Where is all this taxpayers money going to then?

Australian government is paying 6,000 pensions to DEAD PEOPLE - costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars

Federal MP Paul Fletcher has released a statement claiming the government has been paying pensions to thousands of deceased Australians living overseas.

13 comments

Ummhh, people over 80 will have to provide a 'proof of life' certificate every two years.

I thought we already had something like that.  We certainly did back in 2000/2001.

My mum spent the last seven months of her life in an aged care hospital ward awaiting acceptance into a Government sponsored nursing home.  She was 87. The hospital operated much like a nursing home, taking 7/8 of her pension.

At one point during that time she had to provide 'proof of life' for the Government, or at least I had to provide it for her.  It was actually a bit difficult because it couldn't be signed off by a relative, the hospital staff was not allowed to do it, (for some strange reason), and she no longer had any contact with people who were eligible to sign off for her, like her doctor of many years, that sort of thing.

Thankfully it turned out that the hospital social worker was able to do the honours, otherwise, she would have lost her pension. 

Understand where you are coming from. That is a typical govt attitude to those that are in that situation. Basically its a catch22 issue, very Kafkaesque

Why only over 80?

So if you die at 65, your family can carry on receoving your pension for 15 years but any time over 80, thye only get to rort the system for a maximum 2 years

Where is the justice in that 

I agree, trust the idiot Scomo to make such a law!

Yep, agree too. ScomoPromo is grasping at straws. Everyone who receives a pension or welfare should have to prove they are alive, regardless of age. There have been cases like the victims of the Snowtown murders and more recently the murder of the young woman and her daughter Kandalyce who had their pensions paid to their murderers for a long time. The system does need to be much tighter. 

ALL welfare & pension recipients irrespective of age should prove identity at least once a year. If living in Australia it's a visit to centrelink. If you can't physicially get to a centrelink office then they can arrange a feild officer to visit, take a few pics etc done.

If an expat a vistit to the Embassy or consulate or if unable to get to one then a stat dec with current photo signed by a reccommended government official or JP equivalent & maybe followed up with a skype call or similar.

To have it for expats 80 & over is rediculious.

Typical government policy, no thought really gone into it.

Amen

I receive a very small pension from the French social security.  From the day I was eligible, I have had to fill a "proof of life" form every year that has to be witnessed by either the police, a JP or the French consulate.

How come???? Just a few days ago they(the debt recovery) just hacked in to my savings account and charge $130 (x2) recovery charge plus a $13 fee because they said I haven't paid my ambulance use when in fact it was paid about 3 months ago. If they can hack in to private bank accounts then why would they say they are paying dead pensioners??? That's another big scam by this centrelink society(?????) I said this because they only give money to parasites who are just spending the money on liqours and smokes and also their other vices like putting too much tattoos on their body instead of putting food on their mouth. They don't care because they have a place to sleep at which they pay from the money they are getting from centrelink. There are so many jobless who used to be a tax payer but now cannot get financial help from their office because they are asking for too much restrictions, loopholes and red tapes that is causing a lot of pain for the real needy citizens. Because of frustrations they just look for a job even it deprived of their right to equal pay just because they need some money to buy food and pay for their shelter while there are lots of parasites who just keeps collecting money from the centrelink. So this story that they are paying dead pensioners, It could be true but there will be ahidden story behind it and you be the judge!!!!!!!!!!!

Ot sure if I believe this article. If it is true, then it is mainly the fault of the doctors involved with the deceased person. My reason for this is that when my Dad passed away about 19 years ago I rang Centrelink (or whatever teir name was at the time) and timed the call. It was a  40 minutes wait before I spoke to a real person, only to be told that they had already been notified by the medical people the prevous day.

My mother passed away recently at the age of 97 and the Funeral Parlour cancelled her Pension and arranged for the death certificate which had to be signed by 2 doctors.  So how can anyone get away with not doing that.  This has to be done by law.  I myself did not have to do anything, it was all done by the funeral director.

Where was audit?

It is most likely that this problem if it exists has been around for many years.  What about the department's risk management?

Having been an executor of a Will I would say that the Probate Offices should by rights contact Centrelink to confirm the person is deceased.  If it is not done already it should be put in place.

Probate Office has to come into the picture at each death or at very least the Undertaker.

Going to Centrelink each year just makes more work for many of those offices.

Should apply internationally also.

Bit hard to place Australian laws on overseas doctors lawyers other government departments etc Celia. Agree with the "Proof of Life" for expats as it's common practice for a lot of countries including UK,NZ, etc. I't the lack of thought that's gone into the legislation that's concerning for expats. Seems to be drafted by a 16 yearold on work experience.

Agreed Celia.

Great Pity Rudd for all his "self promotion" as PM, didnt make any provision when he paid out that sum of around $1400 to age pensioners when the GFC hit and million went overseas to age pensioners who had left Australia to live. Often back 'home' where had fled claiming asylum. 

Same with temporary workers who paid income tax and he didnt instruct the ATO either to pay the $900 only to those still living here. 

As he meant it to stimulate our economy.

We can only hope that this has since been rectified.  But dont anyone hold your breath! 

Take all the lurks and perks off x prime ministers and the dead politicians (they might as well be)because there is not much actual real movement in parliament.it would save 150m easy.

How can we afford this going into the future?

1973 there were   37,317 on unemployment benefits

1993   "       "     913,770

 

1973  "        "      57,872 on sole parent benefit

1993 "         "    298,444

 

Goodess knows what it is now, 26 years later;  could not find any more figures.

Newstart Allowance is now the name of the income support payment while you're unemployed and looking for work, or doing approved activities to find a job.

Between January 2017 and January 2018

Total Newstart Allowance (NSA) and Youth Allowance (other) (YA(o)) recipients decreased 1.9 per cent overall from 874 010 to 857 635.

• NSA recipients decreased 1.3 per cent from 774 122 to 763 677.

• YA(o) recipients decreased 5.9 per cent from 99 888 to 93 958.

Source.

Number of older Australians on Newstart growing by 10,000 a year … September 2018.

 

 

Just goes to prove what Tony Abbott has been saying. The best help you can give a newstart recipient is a job.

The sole parent benefit is getting out of hand. Quite clearly, it seems to have started a new public service department. Mummy Bloggers, with 10 kids, saving Australia from it's aging population dilemma?

Heard yesterday that the public hospitals in Qld are finding it hard to cope with the 27,000  births as people are abandoning private health care and using the free system.  

Waiting lists for all elective surgery of all types has blown out in all hospitals since the cost of private health insurance soared.  As more and more leave the sector the number of preventable deaths will definitely increase.

 

Another rort uncovered.  From today's "Sunday"newsppaer.

 

"Boat people have sent $5 million back home while taking handouts from the Australian government.  More than 8,000 asylum seekers who arrived by boat are under investigation for lying about their income and assets to receive taxpayer cash meant to support vulnerable migrants while the government processes their refugee claims.

National security agencies have so far identified 44 people who have made big payments of up to $450,000 to countries including Iran,Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Indonesia.

 

In total almost $5 million has been transferred with each individual sending home $100,000 on average.

In one case an asylum seeker who arrived in 201`3 claiming to be stateless sent $450,000 to Ghana and Bangladesh."

As a taxpayer I am furious about this and I am sure many others will be as well.  No wonder there are so many waiting for Labor to take the reins.  I understand there are about 14,000 in Indonesia who are eager to get here and no doubt join the gravy train.

We had more than 200 (Australians) join the conflict in Syria/Iraq in support of Islamic State. I belive about half have returned but are we still paying Newstart or Refugee payments to those fighters? Should we at least ask for proof of life before more payments are sent?

 

Now we have an angry Dutton and I am too!!

 

Labor is set to announce its policy of giving permanent protection to asylum seekers and getting rid of their temporary visas at its national conference on Sunday (file photo, men shave, brush their teeth and prepare for the day at a refugee camp on the Island of Nauru)

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6499077/Illegal-immigrants-arrived-boat-sent-5million-welfare-payments-home-families.html?ito=email_share_article-image-share 

 

Thousands of illegal immigrants who arrived in Australia by boat have sent $5million in welfare payments designed for the most vulnerable migrants back home to their families.  

About 8,000 asylum seekers are currently being investigated by authorities for lying about their financial situation in order to receive the payments.

Of those, 44 cases have been earmarked by national security agencies because of the size of the overseas transfer - including one refugee who claimed to be stateless and sent more than $450,000 to Ghana and Bangladesh.

This is where our tax dollars are going:

Image result for current affair mothers with lots of children on centrelink

 

Image result for Australiathis one can't even remember their names, has them tatooed on arm. Send this miserable lot offshore and replace with the refugees.

increasing dole payments etc is only going to increase the number on the government purse.  why work??

Noodles, that would be a fair comment, if we had full employment, do we have full employement?  Will reducing the dole increase employment, or will it take money out of the economy and actually force people out of business and reduce employment?

Most people given the choice will work to earn a living, not many people choose to live in poverty rather than work to provide a good living for themselves and their families.

Given a choice of helping that family and giving tax cuts to companies that may or may not be paying their share of tax, I still pick the kids who should not be held responsible for the actions of their parent.

 

In my opinion..the point here is not so much the money and who’s receiving tax cuts or not. It’s to do with the psychological welfare of young children who are brought up in this environment..will they ever be able to dig themselves out of a hole with parents such as these?

By financially supporting people who see no point in working (even if there is employment available) gives them no incentive to improve their circumstances. Of course..I abhor poverty especially in a prosperous nation such as ours..however.. these women are paid a small fortune each fortnight. Where does the money go? Why should people on welfare keep churning out children and announce they still want more?

Birth control is also free to these women..use it for goodness sake.

Sophie,

Your point about the future for the children is a very good one.  Money is not the answer.  Or at least, more money in the hands of the parents is not likely to produce anything different to what they are presently doing.

However, there are simple, practical ways to ensure a better outlook for them and the girls in particular.  One means could be a voucher system for sports fees (eg to pay for equipment and subs for membership of a local sports clubs), or for say extra tuition, as in coaching by a uni student.  

The male 'stud/s' who seem to want to pass on their genes need attention.  How to encourage some responsibility and accountability on their part?  There are grubs who father children, but put their Centrelink into recreational drugs/booze and their tatts.  The trophy dog soaks up more money than the children's welfare.  The dog gets more attention too.  

I don't know what the solution is to that, except for mothers to ensure their daughters are resilient and to school their daughters early and often on how to identify and give the swerve to feral men.

Speaking of young feral men, from the ALP conference Australia cannot trust Shorten not to do a Rudd or Gillard and import many more.  Why not put more investment into sorting out our own backyard first and foremost?

You put forward some interesting points LJ..the “voucher system” would certainly be a step in the right direction..and I truly believe supporting a child’s education is the best way to help break the cycle of disadvantage.

In my opinion to really make this work is to also educate the parent or parents..get them involved because their support would determine whether any intervention is a success. It takes a phenomenal child to rise above a bad domestic situation and turn their lives around.


13 comments



To make a comment, please register or login

Preview your comment