The Australia Institute’s Centre For Future Work report modelled the effects of early retirement by firefighters and paramedics (due to things like physical and psychological challenges and very few alternative career options) and looked how how retirement could be made easier, given what the career cost them.

This analysis found that:

  • Under optimistic assumptions an early-retiring single firefighter can expect their superannuation to run out six years before male life expectancy, nine years before female life expectancy, and 15 years earlier than for a regular retiree.
  • For paramedics these figures are seven years before male life expectancy, ten years before female life expectancy, and 14 years earlier than for a regular retiree.
  • Under alternative scenarios, incorporating plausible risks, an early-retiring firefighters and paramedics can expect their superannuation to run out 15 or more years before life expectancy.

The report’s core recommendation was for higher superannuation contributions for emergency responders and one-off end-of-career contributions for workers already approaching retirement age.

Nick McKim will be speaking about the Greens legislation to try and introduce higher superannuation for paramedics and fire fighters, which will no doubt have drawn from this work.

A reminder of why policy work is so important – it can have so many positive aspects on people’s lives.