The Government has been urged to lift the pension eligibility threshold two years to age 67 to reduce social security costs, by consultancy firm Mercer.
Social security might be unsustainable in the future due to rising life expectancies, Mercer Asia-Pacific retirement leader, Tim Jenkins said.
“It is going to be hard for people to cover costs as they get older.
“The pension age has not been changed in 100 years in Australia. It is an issue for the newly elected Rudd Government.”
The current life expectancy in Australia for women and men is 83 and 78.1 years, respectively.
Although Australia has already taken a positive step in legislating for women to be 65 before being eligible for pension from 2014, the age threshold for needed to be lifted for both genders, he said.
In a report by Mercer, Norway has already taken a front step by raising the retirement age from 67 to 70.
The United States bumped its retirement age to 67 for those born after 1960, and the United Kingdom, Denmark, Hungary and Germany have introduced a legislation that will increase the retirement age to higher than 65.
