Australian life expectancy is at record highs.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday reported life expectancy for a boy born now was 80.7 years and, for a girl, 84.9.

Tasmanian life expectancy had climbed to 79.3 for males and 83.2 for females.

Some argue the age of eligibility for the pension will need to increase further as life expectancy continues to rise and the big Baby Boomer generation moves into retirement.

"The age at which people became eligible for the age pension was set at 65 for men and 60 for women when the Commonwealth age pension was first introduced in 1908," Mr Eslake said.

"At that stage, life expectancy at birth was 55 for males and 59 for women, so most people would not have expected to receive the age pension during their lifetimes ...

"As a result of a decision taken by the Rudd Government in its 2009 budget, the age pension age is rising by six months every two years, beginning in July 2017, until July 2023, when it will reach 67."

He said the Abbott Government's audit commission had recommended measures which would have taken the eligibility age to 70 by 2035, but the Senate blocked that.

The idea was dropped by current Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

"There is an economic case for linking the age of pension eligibility to a measure of life expectancy, but that does overlook the fact that many people, particularly those who have been engaged in physically demanding occupations during their working lifetimes, do become less capable of continuing that kind of work as they enter their 60s," Mr Eslake said.

"Hence, some of the savings that might be anticipated from further increases in the pension age would be offset by an increase in the number of people eligible for the disability support pension, carer income support or jobseeker income support, noting that the unemployment benefit is much less generous than the age pension.

"And, although most employers no longer have compulsory retirement ages, many people in their 60s or over continue to report experiencing prejudice against older workers on the part of employers, making it more difficult for them to find or remain in employment.

"The case for raising the pension age is further weakened by the fact that other measures - particularly the tightening of the assets test in 2017 - appear to have had a greater impact on age pension eligibility than initially expected.

"Hence, the most recent set of medium-term projections by the Parliamentary Budget Office expect spending on the age pension to remain steady at 2.4 per cent of GDP over the next decade.

"In other words, it is not at all obvious that, in the absence of any increase in the age pension age beyond 67, spending on the age pension is likely to grow at a rate which threatens the integrity of the federal budget.

"As such, it seems unlikely that this or any future government is going to want to risk the relatively large amount of political capital that would be required to revisit this idea.

"There is, perhaps, a stronger case for reducing the five-year gap between the preservation age, at which you can access your superannuation at concessional tax rates, and the age at which you can access the age pension, in order to reduce the likelihood that people dissipate their super savings and then qualify for the pension, but it's not at all clear how large a problem that is.

"And, again, most governments are likely to conclude that the problem is not worth the political capital that might be required in order to solve it."