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Where all our age pensioners are living, how much they get and other stunning facts about the welfare system

Headshot of Daniel Newell
Daniel NewellThe West Australian
About 2.65 million people rely on the age pension in Australia.
Camera IconAbout 2.65 million people rely on the age pension in Australia. Credit: Goodboy Picture Company/Getty Images

Take a guess — of the roughly 28 million people in Australia, how many do you reckon are on the age pension?

Where do they live? Are they mostly men or women? And once they start receiving the benefit, how many years are they likely to get it for?

All are questions that would rarely, if ever, cross your mind. Why would they?

But as Australia’s population ages, they really should. Consider the figures . . .

Setting aside the rest of the nation’s overall welfare bill, Centrelink’s full age pension — currently $1149 a fortnight (or $29,874 a year) for singles and $1732.20 a fortnight for couples (or $45,037 a year) — and other seniors support payments will cost the Federal Government’s current Budget about $65.1 billion.

Over the four-year forward estimates, that’s expected to jump to $73.8b — a sizeable chunk of the total welfare budget of $323.6b by 2028-29.

According to the latest data published by the Department of Social Services, a little over 2.65 million people relied on the age pension at the end of March. That’s up about 120,000 since March 2020.

Of that 2.65 million, almost 1.8 million were on the full rate, and just over 860,000 were either income (466,295) or asset-tested (395,300) part-pensioners.

You can scroll over the map below or search for your local government area to see how many age pensioners live in your area.

Unsurprisingly, the main concentration areas for age pensioners are in the local government areas surrounding capital cities and major regional hubs.

The local government area of Brisbane City has Australia’s highest number of age pensioners at 84,590.

Still in Queensland, the Gold Coast (66,105) and Morton Bay (56,854) came in at second and third, respectively.

In WA, the local government areas of Joondalup (16,500), Cockburn (10,675), Gosnells (12,110), Mandurah (16,275), Rockingham (13,745) and Swan (12,320) had high the numbers of pensioners.

But Stirling took the crown with 21,295, followed in second place by Wanneroo’s 18,305.

It was a different story in the leafy suburbs of Subiaco (1270), Claremont (760) and Mosman Park (565).

Peppermint Grove had just 25 pensioners.

But by a wide margin, NSW took the title of the State with the highest number of age pensioners, with 816,725 — well above Victoria’s 625,170. Both were streets ahead of WA (257,500), Queensland (543,575), Tasmania (74,165), South Australia (223,675), the ACT (25,825) and the Northern Territory (11,210).

Overall, the biggest group of age pensioners are those aged between 70 and 74 and living in NSW.

But in every State and Territory, more women than men received the age pension and the total number receiving support is split pretty evenly between partnered and unpartnered people.

The DSS data also dives into where people who get an age pension were born. Just over 1.6 million age pensioners where born in Australia, with the other one million born, among others, in the UK (259,785), New Zealand (75,855), China (45,070), Italy (71,330), Greece (56,475), Germany (33,355) and India (18,445).

The coveted magic card

About 4.5 million people were enjoying the benefits of the highly sought-after Pensioner Concession Card, which could be worth up to $7000 in savings for some households.

The card is available for those who receive certain government payments, such as the age pension.

Importantly, part-pensioners can also get one. And with the July 1 rejig of Centrelink means-test thresholds, plenty more will be eligible.

A home-owning couple can now receive a part-pension even if their annual combined Centrelink-assessable income is just under $100,000 and their assets, excluding the family home, come in under $1.059 million.

The card provides access to a range of benefits designed to help with the cost of living.

Some of the key benefits include cheaper prescription medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, bulk-billed doctor visits and a bigger refund for medical costs once the Medicare safety net is reached.

Depending on where they live, cardholders can also receive concessions on household bills like electricity, gas, and water, as well as discounts on public transport and motor vehicle registration.

So, who gets what?

But numbers alone, payments for the age pension and the Pensioner Concession Card together make up just over 7 million of the more than 16.3 million payments that cover the full spectrum of welfare support.

That includes payments for Abstudy, Carer Allowance, JobSeeker, Family Tax Benefits A and B, Disability Support Pension and Commonwealth Rent Assistance, with some eligible recipients receiving multiple payments.

Almost 1.4 million people also receive government support to help with the cost of a rental and 875,000 were on JobSeeker.

More than 674,000 were taking advantage of the little-understood Carers Allowance. The rate payable is a tax-free $159.30 a fortnight. There is no partial-payment arrangement. You either qualify for the full amount or not at all.

Another 322,000 were collecting the Carers Payment, which is paid at the same rate as an age or disability support pension and is subject to identical means-testing rules.

For a single, the full payment rate is $1149 a fortnight. To get any payment, if you are a single homeowner your assets — excluding your home — would need to be less than $697,000 and Centrelink-assessable income less than $2510 a fortnight.

This income includes your before-tax wages, net rental income, foreign pensions plus the deemed income on all your financial assets, excluding money held in the superannuation accumulation phase.

The carer payment is effectively for someone providing close to full-time care.

According to parliamentary figures, in June 2023 close to 12 per cent of the population aged 15–64 received income support payments— the lowest level in more than 45 years. By June last year it was only slightly higher at around 13 per cent.

A policy briefing on trends in working-age welfare recipients published two weeks ago pinned the low figure on a strong labour market and pre-COVID policy changes by previous governments that restricted eligibility for some payments, phasing out other payments, and tight targeting through means testing.

There has also been a marked decline in student payment recipients.

“While pre-COVID-19 policy decisions contributed to the recent record low rates of income support, the improved labour market has been the key driver,” the briefing said.

“The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate plunged to 3.4 per cent in October 2022, the lowest level since the mid-1970s. It remained below 4 per cent until December 2023.

“Beyond the headline figures, there are significant demographic shifts happening within payment categories and missing from the picture are the stories of those unable to find work but ineligible for income support”

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