According to SPAA, an increase in the pension age will mean those in labour-intensive jobs whose physical condition is likely to fall behind those in less physical jobs may need to access a type of social security benefit to “survive”.
SPAA's director, technical and professional standards, Graeme Colley said increasing the preservation age beyond the current graduated increase to age 60 by 2024, and potentially aligning it with the age pension age, will mean there will be more pressure on the cost of social security.
“People will be forced to seek other types of benefit and if current rules continue with an increased pension age, any amounts accumulating in superannuation are excluded for the assets test,” he said.
“Our nation, and particularly future retirees, will be best served by mature and reasoned consideration of the issues rather than seeking out 'silver bullets' such as simply aligning preservation age with an increased age pension age,” he added.
SPAA said that what is saved in the cost of the age pension may result in an increase in other government social security expenditure.
