Media Releases > Press Articles 2002

Ageing report a transparent ploy

Letter to the Editor, The Age newspaper, 19 July 2002, p12

It is sad to see that Malcolm Turnbull (Opinion, 16/7) has succumbed to Peter Costello's misleading interpretation of ageing published in the Intergenerational Report. How else can he explain his claim that "as our population mix changes for the worse we will have more retired, aged people relying on the support of fewer, working taxpayers"?

The coming generation of older Australians will by and large be healthier and wealthier than ever before and will not be a burden on younger generations. As more measured analysts have noted, the Intergenerational Report underestimates the future growth of living standards by ignoring the consumption dividend that arises from an ageing population.

Turnbull should be encouraging changes in labor market, taxation, welfare and superannuation policies to enable older people to remain in the workforce longer, if this is their wish, as well as policies for women to combine motherhood with paid employment. This will increase the number of taxpayers, as well as reducing the numbers seeking government retirement support.

The Intergenerational Report's true agenda was to (unsuccessfully) justify rises in co-payments for pharmaceutical benefits and soften us up for ending universal health insurance and shifting government aged welfare costs to states.

Denys Correll, national executive director, Council on the Ageing