Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said the government is "not wedded" to its pension plan but something has to be done to make future retirement payments sustainable.
The Abbott government is meeting hostile rejection from Labor and crossbench opposition for proposing indexing future pension increases to just CPI rather than taking in other measures, like the average pay increase for male workers.
"We have got to have a conversation about the sustainability of these payments," Mr Morrison told Sky News on Sunday.
"I'm not wedded, and the government is not wedded to a particular way we do that."
He said the government has a measure on the table, but Labor is just saying there is no need to change anything.
He concedes the government has not been able to make great strides in finding a resolution but it does have until 2017 to sort it out.
The Council of Ageing said it is encouraged that the minister is open to discussion about pension policy.
"We have said we are prepared to look at ideas which help strengthen the pension sustainability for the future but only if the government includes all related retirement issues in the discussion, the council's chief Ian Yates said.
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