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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
What if you can't continue working to pension age? Experts say there are options
Australia lifted the age pension age from 65 years old to 67 in 2023. It'll mean a longer wait for people like Ross, who told the ABC that after decades of working as a manual labourer his body was "destroyed" and he was unable to keep working until pension age. With limited superannuation, Ross has been living on JobSeeker payments, which are lower than the pension, for the last four years and struggling to survive. Ross's story sparked a wave of comments from other Australians with similar experiences. "I will not make it to retirement and get to enjoy life as I should — if I don't have my health then what is the use." "We are working ourselves to the grave," Matt said. Nurses and disability support workers also told the ABC of the toll on their bodies from years of working in physically demanding jobs. "The stress and anxiety from chronic and relentless pain is compounded by overwhelming financial pressures, so it's terrifying," Barb said. Financial coach Karen Eley said it was a serious issue for Australia's aging population. "It's disappointing the government hasn't considered the unintended consequences of increasing the age pension for hard-working Australians," Ms Eley said. So, what are the options for those who want, or need, to retire early? It will depend on whether you're relying on the age pension or superannuation for income. This article contains general information only. You should consider obtaining independent professional advice in relation to your particular circumstances. You can access your super when you reach 65 years old, even if you're still working and haven't retired. But you can also access your super earlier if you've reached your preservation age and satisfy the work/retirement criteria. Preservation age is between 55 and 60 years old, but it depends on the year you were born. Once you have reached your preservation age, you can either fully retire or start a transition to a retirement income stream while continuing to work. That means you may be able to reduce your working hours without reducing your income when you reach your preservation age. Your part-time working income may be supplemented with your super savings as a transition to a retirement income stream. You can get the age pension from the age of 67 if you are living in Australia and have been an Australian resident for the last 10 years. But you have to meet an income and asset test. To get a full pension there are limits on the value of the assets you can have. The government includes most real estate assets you own in your assets test. But this generally doesn't include your principal home and up to the first 2 hectares of land it's on. Assets also include income streams and superannuation pensions. The asset limits for a full pension: And, the asset limits for a part pension are as follows: The normal rates of the age pension before tax is: You can access your super early but under limited circumstances. These include: Your fund must be satisfied that you have a permanent physical or mental medical condition that is likely to stop you from ever working again in a job you were qualified to do. Do you know more? Contact Fiona Blackwood at You may also be able to access any income protection insurance you hold within your funds. A lump sum is generally limited to $10,000. There may be tax consequences to early withdrawals depending on your age. Financial coach Karen Eley says while it is not ideal, people who own their own homes can use a reverse mortgage to access funds. "This lending facility allows you to borrow money against your home, without requiring repayment until you pass away or sell the property," she said. She said it's important to get independent advice to make sure you understand what you're signing up for "as essentially you are creating a debt against your home that will need to be repaid in the future." The Australian Securities & Investment Commission's (ASIC) Moneysmart website has a calculator that can help work out how much you could potentially borrow. Ms Eley said downsizing your home was another possible strategy to help those needing to retire early. "If your family home is worth $700,000 and you can find a property to live in for $500,000 perhaps relocating to a smaller house or more affordable suburb, you can use the difference in the sale and purchase price to inject money into your super, or use it to live on until you meet super or age pension eligibility requirements," she said. A spokesperson for the Australian Tax Office (ATO) said if you have turned 60 or retired, you may be eligible for tax offsets. This will depend on your income and assets, where your income comes from, and whether you're fully or partly retired. If your super benefits won't fully support you when you retire, you may also qualify for a part-pension. And, in recognition that it is harder for an older person to find employment, those over 55 who have spent nine months on JobSeeker receive an extra $55 a fortnight. Moneysmart has information and tools to help you prepare to retire. Your super fund may also offer a range of calculators to help you. For more personalised information and advice, you can contact your super fund or a registered financial adviser. Ms Eley said there could be long-term implications for accessing your super earlier than your preservation age. "Mortgage brokers or banks can also provide you information about accessing the equity in your home if you're over 60. "However, it's important to understand the costs and the long-term impacts on drawing down on the equity in your home through these loans," she said.
SBS Australia
3 hours ago
- SBS Australia
'It just didn't feel right': Why this former primary school teacher opted to homeschool her kids
As a former primary school teacher, Clarissa Valentine never pictured homeschooling her twin 12-year-old boys. From when they were six years old, they had been enrolled at their local school in a leafy north-eastern suburb of Melbourne. But in March 2022, following multiple lockdowns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Valentine made the snap decision to move the family interstate to Queensland. Her boys Owen and Miles were nine at the time, and Valentine was craving a sea change. She set her sights on the Sunshine Coast, with its relaxed, family-friendly lifestyle and pristine beaches — a far cry from Melbourne's rolling lockdowns and vaccine mandates. "Pausing and stopping, I saw that all those things that maybe I thought were important weren't important, and the most important thing was just our little family unit," she tells SBS News. The twins had been remote learning in Melbourne from grade one for around two years, but Valentine decided then she would homeschool the twins. Clarissa helps Miles with some schoolwork. Credit: SBS Valentine says she was also motivated by the vaccine mandate imposed in schools. "I had some family members that worked at the school [on the Sunshine Coast] that I thought I'd put my kids in, and they lost their jobs because they wouldn't get immunised," Valentine recalls. It just didn't feel right to then put my kids in that system. Valentine is one of a growing number of parents in Queensland who are opting to homeschool their children — a trend that is outstripping rates in other Australian states and territories. As daily habits and routines changed during the pandemic, Valentine says she reflected on her family lifestyle and decided the school system "wasn't ideal", and that she "could do it differently". "Nothing is perfect and the education system is not perfect, but I think taking yourself out of it allows you to step back a little bit and have a little bit of a look at the reality of what's happening," she says. Growing trend towards homeschooling Clarissa is among thousands of Australian parents who homeschooled their children during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020, and statistics show some have continued to. The number of children registered in home education nationally is estimated to be around 92 per cent higher in 2024 compared with 2020. This data is based on home registration figures from state and territory home education departments, compiled by Vivienne Fox, president of the Sydney Home Education Network. It shows that Queensland has experienced the biggest rise in homeschooling across all states and territories, increasing by 163 per cent since 2020. Queensland has experienced the most significant increase of homeschooling students, rising by 163% from 2020. Credit: Supplied/Vivienne Fox Dr Rebecca English, a senior lecturer in education at Queensland University of Technology, says while homeschooling rates had been slowly increasing prior to COVID-19, numbers ballooned at the onset of the pandemic. It gave parents a deeper insight into classrooms via remote learning, which was imposed during periods of the pandemic. English says this led some to believe they are better equipped to educate their children. "Parents looked at that and said, 'I'm already at home anyway, maybe I can do just as good of a job as the teacher is'. "And they were seeing how that neurodiverse person, or that child who had reported they were bullied, was coping with that learning environment". Why has Queensland seen the biggest growth? English says the reason behind Queensland's pronounced uptick in homeschooling rates is unclear, but that the state has a complex history with mainstream schooling. "I'm not really sure why it's Queensland, but Queensland has a long history of quite a fractious relationship with state schooling," she says. According to English, lower vaccination rates and opposition to vaccine mandates in Queensland may also play a role. "I think [that's possible] when you look at the Brisbane area and the Sunshine Coast area and you look at other elements of maybe not going along with [the] mainstream, [and] higher rates of non-vaccination in [and] around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast." Dr Rebecca English is a senior lecturer in education at Queensland University of Technology. Credit: QUT/Anthony Weate Parents also attribute the popularity of homeschooling to its vibrant community mindset, particularly in the Sunshine Coast, which Valentine says encourages families to consider alternative education. "I think that once the community starts to grow a little, then other people get more confidence to join that community," she says. "There are so many things on the Sunshine Coast in particular that you could participate in that you could be busy all day, every day". The 'school refusal' cohort Despite the potential motivations of parents, the primary driver for homeschooling in Australia comes from students. English says that while around 10 or 15 per cent of people are "ideologically opposed to schooling", the main reason people opt for homeschooling is school refusal. This is typically as a result of bullying, social anxiety or because a child is neurodivergent and unsuited to the mainstream school environment, English explains. "The increase in that 85 per cent [is] these accidental homeschoolers — they didn't set out to homeschool [but] they find that this is the only choice. That is where the real research interest lies," she says. Eight-year-old Ben started homeschooling two years ago after experiencing school refusal. Credit: Danika / Supplied After a year of trying mainstream schooling, Sunshine Coast residents Danika and Joel resorted to homeschooling their eight-year-old son Ben, after his school refusal and anxiety reached a tipping point. "Homeschooling sort of chose us," Danika says, "It was something that we as a family decided for Ben's mental health, [that it] was a better option to try homeschooling just because of how school was making him feel." Ben was experiencing "a lot of separation anxiety", and was arriving home in tears as he voiced to his parents daily that school wasn't for him. Danika says this initially "derailed" her and Joel, who had both had a positive school experience. "He just was this little five-year-old boy whose heart had been broken, spark had been put out and it was not the school's fault, it was just the sheer volume of everything on such a little human being," she says. "And then we peeled back the layers, and the neurodiverse aspect in a mainstream school was quite overwhelming." Danika, Ben and Milly learning together at home. Credit: Supplied Ben has since been diagnosed with ADHD, which Danika says contributed to his school refusal. While she doesn't blame the school or teachers, she says public school resourcing isn't designed to support all children, especially those who are neurodivergent. She says Ben felt he was being punished for his "neurodiverse idiosyncrasies", which was "quite shameful" for him. "We thought: 'What's happening in the school grounds that's making him feel this way?' But there [were] no particular incidents. He just didn't feel safe and secure mentally". Shortcomings of mainstream schooling Remote learning during the peak of the pandemic caused many parents to question traditional schooling, according to Queensland Family and Child Commissioner Luke Twyford. He says increasing rates of homeschooling indicate parents are being "very conscious of the wellbeing of their children" and choosing homeschooling as a "positive outcome". "I think there's a change in our society around questioning traditional schooling methods," Twyford says. I've certainly seen increases in adolescent mental health and 'school can't' and 'school refusal' movements. English says it's important to reassess the psychosocial care limitations of state-based school systems, given the main driver of homeschooling results from school refusal. "I think that's something that we really need to look at: How can we better meet the needs of particularly neurodiverse young people in our classrooms?" Calls for more regulation in home schooling The former Queensland government was unsuccessful in attempts to pass legislation last year that would enforce homeschooling parents to follow the Australian curriculum, among other reforms. That was largely thanks to the Free2Homeschool movement, led by homeschooling parents, who gathered more than 21,000 signatures and more than 2,000 submissions in opposition to the bill. "So the freedom that we have now is a lot of why we choose homeschooling," campaign manager Patricia Fitzgerald tells SBS News. "So, if we're going to take that away, our children may as well be in school, but we didn't want that". The current Queensland government introduced new legislation in March this year, which is still under review, removing clauses that homeschooling parents had objected to, such as enforcing the Australian curriculum and removing provisional registration options that parents argue allow for more flexibility to commence homeschooling. The legislation does maintain a reform to change the eligibility age range for homeschool students, lifting the cut-off age from 17 to 18, which is a move that has been advocated for by homeschooling parents. Patricia Fitzgerald and Amanda Bartle started the Free2Homeschool campaign seeking to protect caregivers' ability to meet the specific education needs of homeschooled students. Credit: Patricia Fitzgerald Queensland's Family and Child Commission conducted a report last year into Queensland's home education system, in response to concerns raised by the Child Death Review Board in their 2022-2023 report. The December 2024 report into Queensland's home education system "affirmed a parent's right to choose the most suitable learning environment for their child", but called for improved information-sharing between state government departments to ensure child safety. "What we are mostly concerned about is that the registration system in homeschooling isn't always picking up other risk factors that other government departments are identifying," Twyford says. Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek told SBS News that the department is considering the findings of a separate independent home education review and "will work with families, Child Safety, and other agencies to implement all accepted recommendations of the report". "It's a parent's right to choose the type of education that best suits their family, but safety must always be the priority," Langbroek says. Changing lifestyles and greater flexibility The growing trend towards homeschooling also raises questions about the future structures of work, education and family life. One of the key changes could be a more tailored approach to education, says English. Homeschooling is much more child-centred and I would expect to see that schools will adopt more of that child-centred learning. Valentine has seen the advantages of homeschooling firsthand and says she appreciates the time she shares with her two sons. "It allows me to spend quality time with my kids every day, and I've really seen the benefits of that in terms of our closeness and our relationship, [which] is beautiful," she says. Valentine says there are so many varying learning opportunities afforded by the flexibility of homeschooling. Credit: Supplied She says her family feels part of a "bigger community". "It's a beautiful thing to be able to go out into the world and be able to talk to different people. Everywhere we go is a learning opportunity". English says the rise in homeschooling has also coincided with greater numbers of people working from home since the start of the pandemic, which could offer greater flexibility for families. "I think homeschooling does offer parents an opportunity to balance that work, family life, school situation," she says. "And homeschooling offers families the opportunity to spend more time with that young person."
ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
Record number of Indigenous students graduate but education gap remains
Australian education's racist past is not ancient history for teacher and proud Gamilaroi woman Jenadel Lane, but part of living memory and family lore. "My mum who is alive still today, she always tells the story of the darker you were, the further down the back of the classroom you were," said Ms Lane, the Deputy Principal at Dubbo College Senior Campus. Today, Ms Lane is at the heart of writing a more inclusive chapter in Australian education. Her work was instrumental to Dubbo College having the highest number of Indigenous students graduate Year 12 last year. Figures supplied exclusively to ABC News by the NSW Education Department show these students were part of a record number of 1,934 students statewide to graduate. "We had the most Koori kids that completed Year 12, we had a few Koori kids that actually received high marks in their HSC. And we're hoping that that'll be bigger next year," Ms Lane said. "We still have kids that are coming through that are the first to graduate in their families. That's uplifting." Last year's graduating class included Ms Lane's daughter, Retori Lane, who is this year studying to become a teacher. "Some people, especially Indigenous kids, they have a really low self-esteem and don't really understand what they can do." Jenadel Lane puts her school's success down to a strong team that fosters cultural connections, pride and a sense of belonging, partnering each Indigenous student with a mentor. The school also has cultural captains, leaders in the student body like Selwyn Kelly who can inspire other students. One of 10 children, Selwyn has overcome challenges most teenagers can't imagine. For the last five years he's lived in an Aboriginal hostel in Dubbo almost 400 kilometres away from his family in Bourke. And that's left him feeling a loss of connection to family and culture. "Going back on Country it means a lot to me," Selwyn said. Selwyn has come to love school, which he said turned him from an introvert to a confident, outgoing young man. "It makes me feel proud of who I am and where I come from and my role as a leader at the school. I'm feeling really good about that because I'll be the second person in my family to graduate Year 12," he said. He hopes to pursue a teaching degree at university next year. This year's female cultural captain, Kolorah Newman, is also blazing a trail and hopes to become a police woman when she finishes school this year. "I want to go into the police force to help Aboriginals within the community with law. Obviously a lot of people haven't been treated right. I want to change that," she said. In parts of Australia there has been a backlash to Welcome to Country and Acknowledge of Country which Dubbo College prioritises. But Jenadel Lane points again to recent history to demonstrate why there is a need to foster a sense of inclusion for Indigenous students. Ms Lane was inspired to be a teacher by her grandmother Delma Trindall, a non-Indigenous woman who met and married her grandfather. She said the family lived in fear of welfare authorities at a time when authorities opposed these unions. "My dad tells the story of why his parents were droving so much when he was a child and it was to keep them all together, because the welfare was after him and his siblings," Ms Lane said. That promise she made to her grandmother Delma, known as Delly, inspired her through her own challenges with racism. "I think that's why Aboriginal people do what we do in education, in any institution for that matter, it's to re-build that trust," Ms Lane said. It was just one of many stories of exclusion. Professor Melitta Hogarth from the University of Melbourne also knows its sting. She was born in New South Wales in 1974, just two years after the end of a policy called exclusion on demand. The policy began in 1902 and could see Indigenous children kicked out of school if a single parent complained. "Parents were able to put in complaints to principals to say the health and wellbeing of their own children were under duress because of Aboriginal children being in class and hence exclusion on demand," Professor Hogarth said. She said it was just one of many policies across Australia that excluded Indigenous people with impacts still being felt today. "What that does is it means the schooling system is seen as not for us and it's carried on through an intergenerational understanding that education is a place we're going to struggle," she said. Over decades governments have worked hard to overcome this history but system-wide success in schools remains elusive despite investments in the billions. The Indigenous Advancement Strategy announced in 2020 by the Commonwealth government allocated $1.24 billion for children and schooling over three years. Last year, the federal government announced a further $110 million spend over four years to accelerate closing the education gap. On top of that, state governments often have their own annual initiatives in the tens of millions. Despite these investments most statistics still show a large achievement gap which Professor Hogarth said had implications later in life. "What it means is these kids are going to have trouble going beyond Year 10. Quite often we see that the transition into senior secondary is not as high for Indigenous students," Professor Hogarth said. "It limits the kinds of futures they can imagine for themselves." She said Indigenous people needed to be more involved in solutions. Catherine Liddle, the CEO of SNAICC, a national voice for Indigenous children, said the achievement gap started young. "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are nearly twice as likely as non-Indigenous children to fall behind in developmental milestones before starting school," Ms Liddle said. "We know that when our children start school behind, it's harder for them — and for their teachers — to catch up. That shows up in results like NAPLAN, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are failing at four times the rate of their non-Indigenous classmates." Ms Liddle said in remote areas as many as 90 per cent of Indigenous students weren't meeting literacy and numeracy benchmarks. She welcomed new government initiatives in early childhood education with one caveat. "We need genuine partnerships with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) to deliver early education services that are culturally strong, locally driven, and proven to work," she said. Back on the ground at Dubbo College Senior Campus, Jenadel Lane agrees it's the secret sauce for writing a different history. "Definitely recommend having someone who's a go-to for every kid. Every Koori kid, they need a person that they can go to, either a mentor or for academics and wellbeing, but they need a go-to that can manage, support, motivate, inspire and push," she said.
