Thousands of Australians are rallying behind one hard-working tradie, who is standing up in opposition to the proposed rising of the retirement age.
On July 1st, the Aussie pension eligibility age will rise from 65 to 67, with research suggesting that it will rise again to the age of 70 by 2050.
The tradie shared a photo holding a sign that reads, “Only a bloke who’s worked in an office his whole life would think you can work until you’re 70.”
Many have echoed his statement, particularly blue-collar workers who say it is asking too much of people approaching 70 to keep up physically demanding labour.
The LNP has been working for years to oppress & dumb down the Australian population so that it has more power & control over us. But insisting that the retirement age should be 70 is just wrong. This isn’t about ‘left’ or ‘right’ any more. It’s about the elite vs the rest of us pic.twitter.com/yxIuAL75rm
— Bethany Williams 💙🇺🇦💛 (@BethanyinCBR) November 27, 2020
“My body is just tired, as is my husband’s, who is 66. We both need to just rest now. We had planned on retirement at 65. Then they changed the goal posts,” one person shared in replying to the image.
“I’ve worked 43 years as a butcher. I’m almost 65 yrs old, I think I’ve done enough, and my body agrees,” a second added.
“I spent many years in a quarry as well as a coal mine, my body is physically worn out, so I 110 per cent agree with his poster,” a third agreed.
Others shared that they thought it was simply unfair to ask older Aussies to keep working in manual labour in order to provide for their families, during a time when they should be resting and starting to plan their retirement years without stressing about finances.
Many angered Aussies spoke out about the politicians who are responsible for raising the age pension number, saying they have no idea how physically taxing manual labour jobs can be.
“The politicians all need to get out of their chairs and do a tradies’ job for a week or two then they will know what a bad back is and realise that the body won’t let you work until you are 70,” one person wrote.
A second added added, “I would like to see all politicians work a week as a bricklayer, a boilermaker, a plumber, or a builder – doing what we did to 65, they couldn’t for a week.”
Currently, Australians are able to access a pension wage at 65 years and 6 months as long as they were born between July 1st 1952 and December 31st 1953.
Those born after that date will be able to access their pension from the age of 66.
However, from July 1st anyone born after January 1st 1957 will have to work even longer with the pension age increasing to 67-years-old.
Image credits: Facebook
This article first appeared on Over60.