Ageing Australia pushes pension reform as it braces for 10% of population to retire

With 2.5 million Australians set to retire in the next decade, the government wants to reshape its US$2.5 trillion pension industry

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Elderly people chat in a Sydney park. An estimated 2.5 million Australians will retire over the next decade. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 11:04am, 20 Nov 2024Updated: 12:30pm, 20 Nov 2024

The Australian government is proposing a raft of changes for the nation’s A$3.9 trillion (US$2.5 trillion) pension industry, to prepare for the retirement of an estimated 2.5 million people over the next decade.

Australia’s population stood at 25.4 million as of the last census in 2021.

The planned reforms will be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers at a pensions industry conference on Wednesday. The changes include giving Australians access to more online resources and information about their retirement options, and better retirement products. Regulations will be updated in the coming years, and the government is also planning a new reporting framework for retirement outcomes.

Australia is home to the world’s fastest-growing retirement savings pool, known locally as superannuation, or “super”. The industry’s total assets increased 9.1 per cent in the year to June, and includes funds accumulated by government and private-sector workers.

As our economy changes [and] population ages ... more and more Australians will draw down on bigger pools of savings, that they will rely on for longer

Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers

“As our economy changes, population ages and the super system evolves, more and more Australians will draw down on bigger pools of savings, that they will rely on for longer,” Chalmers is expected to say in a pre-recorded speech on Wednesday, according to an extract sent to media outlets. “We are working to ensure there is as much of a policy and product focus on the retirement phase as there is on the accumulation phase.”