leaners'. One thing that remains from the 2014 budget is this policy of increasing the pension eligibility age to 70. Even the Commission of Audit had recommended that that not happen until 2035, which is a full 18 years later than the government has actually decided. We did find out at Senate estimates that the government is going to see $3.6 billion come out of the pockets of these Australians as a result of this decision. This minister, of course, thinks this is a sensible decision. I want to quote from someone who has emailed me. Her name is Mandy, and she wrote:

It's unbelievable and disgraceful that the age pension age should be raised to 70 for those born after January 1966, and, as someone born in 1967, I find it particularly scary. My husband's in his early 50s and works in a very physical factory job which he couldn't possibly still work at when he's 70. I'm 50 and, after retraining for a new career start, I'm finding it impossible to find a job.

So many Australians are very concerned about this, so I ask the minister: when are you introducing the legislation to increase the age pension age to 70? When will that actually happen, Minister? Can the minister tell us how many Australians currently in the workforce will be affected by this proposal? If he does not have these numbers, I will put these questions on notice. For each year from 2025 until the change to age 70 is implemented, how many people in each age category are going to be affected? Can the minister tell us what other country is planning to increase the qualifying age of the age pension to 70?

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