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Post by aussie25 on Sept 7, 2012 19:22:03 GMT 7
Pensions to increase later this month 07 September 2012
On the third anniversary of the Australian Government’s historic pension reforms, 3.5 million Australian pensioners will receive a boost to their payments to help them keep up with the cost of living.
From 20 September, single people receiving the maximum rate of Age Pension, Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment, as well as veterans’ income support recipients, will receive an extra $17.10 per fortnight.
Following this latest increase, total pension payments for pensioners on the maximum rate, including the base rate and pension supplement, will be:
$772.60 a fortnight for singles, and $1,164.80 a fortnight for couples combined.
In September 2009 we delivered historic reforms to the pension, including an initial boost to the pension, a new pension supplement, an improved indexation system and a new and improved seniors work bonus.
In the last three years the maximum rate of the pension has increased by $172 a fortnight for singles and $182 for couples combined.
This month’s increase to the pension is due to the improved indexation system we delivered three years ago and reflects higher wages growth in the six months to May 2012.
Pensions are increased twice a year to reflect changes in pensioners’ cost of living and wages. The pension is increased to reflect growth in the Consumer Price Index or the Pensioner and the Beneficiary Living Cost Index, whichever is higher. When wages grow more quickly than prices, the pension is increased to reflect growth in Male Total Average Weekly Earnings.
We understand that pensioners have limited room to move in their budgets. That’s why the improved indexation system is so important—it ensures that when pensioners’ costs of living go up, the pension goes up to match it, and it allows pension recipients to share in the nation’s prosperity.
We have delivered for Australia’s pensioners and we’ll keep delivering to make sure they get the fair go they deserve.
About 1.1 million recipients of other income support payments such as Newstart and Parenting Payment will also receive an increase on 20 September.
Parenting Payment will increase by $15.20 a fortnight for singles.
Newstart Allowance, Widow Allowance, Partner Allowance and Sickness Allowance will increase by $2.90 a fortnight for singles and $2.70 each for couples. These allowances are indexed to the Consumer Price Index.
Rates of Rent Assistance will also increase.
Full details of all rates and thresholds to be indexed on September 20 can be found at: jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/node/2051
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Post by aussie25 on Sept 7, 2012 19:23:47 GMT 7
The gap between DSP and Newstart is even wider now. An increase of $17.10 for DSP and only $2.90 for Newstart.
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Post by Banjo on Sept 8, 2012 5:03:45 GMT 7
Disgusting. Not that $17 a fortnight will help towards the bills much.
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Post by Banker on Sept 8, 2012 5:38:14 GMT 7
Pension, dole payments drifting further apartTHE gap between the pension and the dole will widen by a further dollar a day later this month when government payments are adjusted. Pensioners will receive an extra $17.10 a fortnight from September 20, while recipients of the Newstart allowance - popularly known as the dole - will get a boost of just $2.90. The reason for the disparity is the different ways the payments are indexed. When wages grow more quickly than prices, pensions are increased to reflect growth in male average weekly earnings. But Newstart, and other payments including Widow Allowance, Partner Allowance and Sickness Allowance are indexed to the consumer price index. Advertisement Families Minister Jenny Macklin said the size of the increase to the pension reflected higher wages growth in the six months to May. From September 20, a single pensioner will get $772.60 a fortnight, while a single person on Newstart will get $492.60. Amelia Christie, a policy officer from the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association of NSW, said the ''dire'' level of the Newstart allowance was particularly hard on jobseekers who were over 50, who spent an average of 70 weeks on the payment, twice as long as their younger counterparts. ''There are over 90,000 long-term unemployed people who are over 50 years of age on Newstart with little hope of finding adequate employment and these people often struggle to pay for essentials as well as the higher costs that can come with ageing,'' Ms Christie said. '' They have no financial buffer against any unforseen adverse circumstances and are forced to run down any modest savings.'' Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said Newstart recipients were ''falling further and further behind'' pensioners, and there was no justification for the payments being indexed by different methods. ''It's got to be fixed,'' she said. Last month, The Age revealed previously unpublished government-commissioned research which showed that, even before the 2009 pension rise, pensioners were much better off than people on Newstart. The report, by Peter Saunders and Melissa Wong from the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW, showed that while 1.4 per cent of aged pensioners surveyed were unable to get medical treatment if needed, among those on Newstart the proportion was 22 per cent. Whereas only 0.7 per cent of aged pensioners were unable to get a substantial meal at least once a day, for Australians on Newstart the proportion was 10.3 per cent. The Gillard government is under pressure from welfare groups, unions and some business leaders to lift the $35 a day Newstart allowance. But it argues that lifting the rate of the allowance would act as a disincentive for recipients to seek work. But in a significant shift last month, Employment Minister Bill Shorten signalled he had an open mind on the issue, declaring he wanted to hear ''all and any views'' on the payment. Read more: www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/pension-dole-payments-drifting-further-apart-20120907-25k1j.html#ixzz25pIC2mbO
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Post by roxane on Sept 8, 2012 8:56:25 GMT 7
17.10 ? stick in the eye! pls remind us, how much pay rise did the politicians get???
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Post by latindancer on Sept 8, 2012 9:40:14 GMT 7
Amelia Christie, a policy officer from the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association of NSW, said the ''dire'' level of the Newstart allowance was particularly hard on jobseekers who were over 50, who spent an average of 70 weeks on the payment, twice as long as their younger counterparts. ''There are over 90,000 long-term unemployed people who are over 50 years of age on Newstart with little hope of finding adequate employment and these people often struggle to pay for essentials as well as the higher costs that can come with ageing,'' Ms Christie said. '' They have no financial buffer against any unforseen adverse circumstances and are forced to run down any modest savings.'' When I was on Newstart, it felt like I was getting screwed at both ends. It's pretty disgusting when you're actually trying to get a job (and can't) and getting so little support, and meanwhile the government is braying about what wonderful things and programs they are giving (or going to give) the unemployed. And you go in to Centrelink and get the run-around from incompetent cloddish office staff. What happened to me at the beginning of this year was unbelievable. Yes, the politicians' pay rise is the elephant in the room.
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Post by justifiable1 on Sept 15, 2012 8:07:49 GMT 7
Yes the federal government boasts about the "historic" pension increase, but how much has the cost of essentials gone up in the last 3 years? If you are in state housing they claw back any pension increase. The Newstart payment is lousy especially if you are mature age person as it is extremely difficult to find work yet you are too young to get the Age pension. There have to be jobs to be had as well, here in Tassie the official rate is 7%, try more like 20 or 30%!
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Post by Banjo on Sept 15, 2012 9:58:00 GMT 7
Indeed, the unemployment figures are well doctored, people with just a few hours a week in places like Maccas aren't included. And with the DSP getting harder to get things will only get worse.
Welcome to the forum.
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Post by peter on Sept 15, 2012 11:50:55 GMT 7
For the unemployed, the Cairns Centrelink Office had the largest number on New Start with a number approaching 4,000. A Tasmanian Office, Launceston I think it was, came second highest with a number around 3,500 and one of the unemployed when interviewed said that half his mates were on it. This was on a back programme of Current Affairs done early this year. Tasmania is a pretty hopeless economic situation in the Australia of 2012. It lacks a natural resouce base, and is old time Australia, dependent on a primary production base. Primary production, the products of the land, is hard going in 2012, since there is a high Australian dollar, and Tasmania must compete with New Zealand in many areas, and New Zealand has a cost base so much lower than in Australia. Projects like the placing of Commonwealth Departments in Tasmania help. Examples are Centrelink and the Maritime College plus others. But Canberra likes Canberra and they are very reluctant to out source if they can escape it. So, Tasmania must end up a bit like a welfare state since the economy is not resource based of Canberra based. The only answer is to leave. Leave the Commonwealth as a state, with a lien on Australian aid, or personally leave to those states living high off the hog of the passing resource boom. The problem is then how to move and where to. Not cheap and not easy and the older one is the harder it is to do. Being on NewStart is a misery. Being on DSP or OAP is, as crook as it is, like being promoted to a much better standard.
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Post by justifiable1 on Sept 16, 2012 13:29:20 GMT 7
Thanks for that. I do agree Tasmania is a basket case economically. The government has made the DSP a lot harder to get from what I've read about it. Sure I think that people are better off working but the trouble is refusing or cancelling the DSP to have people forced indefinitely on Newstart is ridiculous. Whilst the pension is a pittance the Newstart benefit is ludicrous. I suspect that eventually they will go down the path that Britain is at the moment and do wholesale medical reviews by using an outsourced company and unless you get 20 points for one impairment only your claim will be refused or your payment cancelled. The only winner from this is those employment agency parasites.
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Post by justifiable1 on Jan 2, 2013 14:19:47 GMT 7
Well at least Jenny Macklin can "live" on $35 a day!
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