Tony Abbott can’t be trusted on Age Pensions

A media report today confirms the financial security of older Australians is under a cloud following a claim from a Coalition candidate that the ‘old age pension is costly, and bad for the economy, and unsustainable and unfair to young people.’

The claim from the LNP candidate for the Brisbane seat of Griffith John Humphreys, reported in Brisbane’s Courier Mail newspaper, comes on top of Tony Abbott’s secret plan to make older Australians work longer to pay for welfare payments for high-income families.

It is more evidence that the Coalition, led by Tony Abbott, is a huge risk to older Australians.

Speaking at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in October last year, Mr Humphreys argued against a Government funded age pension scheme and called for a system where older Australians are left without any government support.

We already know that Tony Abbott wants to increase the pension age to 70.

Last month the Sydney Morning Herald revealed Mr Abbott has a secret plan to increase the pension age so that high-income families can receive generous family tax benefit payments for children under five years of age.

Mr Abbott’s shadow cabinet proposal says:

‘If a universal family tax benefit payment needs to be fully funded it could be done by further increasing the retirement age.’

Not content with making older Australians work longer, Mr Abbott’s Coalition now has the age pension itself in its sights.