Super 'never meant to cut pension numbers'

One of the architects of Australia's superannuation system says it was never intended to get people off the pension.

Michael Keating, who was head of the prime minister's department when compulsory superannuation was introduced in 1992, told Fairfax Media on Saturday the government of Paul Keating had never expected the move to reduce the number of pensioners.

"The expectation was that it would lead to more part-pensioners and fewer full pensioners, which I think is the correct way to go," says Dr Keating, who now sits on the Committee for Sustainable Retirement Incomes.