Although we are all grateful for the recent announcements regarding the pension bonuses in early December, there are anomalies with certain classes of pensioner.

My husband has MS (multiple sclerosis). He stopped working in 1991 (well before his retirement age - he was self-employed at the time) and went onto the disability pension.
I became a carer (also retiring before retirement age) for my husband. We had some money in superannuation at the time but not enough for retirement and some small savings which when taken into account reduced the amount of the fortnightly disability and carer payments. I also receive the carer allowance.

At age 62.1/2 I was transferred from the carer payment to the age pension. This coincided with the Howard government's announcement of the very first end of financial year bonuses to pensioners and carers.

If you were of pension age you got a bonus
If you were on a disability payment - NO BONUS until you were of age pension age.
If you were on carer payment - you got a BIGGER bonus
If you were on carer allowance - you got LESS of a bonus.

It's a case of discrimination:

I'm really still a carer (but only until age pension age)
I'm then an age pensioner with a carer allowance. I then do not receive the larger carer payment bonus because I've reached aged 62.1/2 but receive the smaller $600 carer allowance bonus.

Anomalies then occur in all the other ancillary payments (utilities, pharmaceuticals etc.)

I get half of the allocation of a "married" couple until my husband reaches age pension age and comes off the disability payment onto the age pension.

So now we are both on the age pension plus I still have the carer allowance.

Last financial year bonuses were

$500 each seniors bonus
$600 carer allowance bonus

If I was classified as a "carer" of age pension age I would have been entitled to:

$1000.00 carer payment
$ 600.00 carer allowance
$ 500.00 seniors bonus (husband)
and
possibly(?)
$ 500.00 seniors bonus (self)

These anomalies need addressing.

The role of a carer does not change just because he/she has reached age pension age.

Turning to the fortnightly carer allowance of $100.60 this is bordering on obscene minimisation of a payment. ($2,615.60 per annum).

Here we have obscene remuneration to company executives of the highest order and "obscene" minimal payments to "carers".

An urgent review of the fortnightly carer allowance is needed. Governments of all persuasion have decided that carers are only worth approx. $7.19 per day.

Mr. Rudd sent all his ministers off to visit schools as soon as they were appointed and report back to him on their findings. I think he should send them all to spend time with one of those poor Mums that spend countless hours per day attending the needs of profoundly disabled children and/or the elderly carers caring for their elderly partners.

These carers save the governments of Australia and the taxpayers billions by choosing to do what they do in the comfort of their homes.

Not all disability recipients of the pension are equal but there are so many worse off than others.

Take for instance MS sufferers. Heat stress is a major dibilitating side effect and requires air-conditioning on a daily basis from approx. October to end of February. An MS sufferer gets the same "Utilities" allowance as a pensioner without this disability. MS sufferers electricity bills are probably double that of the average age/seniors pensioners.
MS sufferers should be able to source air-conditioners without paying GST; MS sufferers should be able to receive their electricity bills without GST or receive a better pensioner discount on their electricity because of it. Presently our GST on our electricity bills is higher than the pension discount.

These thoughts are a portion of many other thoughts given the time to put them in writing.

There has to be a fairer way of making payments to either the disbility and/or age pensioner and the carer and/or age pensioner.

We have contributed with our taxes all our lives on the PAYE system. We have not been advantaged like some taxpayers who have been able to arrange their affairs through family trusts etc. and distributed their earnings over those trusts to pay less tax. These people are not contributing fairly to the tax system.

Graeme & Anne