Former public servants are continuing to campaign for the Federal Government to adopt a wage-based index for the adjustment of superannuation pensions in the wake of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data indicating that adult average weekly earnings increased by 5.8 per cent in May.
The Federal Secretary of the Superannuated Commonwealth Officers’ Association, John Coleman said the ABS data contained little good news for around 300,000 Commonwealth and Defence superannuants who rely on their Commonwealth or Defence superannuation pension for all or most of their retirement income.
“Those people received only 2.5 per cent because their pensions continue to be indexed to the consumer price index rather than a wage-based index,” he said.
Coleman claimed that unlike age pensioners and other groups funded from the public purse, Commonwealth and Defence superannuants were being denied the productivity gains in the national economy.
He said that on current figures, Commonwealth superannuation pensions were halving in comparative purchasing power every 15 to 20 years, causing increasing difficulties for former public servants in their retirement.
