Report finds the age pension inadequate

A new report has found that the current level of the Age Pension in Australia falls short of allowing an acceptable standard of living, with many pensioners suffering ‘substantial deprivation’.

The report, The Adequacy of the Age Pension in Australia: An assessment of pensioner living standards, makes clear that age pensioners, especially older women who rent privately and live solely on the age pension, are at great risk of living in poverty.

The report identifies that 1.5 million older Australians live solely on the Age Pension and almost a third of them are living in poverty.

Speaking this week at the National Press Club were the report’s three partners: David Hetherington of Per Capita’s Centre for Applied Policy on Positive Ageing (CAPPA); Jo Toohey, CEO of The Benevolent Society; and Everald Compton, Chairman of The Longevity Innovation Hub.

The partners say that it is unacceptable that in a wealthy country like Australia, so many vulnerable citizens are exposed to negative health and the social impacts associated with poverty.

“It is clear that the Age Pension is inadequate. It is unacceptable that people who have contributed to society all their lives are forced to live at or below the poverty line,” said Toohey.

The key recommendation of the report is the establishment of an independent Age Pension Tribunal to oversee and determine a just base rate for the pension.

Lead author of the report, Hetherington, said an independent tribunal to address this complex issue will help define an adequate Age Pension.

“The Age Pension Tribunal would be similar to Fair Work Australia for the minimum wage or the Remuneration Tribunal which determines the remuneration of key commonwealth offices, including politicians,” said Hetherington.

“The research findings shed a light on the lived experience of hardship for many pensioners in Australia. The analysis of the HILDA (Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia) quantitative survey is added to by our qualitative research of focus groups we conducted with pensioners from across the country – they add a deeply human insight in the age pension adequacy issue.”