Media Release

Anti-retirement groups condemn future Australian retirees to reliance on a welfare state

2 March 2020

Anti-retirement groups condemn future Australian retirees to reliance on a welfare state

In a report on Australians’ retirement aspirations the Grattan Institute has told Australians to lower their retirement expectations.

Responding to the anti-retirement group’s argument, ASFA CEO Dr Martin Fahy said “Grattan want a welfare state where 70-80% of Australians will be relying on a government funded age pension, public health system and a benevolent age care system. They are offering Australians a bleak retirement where they are older and sicker for longer, when we know people want to be younger and healthier for longer.

“This vision of retirement is one where everyone over the age of 75 sits at home watching daytime tv, waiting for a public hospital bed. We know that these outdated characterisations of retirement are at odds with what people want. People are active and motivated in retirement and they want to have choices. They don’t want their grandparents’ retirement.

“The development of retirement policy needs to recognise and support the changing landscape where more and more Australians are working longer, living longer, and staying active longer.”

“A Jansenite model of retirement where the few are destined for a dignified retirement and the working classes are condemned to the Age Pension has no place in modern Australia,” concluded Dr Fahy.

For further information, please contact:

Jacqui Maddock, 0451 949 300.

About ASFA

ASFA is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for Australia’s superannuation industry. It is a not-for-profit, sector-neutral, and non-party political, national organisation. ASFA’s mission is to continuously improve the superannuation system, so all Australians can enjoy a comfortable and dignified retirement.

Daniel Mulino MP

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services

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Born in Brindisi, Italy, Daniel was a young child when he moved with his family to Australia. He grew up in Canberra and completed his first degrees – arts and law – at the ANU. He then completed a Master of Economics (University of Sydney) and a PhD in economics from Yale.

He lectured at Monash University, was an economic adviser in the Gillard government and was a Victorian MP from 2014 to 2018. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer of Victoria, Daniel helped deliver major infrastructure projects and developed innovative financing structures for community projects.

In 2018 he was preselected for the new federal seat of Fraser and became its first MP at the 2019 election, re-elected in 2022 and 2025. From 2022 to 2025, Daniel was chair of the House of Representatives’ Standing Economics Committee in which he chaired inquiries; economic dynamism, competition and business formation and insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims.

In 2025, he became the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services.

In August 2022, Daniel published ‘Safety Net: The Future of Welfare in Australia’, which aims to explore the ways in which an insurance approach can improve the effectiveness of government service delivery.