Superannuation is vital to Australia's system of support for retirement. Compulsory super, along with voluntary contributions, enables people to have a much higher standard of living in retirement than possible on the Age Pension alone. Australian governments currently support retirees not only through the Age Pension but indirectly through tax breaks for superannuation. However, the...

This report argues that the key to progressive tax reform is to strengthen the personal income tax system and puts forward a set of benchmarks and options for reform. These will be used by ACOSS to evaluate the proposals of the Government’s Australia’s Future Tax System (AFTS) Review after its report is finalised later this...

This report uses recent research, including previously unpublished data, to compare living standards and financial hardship among different groups of low income Australians, especially those receiving income support payments. Over the past decade, the average incomes of Australian households have grown strongly, but many people on low fixed incomes have been left behind. There is...

Peter Saunders, Kelly Sutherland and co-authors report on the first stage of a project designed to develop new indicators of disadvantage for Australia in the new millennium. This stage of their project involved a series of focus group discussions with clients of selected welfare programs that were designed to investigate, in detail, how people experience...