An exercise in data matching by our actuaries has placed a value on the Australian Government’s Income Support for Seniors at an average of $203,600 per pensioner. Given that the total number of eligible pensioners is just over 2.5 million at June 2019, that is a total value of $516 billion of liabilities funded by the Australian Commonwealth Government.
It was also noted that these benefits fall back to the Commonwealth Government to finance from ongoing consolidated revenue. Given an aging population and declining taxation base, this means there are some issues of equity between generations…….Ideally, there would be an equivalent to the Future Fund to safeguard and protect the rights of pensioners from the pressures of future budgets ……….of around $586 billion.