The nation's swelling ranks of seniors also want better access to affordable dental care, assurances that there will be no co-payment or other "price signal" introduced to Medicare, more affordable private health insurance, and an increase in the age pension to lift it above the poverty line.

These findings are among a number collated from a survey conducted from April 12 by the Your Life Choices magazine website, which received nearly 3,500 responses to a series of questions put to its mostly older readership.

The retirement-focused publication claims a membership of 125,000, of which 88 per cent are aged 50 to 75. It says all of its members received a copy of the survey, which was conducted using the online polling tool SurveyMonkey.

Publisher Kaye Fallick​ said the research had been done to address a marked absence of direct feedback from this demographic about where policy priorities should focus.

"It is our belief is that a lot of people purport to speak on behalf of older Australians and that some of the groups who are doing so are funded by government, so we thought it was really important, as an independent website, to test policy ideas rather than say what older Australians want," she said.

Half of all respondents (49 per cent) ranked as "very important" the need for an "urgent" inquiry into Australia's three-pillar retirement income system, comprised of pensions, taxation arrangements and superannuation. All in all 84 per cent said this was either very important or important.

The same number said they wanted an urgent inquiry at the level of a royal commission into the misconduct of certain financial planners and their institutions.

Health continues to be major preoccupation of older Australians, with 84 and 86 per cent respectively ranking as important or very important the need for affordable health insurance and the availability of dental care and appropriate ancillary services for recipients of the full age pension.

An increase in the age pension to meet the standard set by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia is supported by 85 per cent of respondents.

The ASFA website states: "The most recent national figures released for the ASFA Retirement Standard show that, in general, a couple looking to achieve a comfortable retirement needs to spend $58,364 a year, while those seeking a 'modest' retirement lifestyle need to spend $33,766 a year."

However, questions about superannuation concessions for the wealthiest 20 per cent of households produce the most surprising findings, with 85 per cent favouring an urgent review to enable that assistance to be reduced, rather than tampering with the taper rates of the pension (the rate at which the pension tapers downward according to earnings).

"I think that's actually quite reflective of the general population," Ms Fallick said.

"Finally super concessions are on the agenda and our audience is saying quite clearly that that is a basket of revenue foregone that should be looked at before starting to look at a current proposal being put forward on the age pension which could hurt the most vulnerable."

Older Australians also overwhelmingly favour keeping superannuation for retirement alone rather than allowing pre-retirement access to accounts in order to pay HECS debts or to buy a first home.

The survey comes as Age and Disability Commissioner Susan Ryan launched a national inquiry into employment discrimination against older Australians and people with disability, describing employment rates for both categories as "unacceptably low".