The 2015 Intergenerational Report: misleading findings and hidden agendas

The Treasurer provides a Foreword to the Intergenerational Report. He tells us that it is a 'social compact between the generations' to guide us through 'the demographic challenges and opportunities we face'. The main challenge is that Australians are living longer. He celebrates this fact but warns that, if we do not do something about it, 'we risk reducing our available workforce' and seeing growth and prosperity falter along with the nation's income. There is a 'burden on Australians' that the policies outlined in the Intergenerational Report (IGR) can relieve. Thus the report's ostensible purpose is to ensure Australia's future prosperity in the face of demographic ageing. But its real purpose is different. It is to justify the 2014-15 budget cuts to welfare (including pensions) and to health care. It attempts this by focussing on the alleged economic costs of ageing. To this end it makes three key claims, claims which are overstated to the point of being deliberately misleading.