I have r4ead your blog Kaye and I agree, Mr.
Swann has a hard job ahead but fair is fair the pensioners of today both single and couples are doing it hard and a reasonable rise in the oensions would be well received.  Just stop throwing aay good money on these handout and also the increase for M>P electorl offices and this would cover an increase to the pensioners, for themk now to get an annual allowasnce of $32,000 is more than married couples get

I hope the government do not take away the health care card from self-funded retirees. Although I haven’t retired yet I know it will make a huge difference to my standard of living once I am retired. They shouldn’t penalise people who have been responsible and saved for their retirement.

Are we Australian pensioners at the bottom of the list of the world’s pensions received?How many countries get less than we do and how many have to go through the rigorous questioning and proving who we are and what we have or have not.
How many get by right the aged pension when they turn pensionable age?I imagine we come a pretty poor last.
from tiarotime

It is just sad Pensioners are living below the poverty line end of story when considering a raise. Everyone living below the poverty line and too old to work in a paid position should be brought up to a decent standard of living for goodness sake. Age Pensioners worked hard and paid their dues. Show some respect Government. Help self funded retirees and give a bit of praise as that is due also. Every cent pensioners receive gets spent and back in circulation anyway. Help our prized possessions just like our antiques to be kept in good condition please.
Phyl.

Seems to me that the talk about pension increases is usually limited to aged pensioners, and so you never know whether or not those on other pensions, such as disability are included.
They, of course, are equally if not more deserving of a decent pension as they may well be unable to work at all, have greater medical expenses, and no way to get any other income.

Senators Steve Fielding, Nick Xenophon and Bob Brown

Dear Senators

Reference: Proposed Changes to the CHSC (Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card)

I am writing to you to express my concern at the legislation recently passed in the House of Representatives that intends to include allocated pensions (or alternatively Account Based Pensions) as income for the purposes of eligibility for the Commonwealth Health Care Card.

I believe this to be a most unfair and regressive proposal and request that you actively develop and support appropriate amendments when this legislation comes before the Senate in the near future.

Summary
The inclusion of allocated pension payments for the purposes of determining income for Commonwealth Seniors Heath Care Cards is grossly unfair.

For the most part, allocated pensions (or alternatively Account Based Pensions) are a return of capital plus a small amount of interest from a superannuation fund for which 15% tax has already been paid on entry plus taxation on the earning of the superfund. 

Allocated pensions are not pensions in the Centrelink pension sense of welfare pensions. They are managed investment returns, in the insurance sense, and are mainly return of capital on a periodic basis.

In the past, it is my understanding that Centrelink and the ATO have treated allocated pensions as mainly return of capital with only the small interest component treated as income and this portion only taxed.

For the current year, for most part, recipients of allocated pensions will have no earnings at all and most will be negative.  No consideration is apparently to be allowed for such losses or the effective devaluation of capital due to inflation.  Essentially for most allocated pensions, for this year, there will be a return of capital only from a diminshed capital base.

Detail
Classifying allocated pensions, as income is very unfair for a variety of reasons.

For example if a person takes a reverse mortgage on his/her home to provide capital to live on, this will not impact on the availability of the Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card.  If a person downsizes his house to provide capital to subsidize his /her living standard, this will not impact on the availability of the Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card. 

Similarly if a person sells his/her car or other valuables or takes money from other sources such as a deeming account, this will not impact on the availability of the Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card. 

Essentially it seems that only capital from Allocated pensions is to be targeted as income to limit the availability of Commonwealth Health Care Cards.

This is grossly unfair.  It amounts to the defacto raiding of superannuation accounts where considerable taxation and compulsory contributions and conditions have and do continue to apply.

The following Commonwealth Government website (FIDO) provides an excellent calculator capable of demonstrating the time an allocated pension (or alternatively an Account Based Pension) will last
http://www.fido.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/byheadline/Account-based%20pension%20calculator?opendocument

These calculations indicate how long an allocated pension may last depending on the selected draw down rate of capital and interest paid combined with mimum requirements, which have, until recently, been required to be a mimimum of 4%.  The clear intention of an allocated pension is to have no money left in them at the end of the term and to provide an income stream along the way. This is not a government pension.  It is in the main a return of capital. Very little interest is involved. 

With recent big capital losses in the allocated pension values and the likely low interest rates for the foreseeable future, the result is that people who have been up till recently depending on allocated pensions to spin out over 15 to 25 years are going to find that they will be lucky to last 8 to 15 years.

The vast majority of people who have an allocated pension (or alternatively an Account Based Pension) are relatively small account holders.  They are not rich or well resourced people.  To deny these people access to a Commonwealth Health Card until such pensions are exhausted is short sighted and will bring on the need for CentreLink and other funding much sooner that would otherwise be the case.

In my view, in terms of community equity, the value of a Commonwealth Health Care Card lays the reduction in the costs of prescribed medication.  The Commonwealth Heath Care Card acts to level the playing field in this regard.  It means, in my opinion, that those older persons with prescribed medication requirements are not placed at a disadvantage to those who do not have such needs.  In my case I use my Commonwealth health Care Card to purchase blood pressure medication that my doctor says is essential.

Noel Whittaker makes the following point:

“If the proposed changes become law thousands of self-funded retirees will no longer qualify for the CSHC because their tax free account-based pensions will be counted for CHSC purposes they may loose access to the health benefits the card provides at a time in their life when they need them most.”

Yours truly,

Ross Smith

Copies

National Seniors Australia News@ nationalseniors.com.au

Kevin Andrews

Mike Symon

Noel Whittaker

VicSuper GPO Box 89 Melbourne 3001

I agree that there is room to support the proposed pension increases to both unemployed and pensioners.  I would also emphaises that for the past couple of years pensions increased have not met the CPI increases despite “so-called” experts.
Try and live from it in reality and you will understand.
Rent, electricity, gas, water and sewerage, fuel and registration, let alone food increases.
I own a car and need it to go out to friends, shopping, hospital, doctors or family as my health is indifferent.  sometimes I can barely walk and the local transport system is a nonsense.
Figures used to assess CPI and pensions do not, in my opinion relate to relality.  Fine if you have additional income support to your pension, but for those relying totally on a pension it forces people to remain at home and only go out if absolutely necessary.  I do some community Advocacy and this is a story I frequently hear, except from government and bureacrats employed to research this information.  At one meeting that was supposed to be pensioner community consultation, those who asked questions and wanted answers were largely ignored.
Anyway, this is not intended to be a grizzling comment, just to make it clear that we need some honest analysis of needs.  Parametres for research should not be narrow but look at the whole picture, otherwise they are simply designed to provide a pre-conceived outcome.
I know and this is one reason why I work, (when health permits) as a volunteer and independently
as an advocate and will raise questions on behalf of the community that governments, etc. don’t want to answer.  I do indeed sympathise with them in many instances, as they are often underfunded and under resourced.
regards

Kaye you have fallen into the same trap that the politicians do, the national seniors do and anyone who talks about pensioners.Everybody ignores the fact or does not know the fact that those of us who have been widowed since 1997 do NOT get a pension we get an allowance- the widow allowance is merely the newstart benefit by another name because the idiots in Canberra insist it is an adequate income to live on while looking for work. Seeing how after the date of August 2005 it is not even offered unless you are recently widowed or divorced, born before the first of July 1955, have not been in the paid workforce for more than ten years and in the last six months have not worked more than 20 hours a week, the benefit range is 453 dollars a fortnight to the maximum of 496.40 a fortnight. You try living on that, particularly if you are paying rent or still have a mortgage.Sorry if I come across a bit strong but it really bugs me that myself and possibly thousands of women across Australia have no one who is battling for us.

I agree with Kaye -

I disagree that those earning $100,000p.a. are in an entirely privileged position and can afford most of all to help those who are vulnerable.  I am not in the above category however have you forgotten these people have young children to educate, mortgages and most often are in a great deal of debt.  This country with its enormous debt getting bigger by the day who do you think is going to pay for it.  The young children who need to be educated and their poor suffering parents.

Only a short time ago Australia was celebrating Anzac Day. Praising it’s heroes, as they do every year. Saying: ‘Where would we be if it weren’t for these people.’ Well many of these same men and women are today struggling to survive on the pittance called a pension. We say Least we forget. Well the government soon does forget.So forget the lip service and support those heroes and all those who made Australia one of the best countries in the world to live in.