“A little bit unfair”: Hard-working tradies blast age pension increase
A group of tired tradies have rallied against the “unfair” decision to increase the age of eligibility for the age pension.
The tradesmen, all in their 60s, simply said their bodies “can’t handle” working in manual labour until they’re 70, which may be in their future if the eligibility age continues to rise.
The age to qualify for the pension was raised from 66 years and six months to 67 on July 1st with the move impacting any Australian born after December 31st, 1956.
Experts predict the age could rise even further to 70 by the year 2050 with the news sparking backlash among hardworking Aussies.
One man, a concreter in his mid-60s named Steve, said working the manual labour job was already taking a toll on his body and that the new retirement age was “unfair” on those working physically demanding jobs.
“Now I'm starting to feel it more in my knees, I've got arthritis in my hands, I've had two back surgeries,” he told A Current Affair.
“It does seem a little bit unfair that you have to work all your life.”
Peter, who cuts down trees in the Gold Coast for a living, compared the raising of the pension age to the harsh realities of his job.
“It's just like climbing a tree,” he said. “The injuries are just climbing all the time, it's getting harder, worse, sorer all the time.”
He described what was happening as “very scary”.
“Unfortunately I thought 65 would be a nice time to retire and get on a pension but now we are talking 67,” he said.
“Is it going to go up to 68, 69, 70?”
Macquarie University Professor Hanlin Shang believes the pension age will need to rise to 70 or government spending will spiral out of control.
He and other researchers estimate that the retirement age will rise to 68 by 2030, 69 in 2036 and 70 by 2050.
“As Australians live longer than before, it presents a challenge to the government to fund retirees through a pension scheme,” Professor Shang said.
Despite these challenges, Peter said politicians don't understand the burden that working physical jobs has on older bodies.
“It would be nice to be a politician sitting on a nice comfortable chair all day in an air conditioned room or office,” he said.
“They need to come out and see what it's like to do some physical work. That would make them change their mind in trying to stretch this pension out to 67, 68, 69, 70.”
Image credits: A Current Affair