I suspect by the time I come to put my feet up, the retirement age will be 80.

The difference in the notice period given by the UK government compared to the Australia government.

The UK gave 20 years notice - Australia about 9 years.

The difference this makes in planning for a fruit full retirement is in the UK people at 45 years of age could plan for the age increase. I am 56 and this has been sprung on me. If I need the pension or more importantly its associated health or pharmacutical benefits they are now further away than when I turn 65.

First, gaining employment when you are over 60 years of age is… and let’s just understate it here… it’s difficult. Are these people expected to tramp the streets seeking work that few, perhaps that no employer is ready to offer them?

Second, many in this age group would be reluctant to take on some of the mundane work that might be offered. They have already done the dead-end, boring jobs in their youth. That’s were such work to be available - after all, it is already done by young people and migrants trying to get a start in the country - and who is going to hire older people to do work done faster by these other demographics?

My third point is that many in the proposed age group already continue to work in socially beneficial areas. That is, by assisting - through their skills and life experience - organisations in the community sector. They might have left the paid workforce but have not left the workforce per se.

An extended working life would remove them from this voluntary community sector. This would be to its disadvantage and to the disadvantage of the clients that sector serves. Presumably, such a consequence is invisible to government decision makers with their monocular and narrow economistic vision. Such a possibility should be factored by the government into its decision making.

Fourth point - people over 60 are, as a rule, not as agile or able as younger people. Some are undergoing continual medical treatment. Anyone with just a little experience in business will recognise the plain truth that this will lead to their further discrimination in employment. In turn, this would likely further the resentment already felt by those job seekers of that age who already find it almost impossible to obtain dignified work.

This is the problem when governments, through the silo thinking of their public service advisors (who have more or less guaranteed employment until retirement) make decisions without understanding the systems nature of the issues. Pensions and the retirement age is not simply an economics question, it is to do with sociology and personal health and fitness.

While I agree that with Australia’s ageing population it makes policy sense to push out the retirement age by a couple of years, the biggest issue will be the lack of opportunities available to older Australians. Typically business does not value the individual or collective experience of older people and in fact frequently pushes out older employees, replacing them with younger, supposedly more ‘energetic’ staff.

While this attitude may change as the country’s demographics change, more needs to be done, as you point out, to provide worthwhile employment opportunities for older workers. Unless the government leads this attitudinal and behavioural change with policy and programme support, their recent policy announcement extending the pension age to 67 will be a disaster for many Australians.