Unintentional comedy...

[aussieinusa]

So, I found this quote in a media story:

''There really is no greater example of the difference between Labor and the Coalition, whose only commitment to pensioners is to shamelessly rip money straight out of [pensioners'] pockets,'' Treasurer Wayne Swan said.

Source: www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/coalition-plans-pensioner-slug-20130316-2g7e3.html#ixzz2NsTsIt1F

;D ;D ;D

That's supposed to be funny, right?!?

From where I sit, there's been a lot of money 'shamelessly ripped from pensioners' pockets' by the ALP over the last few years, through some pretty arbitrary rule changes... so what's the difference between them and the other guys, again??

[baranghope]

You can subtract about $110 per week under LNP. You seem to forget Labor handing us $1200 up front a few years back. And the indexing, and annual bonuses. So the answer is, please do not compare Labor to the LNP on entitlement $$$.

[Denis-NFA]

aussieinusa

It is strange how events unfold.

[Banjo]

Mar 18, 2013 16:25:05 GMT 7 baranghope said:

You can subtract about $110 per week under LNP. You seem to forget Labor handing us $1200 up front a few years back. And the indexing, and annual bonuses. So the answer is, please do not compare Labor to the LNP on entitlement $$$.

Labor started well with the pensioners, they have tried to satisfy the majority with the injection of funds while this unexplainable attack on portability tramples on the rights of a minority.

That's all I've asked... a logical explanation behind the new portability rules and the manic attack on DSP residency.

[macadamianut]

Greeneyed monster syndrome is all i can put it down to.

[Deleted]

im with you banjo,i would just like to no why as well,it would help me make my mind up on who to vote for,see if i marry my fiance my pension drops to a married rate,then if i go and live in her country for a coupple of years so she can remain in work then they cut my pension off after 6 weeks,then when i come back they tell me im not a reserdent, where is the fairness in all this.why do they do this ,what have we ever done,i just dont get it.

[Banjo]

Write to your MP, or even better, make an appointment to ask them face to face.
You won't actually get to see a person of such importance but one of their assistants may give you five minutes.

[aussieinusa]

Mar 18, 2013 17:41:19 GMT 7 Banjo said:

That's all I've asked... a logical explanation behind the new portability rules and the manic attack on DSP residency.

I'm starting to suspect that we -- meaning DSPers who spend time overseas, mostly due to family or other loved ones being there -- are the 'Welfare Queens' of present-day Australia.

(If you don't know how the term 'Welfare Queen' was popularised in the USA and then used to cut back welfare based on non-existent evidence but a story that really stirred up envy, the Wikipedia summary is pretty decent: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_queen )

I'm still yet to hear anyone's story here that remotely matches the Paradise Pensioner media angle, just a lot of really sad stories of Aussies with genuine disabilities separated from their foreign-born spouses and kids by these heartless government rules. We really need to get these stories out there, in the hope that there's enough compassion left in Australia that if people really knew what CL is doing to PWDs right now, there'd be enough political pressure on them to make them rethink.

[aussieinusa]

Mar 18, 2013 16:25:05 GMT 7 baranghope said:

You can subtract about $110 per week under LNP. You seem to forget Labor handing us $1200 up front a few years back. And the indexing, and annual bonuses. So the answer is, please do not compare Labor to the LNP on entitlement $$$.

Yes, the overall pension amount has gone up under the ALP, at roughly twice the rate it did under Howard.

But it's also gotten a lot harder to get DSP at all, so if the ALP's new assessment tables are doing what they were designed to do, 38% of the people who would've been eligible for DSP under Howard are now bumped down to the Newstart amount instead, which is 2/3 as much. How are those people better off under the ALP? They've already had more than $110/week subtracted.

I don't think throwing 2 in 5 DSPers under the bus for the sake of the rest getting a small raise is great math, personally... but then, I'm one of the people who was rated 'severely disabled' at prior assessments who's now on Newstart because they can't decide if I'm still disabled or not, even though medically nothing has changed. So call me biased.

And aside from my whining, how are people who really have it bad, like Lynne and melnee, doing better under the ALP? They've gone from full DSP to zero, which is a subtraction of far more than $110/week.

The ALP is not on the side of pensioners; they'll buy some votes from OAPs with a pension increase, but at the same time, they've got their hands in pensioners' pockets too, clawing back every cent they can from those too vulnerable to fight back.

I'm not pro-LNP for a moment, and part of why I want full portability is so I can leave the country if Abbott gets in (joking... maybe ) but I'm not at all impressed with the ALPs record right now, either.

[baranghope]

Well put aussieinusa. All I know is that all these changes are the result of policy paper written by a private consultant (who just happened to be the former Secretary of Families and Housing) in 2009. So basically all the changes we complain about are in fact the enactment of recommendations in this report. Personally, I think it is time to take The Greens seriously if you are a DSPer. Really what we are talking about is "empowerment" now that we have had a basic human right (unlimited travel) subtracted from our living equation. It is not about money at all, it is about convictism and punishment.