Coalition to unwind Costello’s Aged Pension folly

Advertisement

By Leith van Onselen

Nine years ago, former Treasurer, Peter Costello, implemented what would turn out to be a great act of budget vandalism on younger Australians by greatly relaxing the assets test to qualify for the Aged Pension.

Prior to this decision in 2006, the Age Pension was reduced by $3 a fornight ($78 a year) for every $1,000 of assets above a certain threshold.

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:
Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe
About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.