A pension is a superannuation member benefit.  Broadly and in most cases it is something that you are eligible to receive upon retirement.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) defines a pension as a series of regular payments made as an income stream, this may be provided by a superannuation fund or retirement savings account (RSA).

The Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (SISR), Subregulation 1.06(1) defines a pension as follows -

A benefit is taken to be a pension for the purposes of the Act if:

(a) it is provided under rules of a superannuation fund that:

(i) meet the standards of subregulation (9A); and

(ii) do not permit the capital supporting the pension to be added to by way of  contribution or rollover after the pension has commenced; and

(b) in the case of rules to which paragraph (9A) (a) applies - the rules also meet the standards of regulation 1.07D; and

(c) in the case of rules to which paragraph (9A) (b) applies - the rules also meet the standards of regulation 1.07B.

Of all the pensions in existence today the most prevalent is the account based pension.