Read [b]AboutSeniors[/b] wrap-up on the latest package here:

http://www.aboutseniors.com.au/index.php/articles/category/commonwealth#relief123

Dont give up that"s what they are expecting --the old dears cant get up the strength to f ight for too long-- Once again the pensioners have been passed over just as we were in the good times when they didn't bother to give us a rise. Now its expected that we will shut up because we wouldnt want to appear greedy in the bad times. The other day I heard a journalist note that the pensioners will just have to wait till the May budget to see if we get anything.

Keep fighting-- email the PM but also RING your federal member because dozens of phone calls are much harder to ignore than an email. Regards to all

It seems that Governments of both persuasions haven't heard of low income self funded retirees.

Some of us retire because work becomes a "bit much" for various reasons.

In over 40 budgets I have benefitted from 2. All other budgets and special packages seem to be like a slalem ski race. They weave between the posts to get maximum headlines with minimum impact along the way.



grumpy Keith

To all you disgruntled, seniors, and rightly so, see the report in the Administrators post and use the link to the PM to express your displeasure. It is no good just complaining to each other. Individually we might not make much of an impression, but collectively we can change the world. Write to or ring your local paper, State and Federal Politicians, contact your local Community Radio Station - they are always looking for people to interview, start a petition at your local seniors club, keep making a noise until they have to listen. The Harmer report is to be tabled shortly, just make sure it doesn't get put into the "too hard basket".



We don't want one-off bonuses, we need an adequate pension, the opportunity to earn say $100.00 a week without affecting the pension, benefits for low-income self-funded retirees. I would willingly forgo an increase if I was allowed to earn $100.00 a week. I am 70 years old, but could still deliver leaflets etc. Most of us have probably worked all our lives and paid our taxes with the expectation that the government would treat t us with respect and ensure a reasonable standard of living. We are a generation who have learnt to make do and not expect hand-outs, and because of this we have gradually slipped further and further behind.



The argument is that if they pay an increase now, it will be a huge burden on society in the years to come. Rubbish - future generations have been paying into superannuation since they commenced work, therefore they shouldn't require a full pension. Sorry, I did forget about those people who have never worked, never intend to work , breed prolifically and are supported by whichever government is in power. Why should they benefit from all these bonuses, they have not contributed anything to society?

It seems that Governments of both persuasions haven't heard of low income self funded retirees.

Some of us retire because work becomes a "bit much" for various reasons.

In over 40 budgets I have benefitted from 2. All other budgets and special packages seem to be like a slalem ski race. They weave between the posts to get maximum headlines with minimum impact along the way.



grumpy Keith

.

.Wouldn't low income self funded retirees be covered by the CentreLink asset test? According to their website single aged persons can earn between $138 and $1558 a fortnight to receive a full to part pension and married couples between $240 and $2602.

Not so grumpy Keith

To the Admin of About seniors, sorry to inform you but pensioners are not the lowest paid. Those of us on the widow allowance are as we only receive the newstart benefit and Not a pension and we are allowed to earn the princely sum of $32 a week and then if you have earning credits -we are under the employment section and rules of those in receipt of the dole - they get used up first and when they are gone then anything over the 32 dollars you lose fifty cents in the dollar off your benefit and if the work you are doing pays more than 250 dollars a week you lose sixty cents in the dollar and heaven forbid if the job precludes you from getting any widow allowance for six fortnights then you lose the allowance all together and then if you lose the job or it finishes you are NOT allowed to go back on the widow allowance classification you have to go onto the normal newstart classification, look for work and try exist on a benefit that is way below the poverty line and in spite of what the rhetoric from canberra is this is not enough to live on particularly when you still have a mortgage.

It seems that Governments of both persuasions haven't heard of low income self funded retirees.

Some of us retire because work becomes a "bit much" for various reasons.

In over 40 budgets I have benefitted from 2. All other budgets and special packages seem to be like a slalem ski race. They weave between the posts to get maximum headlines with minimum impact along the way.



grumpy Keith

.

.Wouldn't low income self funded retirees be covered by the CentreLink asset test? According to their website single aged persons can earn between $138 and $1558 a fortnight to receive a full to part pension and married couples between $240 and $2602.

Not so grumpy Keith



Gday keandha



Age pensions are for the 65's and over. If you are retrenched or leave work for any reason before that age and decide to "retire" your on your own til 65. With the strict limits on what can be earned options are limited.

Thanks for the reply

Email sent on the 7th Feb 09.

Mr Rudd, speaking unofficially on behalf of certain concerned senior citizens and others, I would like to draw your attention to some basic problems we endure when our only income is our pension. We are forced to spend our pension to survive from one payment to the next. If spending is the way to get the country on the move again then we are doing our bit and have been for the last few years, simply because we have to. We thought when you was elected that things would be different and we had elected a more compasionate man to understand the whole of the nations needs. This of course is not the way its going plans for job creation and and finances for all sorts of packages and child alowance s seem to float from the polititians heads as the ultimate of priorities and appears you think thats what is going to get the country back on its feet and the economy moving. Im afraid the category of persons I mentioned above dont agree with you, the culture of your government and the previous government of one off payments for this group or that group absolutely smacks of a parliament of I dont know what to do. As a nation we all deserve to be considered in the national budget, we never are. We are the after thoughts of a parliament in chaos we manage our affairs and finances beter than the government does, thats because we have to to live. The very thought of the seniors and others like us to have to come cap in hand and hoping that some consideration will come our way is a downright disgrace and we are now coming to the conclusion that you are not the man we thought you were. Check the elderly sites and forums if you feel the need for confirmation of the things Ive mentioned........regards .....Brian

Westozzy I like the email you sent, I too sent one via the link off of the seniors website.I urge everyone who has been visiting this site and talking about the plight of the pensioners to do the same. I do ask your indulgence and if you do send and email as well as mentioning the pensioners would you mind mentioning the widow allowance. There are probably thousands around the country who are on the widow allowance and most other people are under the misconception that all widows are on the pension this is NOT the case. If you qualified for widow benefit before the first of July1997 then it was a pension you received HOWEVER ,AFTER that date it is ONLY AN ALLOWANCE and therefore is CONSIDERABLY LOWER THAN THE PENSION. The politicians of all persuasions MUST be made to understand that while these benefits(aged, carer, disability pensions and the widow allowance) are so LOW they are causing a heavier drain on the health system because we can NOT buy proper food, therefore our body suffers and lo and behold more people in hospital that should in actual fact be at home .There have been dozens of times that I have given the details of the widow allowance qualification criteria and money etc however if there is anyone who wants it repeated I would be happy to oblige.

Gday keandha



Age pensions are for the 65's and over. If you are retrenched or leave work for any reason before that age and decide to "retire" your on your own til 65. With the strict limits on what can be earned options are limited.

Thanks for the reply

.



Right Justme, didn't realise you were just a "youngster". I was retrenched 14 years ago at 60 years of age and admit it was a bit of a struggle. I was lucky enough to get a casual job for a couple of years as a labourer in the oil refinery (just a couple of days a week) which kept me going. Didn't get a huge payout, $150K, but bought a small house for 95K, (No more rent which is bliss) and most of the rest into a super fund. Was doing OK until this latest financial crisis. I try to keep a positive outlook as I know there are people worse off. Good luck

Toot - I and most others must now realize that you feel very peeved about not getting the pension amount that the over 65's get.



Well I do hope you didn't vote Labor this time around as you can thank them for the fact that you get the dole amount rather than the pension because in 1995 Labor under paul keating decided to abandon the widow's pension and the Mature Age Pension too and make also the under age partner of an age pensioner paid the dole too.



So you are not alone.



Unfortunately it takes a house to fall on some people before they realize that the Labor party today is not the party formed in the 1890's for the working man of Australia nor do they have any respect for the pensioner who is too old to work and has paid for his pension as it was Paul keating who actually repealed the national welfare act which had carried on from the Pension Act 1909 which gave the working man a pension and his wife a pension should be die and leave her to fend for herself as women did not work past marriage.



If you had listened carefully to the rhetoric leading up to the last election you would have heard the change from Beasley to Rudd from we look after the middle class to working families need to be looked after.



Pensioners are not working so considered to be surplus to requirements and paid just enough to keep the apathetic ones voting Labor and not enough to give them the basic needs of essentials and a bit of ease to pay for a day out now and then and not consider a coffee out once a year to be a luxury and living high on the hog which today for many it is.



I suggest you take advantage of this economic package if it goes through by signing up for an education in some sort of skills to get a job - say computer or office skills - handy anyway for part time work if available - then you can at least get the $950 payout as Julia Gillard said today on insiders "We are not going to pay anything to anyone who doesn't work and if the unemployed want any extra money go sign on for education and get a job."



If we do hit a recession then there will not be a lot of jobs going spare [b]and if this package goes through next week - there will not be many places to take on any sort of course at all - be snapped up quick for $950 [/b].



Working families are Labor's only concern so do remember this in 2010.