Government tipped to delay response to retirement income review

The government commissioned the review to establish a “fact base” for the current retirement system and allow better understanding of how the three main retirement pillars — super, the aged pension and private savings — interacted with each other to deliver outcomes for retirees.

This review was originally recommended by the Productivity Commission in its report, Superannuation: Assessing Efficiency and Competitiveness.

BT head of financial literacy and advocacy Bryan Ashenden said with 30 June 2020 having now passed, the panel tasked with undertaking the income review should have passed their report to the government.

However, it may still be some time before the outcomes of the review are made public and the government provides its response, said Mr Ashenden in a BT Technical Services podcast.

Mr Ashenden said the government may wait until the federal budget on 6 October this year to release its response to the review.

“As we enter the second half of 2020, with the government considering its economic response to the debt created by the COVID-19 measures, while still looking to stimulate economic activity, the outcomes and from this review, and the government’s response have perhaps never been more important,” he said.

“The review covers the current state of the system and how it will perform in the future as Australians live longer and the population ages. It will consider the incentives for people to self-fund their retirement, the fiscal sustainability of the system, the role of the three pillars of the retirement income system, and the level of support provided to different cohorts across time.”