... of course those "nicely indexed" pensions in Australia (which are not necessarily indexed at all) are privately administered.  The closest correlation in Canada would be like if we were to replace CPP contributions with a force contribution to either an RRSP or a Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP).

Interestingly the contribution rates for Australia's "Superannuation" is nearly identical to CPP, but the benefits paid are typically much higher for current workers.

Australia does also have a government-run 'Age Pension', though that is more akin to GIS / OAS in Canada and, like GIS here, it gets clawed back very aggressively.