Council on the Ageing expresses deep concern at politicisation of Retirement Income Review – Informed and mature public discussion needed
Council on the Ageing (COTA) Australia – the peak body for all older Australians – is calling on the Federal Government to release the Report of the Retirement Income Review this week, without policy responses, so that the Australian people can see and consider its findings.
COTA Australia’s Chief Executive, Ian Yates, expressed COTA’s deep concern that the objective work of the expert Retirement Income Review is being politicised before the public has even had the chance to look at it.
“Our retirement income system is too important to all current and future retirees for its future to become a political football while the facts are withheld from those most affected,” said Mr Yates.
“The Government has had the report for over a month and should release it, without a policy response. The Australian people deserve the chance to see, consider and discuss the Review’s data and findings.”
Mr Yates has urged the Federal Government to haul in hyperactive backbenchers spruiking ideological agendas that are not informed by the Review and has also urged all other political actors to stop arguing their case before they have seen the work of the most important review of the retirement income sector for a generation.
“The Retirement Income Review is about more than the Superannuation Guarantee. Indeed, it was designed to be a once in a generation holistic look at how the different parts of the retirement income ecosystem interact and operate with each other.”
“We need an informed, objective and reasoned discussion about how to optimise the performance of our retirement income system for everyone, that includes the age pension, compulsory and voluntary superannuation, private savings, tax concessions, housing policy and financing our aged care needs” Mr Yates said.
“This is not being helped by the current polarised and strident shadow boxing across the political aisle. We need all parts of the community to contribute to an objective, non-partisan assessment of the current state of play in retirement income, how current policy settings would play out, and what are the alternative policy options.
“Consumer organisations, the financial services sector, and academic experts put a huge amount of time and effort into contributing to the Review and have every right to have their efforts respected by the public release of the Review Report in a timely fashion so that it can inform public discussion”, Mr Yates said.
