The overall aim of the Australian retirement income system is to reduce poverty in retirement and produce a higher income in retirement than can be achieved by reliance on the age pension alone. Recently, a third goal has begun to emerge, that of prolonging a person’s workforce attachment. The success of the retirement income system depends on the interaction of the social security and superannuation parts with the taxation regime. Leslie Nielson describes that interaction, examines some identified problems with this interaction, describes some recent changes, and considers whether, under a common set of retirement circumstances, the current system provides incentives for those past retirement age to maintain some attachment to the work force.