I find it completely ridiculous and totally regressive that you have to live in Australia to receive your state pension. It’s like a final FU to the workers who have spent all their life contributing to it.
It is not the same system as social security in other countries. You don't notionally "pay into" your account with variations on how much you will then be able to draw out.
We also have other employee pensions (though far fewer these days), and now the superannuation system (roughly 9.5% of full time earnings go into a compulsory tax effective defined contribution investment scheme)
So any pensioners planning to retire to SE Asia because of the lower cost of living are screwed.
Lots of Australian retirees live in Asia.
It's possible your friends had not lived in Australia long enough to fully qualify.