Australian gov´t defends plans to lift retirement age

Source: Xinhua | 05-13-2009 13:52

CANBERRA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, while defending the budget released Tuesday night, said on Wednesday a budget hike in aged pensions cannot be sustained without lifting the retirement age to 67.

The move was necessary because of Australia's rapidly ageing population, he told ABC Radio.

According to the budget, the Labor government's long-term responsibility was to make the aged pension sustainable by progressively increasing the pension qualifying age to 67 years by 2023.

"It was a very tough decision," Rudd said.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey criticized the move by saying that the Labor government had broken its promise and "just shows you they are incapable of making the hard decisions to keep the economy on track."

Families Minister Jenny Macklin says the pension age needs to be lifted because people are all living a lot longer now.

Many other developed countries around the world - including the United States and Germany - had increased their pension age to 67.

Editor:Zhang Yun