Biggest Age Pension rate rise for years, but is it sufficient?

The largest Age Pension rate rise in almost a decade takes effect from 20 March. This is what a selection of YourLifeChoices members had to say about the 'windfall'.

Tricia: Politicians keep giving themselves big rises. We paid taxes for years, now can't buy presents for my kids, my grandkids and great grandchildren… If you have bills, car, rent, clothes, medications, insurance, don't eat out, don't have any other money coming in. Try it.

Leslie: Only $20 a fortnight. WOW – that’ll go far. NOT.

James: Although the rise is welcomed, it still falls short of what we really need. Bread, milk, fruit and veg, petrol have all gone up $10 a week. May be able to get 2 loaves of bread. Don't even mention petrol and meat. Pensioners are sadly falling further down the hole. And if you live in government housing, they will take their little cut of the $20 to raise the rent.

John: Well what a farce that is. Everything around us has gone up more than 50% in 6 months and good old scomo gives us a lousy $20. How out of touch are these …

Chris: My health insurance has risen by $10 a fortnight. Fuel has risen 75%, food is already 20% higher, insurances on home/contents are increasing. I estimate the increase will leave pensioners way out of pocket – on average $50 to $80 a fortnight worse off. Meat is a luxury as sausages are now $16 a kilo, mince $14 a kilo, cauliflower are $8.90 each, fruit and vegetables double the price already, bread will increase … Health issues will increase also. Bulk billing is no longer $60 a visit – under half is covered by Medicare. The surgery used to be full of patients; pensioners are not going to the doctors and end up being taken to hospital as they are living week to week and cannot afford it .

Terry: The pension increase … astounds me. My grocery bill, for basic items this week, was $18.50 more than last week. So behind again. It's high time the government looked at current costs instead of last year's CPI. They reckon a  2.1% increase in CPI. Not sure how they came to this figure, most products increased by 10% plus. The Age Pension of $744.40 a week for a couple (new rate from next week) is just NOT sufficient to survive with everything going up mainly to fuel increases. And won't be long before we get a substantial increase in home insurance to cover the flood damage. What can we do to change the government's attitude towards Age pension payments?

What do you think older Australians can do to change the system? More meaningful rate rises are one thing, but are there other aspects of the Age Pension system that need an overhaul?

 

13 comments

So may things have risen in price also my grocery bill had doubled this year,  IMO they could make the pension $1000 P/FN at least.

This rise covers inflation last year. It does not cover the run away inflation so far this year. Pensioners will be left well behind after this rise.

Wouldn't the September rise in 2021 be for the inflation last year Dave?

Actually  this past few months with the price of everything going up [example seniors haircut up $ 5 in a few weeks , not to mention the vegetables and meat prices through the roof  ]

I,m starting to get worried when will it all stop 

 

Can someone explain to me why the rent assistance is going down on age pension, it did the same with the last pay rise as well, I thought it was supposed to go up as well 

My wife and I have been pensioners for some years now, and over the last year we have been spending $600, an extra $100 a fortnight for our food, complicated by the fact that my wife is gluten intolerant, and I'm lactose intolerant. We've also noticed that the retail price of petrol has increased by more than 30% in the past 12 months, and this business with Russia and Ukraine is pushing global oil prices higher, which will show up at the pumps, soon, if not already. We need a decent increase in the pension, right now, not at some time late in the year. I'm just pleased that we are both on the Full Age Pension, and not on some other benefit, like Unemployment, because we are living fortnight by fortnight now. I saw the announcement about Tax cuts on TV this morning, and my thought was that they will give us exactly nothing, yet every other person on the Full Age Pension, the unemployed, and I suppose, those on the Disability Pension. Regardless of the spin that the LNP puts on them about how good they are for the economy, the rich always get more of the share than they need.

Hear you Danie, but at least you dont have one part of the couple working so that reduces the other partners pension,   like i said they are f.....g thieves, But like lambs we will all go along and vote again.

This year I had to decide whether or not I could afford home insurance! House is no longer insured. Now I can eat again. An extra $20 which isn't going to go very far.

Firstly, and most importantly, no government decides by how much an age pension will rise each half year. The amount is set according to the CPI percentage rise. It seems that it's just too easy to blame a person rather than a system. Just as Labor is trying to blame the government for the wage rises when that too is decided by a non-government authority, the Fair Work Commission. I note that Labor won't promise to increase wages because they know the lie that they are peddling trying to blame the PM. 

who created the system,

Pension rise for those on full pensions.  Pension loss for those on part pensions who have investment in a rental property.  The assets test has been increased but only by a small percentage.   Centrelink have then reassessed the values of the rental/investment properties by a much larger percentage leading to a loss to Aged Pensioners using that type of investment.  In our case we will each be receiving $469.80 per f/n, a drop of $106.98 each.  

Get rid of the income and asset test and replace it with Universal Pension for all retirees. To fund this remove the huge tax concessions to self funded retirees.  Universal Pension will be an incentive for pensioners to work as any additional income will not affect their pension. It will help in improving the lifestyle and standard of living of pensioners.

There will also be a lot of saving to the Government as with the implementation of Universal Pension, Centrelink as an organization can be reduced by a large percentage.

Gee, Alfie, a bit harsh on a section of older Australians. I hasten to add that we are not SMSF people but they have a role to play in the Australian economy. Firstly, they save government expenditure by not drawing a pension and secondly, they pay tax on their income. There is no special tax scale for SMSF so your suggestion about huge tax concessions doesn't seem possible unless all taxpayers get the same tax scales applied to them. A universal pension sounds OK but I can imagine the outcry when Sir Frank Lowy, Gina Rinehart and Twiggy Forrest all start drawing the age pension. Surely we need more people in Centrelink now, not less.

SMSF retirees help the community, so what is wrong with giving them a helping hand?

Some will always complain no matter what increases they receive. Just think about the tragic circumstances in Ukraine and consider how lucky you are!

My late friend in the USA has a mother still, she is 92 and since she was in her early 80s used to work in the local supermarket as a demo chick!   LOL    This is not made up.

When she told me I nearly fell of my chair!   She then said her friend was older than her and did the same work, I said why, she said for pocket money!

I guess we are lucky we don't live in the USA as the seniors over there still need to work till they drop or they live on the streets.

I have read some of the comments here and life for me has not been easy over the last few years, put these days people look at people like us and think we have had a good life.   They don't realize we have been without to safe for this.

Life having more than one job years ago, like never smoking or drinking.

I think as seniors we are very lucky to have what we get from the government, I agree with Sophie here about the people in Ukraine.       It breaks my heart to read about the cruelty of the Russians I really expected them to stand up to Putin I hope they do one day.   

 

IMO Universal pension and healthcare should be reintroduced 

- this would allow them to close down Centrelink and Medicare as ATO could handle it all.

 

In the 1970s a late brother in law came to live in Spearwood, WA.

He had brought his wife and children out later;  when he did he went and purchased a double brick and tile double store house for them to all live in, he had two children.

I always remember how frugal they lived with their housekeeping, never went out and just worked.

They lived on one chicken a week for their sole meat, his wife had to use that one chicken and make all the meals for the family of four.

I was telling husband yesterday and he said well I can remember as children my younger brother and I had for our main meal in the 1950s a chicken as a roast on sunday, cold meat of the chicken with home made chips mum maid on the Monday, and Tuesday she had made chicken and vegs soup for our main meal.

The chicken was from their garden!

I replied I can remember as a 9 year old my late father drove us both to London to buy a chicken for our Christmas Lunch, such was the treat we had living in England in those days.  That would have been a 40 mile drive to and 40 drive back home with a chicken!      I also was treated to my first visit to the British Museum.  That was my first interest in History and the Pharaohs of Egypt.

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