Australian welfare spending

Australia needed to cut their welfare spending.

Although government spending overall is a smaller proportion of GDP than New Zealand's, 41 percent goes on  Social Security and Welfare

In contrast New Zealand's Social Security and welfare spend makes up 32 percent of the total.

One of the measures Australia is taking is pushing up pension eligibility age to 70:

"Over the past 100 years, there has been little change in the Age Pension eligibility age; however, over the same period the average life expectancy has increased by 25 years to around 85 years."

A point I have been making about NZ Super for a long time.

When the first Old Age Pension was instituted in 1898 the qualifying age was 65. Today it is unchanged. In his 1997 work Reforming New Zealand Welfare, Michael Jones wrote,

“If the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation was adjusted to equal average periods on the aged pension in 1900, the eligibility would now be 75 for men and 80 for women.”