Allow worn-out workers ‘to retire’, says Susan Ryan

    Natasha Bita
    The Australian
    July 14, 2014



BABY boomers worn out by working should be allowed to retire early at taxpayers’ expense, says Age and Disability Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan.      

Ms Ryan told The Australian that labourers or nurses who hurt their backs late in their careers should be given “early access’’ to the age pension at 55 or 60 if they could no longer do their jobs.

Manual workers should be ­retrained in their 50s for jobs with lighter duties, such as in the service sector, she said.

Older Australians should be encouraged to stay working as long as possible, as it was “not rational’’ to spend 30 years on the pension. But many older people had trouble finding work, and ended up on the disability pension when they became depressed over constant job knock-backs.

“My own view is when the pension age goes up and other benefits are reviewed we should move towards formulating an early-access arrangement for the aged pension,’’ she said.

“I don’t think it’s satisfactory that people who have injured their back, laying bricks or nursing, should just be put onto the disability pension if they’re over 60.

“It’s more that they’ve come to the end of their working life and should have access to the aged pension.’’      

Australians can now retire on the age pension at 65, but the age limit will rise to 67 in three years. The government plans to lift the retirement age to 70 by 2035.      

The government this month began paying wage subsidies of up to $10,000 to employers who hire an over-50 jobseeker, through its “Restart’’ program, costing $524m over four years.

Ms Ryan said that as Australians lived well into their 90s, it was “not rational’’ to retire in their 60s.

“A lot of people want to work well beyond 65, and most would want part-time work,’’ she said.

“We’re looking not only at longer life, but longer healthy life, so to say you leave work at 60 or 65 and have 30 years of no earned income is not rational and not what people want.’’

Ms Ryan said employers often discriminated against older workers. “People need fairer treatment,’’ she said.

“What should happen as people approach their 50s, particularly if it’s heavy manual work, is they should be given opportunities to retrain for other work.”

Government data reveals the number of aged pensioners has jumped 15 per cent to 2.4 million since the global financial crisis.

Workers aged 55-64 account for more than a third of the 832,533 disability support pensioners, whose numbers have swollen 12 per cent over the past five years.

Mature-age workers also make up 16 per cent of Australians on the dole queue, which has stretched by half since the start of 2009 to support 808,803 people without jobs.

She said many older workers on the dole became “worn down by worrying and depression’’ over constant job knockbacks.

WORN OUT BY WORKING...




in Australia it wouldnt happen.

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Yes crook, the old ones have had their turn. The young ones want to get ahead, get a car, set up home, maybe a little holiday.....they need work. Oldies out....youngies in!

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Retire at 67=Good! According to Labor.
Retire at 70=Bad! According to Labor.

Makes sense to someone, I suppose...

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If you are injured (worn out) and cannot work you should get the disability pension?  What's the diff?

Also, anybody currently working has at least 20 years to plan for their retirement. 

Why make today's kids pay double the marginal tax rates of Baby Boomers.....?

There is a difference.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to get on disability pension?.  There are many people that should be on it, that can't get on it.      

No crook, you've got it completely back to front.

We need to encourage workers to be "the best they can be"
Look after their backs with a rigorous gym programme
Stay a normal weight
Stay off the smokes and grog which affect health
Improve themselves and reskill.

So, to encourage this we give bonuses to people who maintain a state of prime working health.

Now we need to punish the "self inflicted" disabled.
The fatty with the bad back, the fatty who got type 2 diabetes, the smoker who cant work due to self inflicted emphysema.

So we give them reduced payments.
We say "you, sir, have made bad decisions and there must be consequences for bad decisions"
This is how we teach a child.
It must now be how we teach a worker.

To those with a disability that is not due to their lifestyle, we extend the hand of compassion.

To those whose disability is due to obesity, smokes, laziness, poor diet , drug taking, we extend the hand of the security guard at centrelink and we say "thou shalt not pass".
This would be the vast majority

If someone with decades of experience hurts themselves so they can no longer do their job, retrain them at taxpayers' expense so they can teach or make it easy to take on taxpayer-funded apprentices (depending on their occupation). They remain productive, they can pass on their experience to the next generation, younger people get trained by experienced people, and the taxpayer saves money. Everyone wins.