The Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg has announced a review of Australia’s retirement income system.
Mr Frydenberg said the review was recommended by the Productivity Commission, and comes 27 years after the establishment of compulsory superannuation.
“The review will look at the three pillars of the existing retirement income system, being the Age Pension, compulsory superannuation and voluntary savings,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“It will cover the current state of the system and how it will perform in the future as Australians live longer and the population ages.”
He said the review would establish a fact base of the current retirement income system that would improve understanding of its operation and the outcomes it was delivering.
“It is important that the system allows Australians to achieve adequate retirement incomes, is fiscally sustainable and provides appropriate incentives for self-provision in retirement,” Mr Frydenberg said.
He said the review would identify how the retirement income system supported Australians in retirement; the role of each pillar in supporting Australians through retirement; distributional impacts across the population and over time; and the impact of current policy settings on public finances.
The review is to be conducted by an independent three-person panel chaired by former Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund and one-time senior Treasury official Michael Callaghan, with members Carolyn Kay and Deborah Ralston.
“A consultation paper will be released in November and the final report provided to Government by June 2020,” the Treasurer said.