Molong painter Joe O'Donnell shares on rise of retirement age

The words of Molong painter Joe O'Donnell are likely to resonate with labourers far and wide following a lifetime of manual work.

One look at the pension reform unrest flaring up again in France - where violent rallies and public arson deployed police officers by the thousands after its retirement age rose from 62 to 64 - shows that those in Australia, now forced to work into their late 60s, must be really feeling the pinch.

Carpenter by trade and owner of Joe O'Donnell Contract Painting, the 65-year-old has had surgery for a hip replacement, jarred his back, fallen twice from a roof and sports a permanently cracked heel bone.

That long list of injuries suffered through his career has resulted in persistent shoulder, knee and ankles issues, with arthritis riddling his joints. The painter has taken prescribed painkillers for the past 12 years as a result.

"Even though some of us tradies are getting old and our bodies are breaking down, we still think we are 21 in the head and can do everything, but our bodies hold us back," Mr O'Donnell said.

"Then again, it's great working outdoors, so what do I have to complain about? There's always people worse off than me and I'd hate to be the guy at the bottom of the pile."

Like the majority his age, Mr O'Donnell had been gearing up for his 65^th birthday on May 23. His sights have been set on the homestretch to retirement.

Then July 1 rolled around with Australia's eligibility for the Age Pension rising from 'tools down' at 65 years old, to 'tough luck' - keep working until you're 67.

It was the Rudd Labor government to pass this legislation back in 2009. In the 2014-15 budget to follow, the proposal outlined further increases from July 1 in 2025, raising the age in six-month increments.

This means the future's Age Pension eligibility will eventually climb to 70.

"When you're 20, you bounce back from injury real quick and it takes a bit longer in your 30s, but you get there eventually," he said.

"By your 50s, you're waking up with a new pain out of nowhere and saying 'where did that bloody pain come from now?'"

Looking down the barrel at two more years of hard yakka, the physical wear and tear after a literal lifetime of labour is now more prominent than before.

Mr O'Donnell grew up in New Zealand, his childhood spent north of Wellington in Titahi Bay.

Busy cleaning after school helping his parents out, the painter has held labour roles since the age of nine.

Teen years were filled with "Bobby's job" days, knocking over odd tasks for oldies like trench digging and garden weeding, earning cash for lollies - an understandable adolescent priority.

He'd eventually leave the Oceania land at the close of the 70s an apprentice carpenter, headed to Oz at 19 "for a better life" and more career opportunities.

"It really has been fun [working] outdoors, but this 'wait until you're 67' thing now, I mean, you've got the French burning cities down because of [the retirement age issue]," he said.

"It's all very well for bureaucrats to sit out on the street with people for a night, but come and spend a month with a concreter or another tradesperson for all his life."

After long shifts in mining construction in central Queensland, he'd eventually wind up in the Central West and meet his wife - referring to her as his "best friend".

Raising four children together, they're also involved with their nine grandchildren today.

And while he's a true champion of the proverb "I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet", it doesn't mean July's changes don't add more injury to an already-full plate.

"I reckon I'd be retiring this year if they didn't [up the pension age], spending more time with my best friend and whatnot," Mr O'Donnell said.

"If I'm going to be in agony, I'd rather be at home with it and working in my garden. I could go inside and give the old body a lay down when it needs it, take small breaks."

But when "people don't care" if you've got a sore back or sore knees, clients still want the job done.

"They want it done cheap and they want it done yesterday, I get it, I'm the same with that sort of thing," he said.

"But it hurts to be on your knees at our age, still sanding and painting, but you've got to do it. I'm just one of many millions all doing the same thing."

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