Keeping people working the key

Keeping people working and paying taxes well beyond age 60 represents a key to meeting Australia's longevity challenge, according to Australian Law Reform Commission president Professor Rosalind Croucher.

Speaking on a panel during the Conference of Major Super Funds (CMSF) on the Gold Coast, Croucher said the key in terms of addressing the longevity tsunami was keeping people paying taxes for as long as they can.

Croucher and fellow panelist, Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan pointed out the need for Government policy changes to lower the barriers for those aged over 50 to remain in the workforce.

Croucher pointed out that for unemployed people aged over 45, the average time out of the workforce was 62 weeks — something that needed to be addressed.

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However Grattan Institute chief executive Professor John Daley warned that a tax and welfare system which favoured mostly older men was serving to create tensions between the old and the young in Australia.

This was countered by Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan, who said it needed to be recognised how many people aged in their 50s and over wanted to continue to work but were being denied the opportunity to do so.

Ryan said the Government needed to lower the barriers which prevented nearly two million unemployed people aged over 50 returning to work.