Treasurer Joe Hockey has this morning released the government’s Intergenerational Report, which signals the need for Australians to work longer to counteract the pressures of an ageing population.
The report, which looks at population and budget projections into 2055, forecasts Australian life expectancy will hit 95.1 years for men and 96.6 years for women by 2054–55, compared with 91.5 and 93.6 years today.
“If we don’t do something, we risk reducing our available workforce, impacting negatively on growth and prosperity, and our income will come under increasing pressure,” said Hockey in the report’s foreword.
Hockey also flagged the further strain that an ageing population will have on the budget bottom line.
“With a growing population that will live longer, the Intergenerational Report shows the growth in the costs of many services, especially in health, that will put pressure on the budget and threaten the sustainability of those services,” said Hockey.
“Every day our spending exceeds Government revenue by more than $100 million. To make up the shortfall we have to borrow that $100 million per day.”
ASIC fines QLD business for misleading home loan ads
A Queensland financial planning and property management business has been hit with $30,600 in fines for false or misleading advertising about home loans.
Equanimity Concepts entered into an enforceable undertaking with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in November 2014 over the ads, which appeared on Equanimity’s website, YouTube, in in-flight magazines for Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin, and in police journals for more than two years.
In addition to the enforceable undertaking from Equanimity, ASIC issued three infringement notices to the company, each imposing a fine of $10,200.
“ASIC was concerned the company could have misled consumers into thinking that if they borrowed with Equanimity, they would be helped to repay their home loan in a reduced timeframe without incurring further debt,” ASIC said in a statement.
Shares down on open
Aussie shares have traded lower this morning, continuing a trend from the past two days.
Tristan K’Nell, head of trading at Quay Equities, said in a statement investors were keen to take profits, following the Reserve Bank’s decision to leave the official cash rate on hold.
“The significant run of the market during February also giving incentive for investors to book profits with the market having a cautious tone ahead of local retail sales data,” K’Nell said.
“Tonight we have the European Central Bank meeting and the non-farm payrolls data out of the US on Friday evening.”
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 23.1 points to 5878.5 points at 12.02pm AEDT. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones closed 106.47 points lower, down 0.58% to 18096.9 points.
