Post by Banjo on Apr 30, 2014 20:26:42 GMT 7
You’re paying $100m for pensioners to live overseas
AUSTRALIANS are paying $100 million every year to thousands of disability pensioners living overseas, prompting concern that taxpayers are financing holiday lifestyles.
As the Abbott Government prepares to slash entitlements and introduce a debt tax to rein in the Budget deficit, the Herald Sun can reveal 7313 disability support pensioners are living overseas, costing $99.9 million a year.
The most popular destination is Greece, where 1242 live; Turkey has 849.
Another 870 are in New Zealand and 506 are in Croatia.
Many also prefer Asian holiday destinations: Thailand (370), the Philippines (457), and Indonesia, including Bali (83), official figures show.
Social Service Minister Kevin Andrews said he was seeking clarification on the residency requirements for such pensioners.
“It concerns me that some DSP recipients may be choosing to live overseas for lifestyle reasons, at the expense of taxpayers,’’ he said.
Mr Andrews said he was also seeking departmental advice on the case of a Melbourne man in Bali who succeeded in getting his pension restored, arguing that the warm climate helped his back injury.
The Federal Government now disallows the pension for those who are overseas for more than six weeks.
Until last year, recipients had to visit Australia every 13 weeks to claim the pension.
Successive governments have tightened restrictions on the disability pension, and about 1000 fewer people living overseas claim it today than did so 10 years ago.
Almost 82,000 pension payments, mostly the age pension, go to people overseas.
There are reciprocal social security agreements with at least 27 countries, but many pensioners - including more than 3000 of the 7313 disability pensioners - live where there is no such agreement.
Several attempts to strip the disability support pension from those living overseas for extended periods have been overturned by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Some had repeatedly missed Centrelink assessments and weren’t considered Australian residents.
Michael Urdzal kept his disability pension despite living in Bali for almost nine years and returning on day trips for Centrelink appointments.
The AAT ruled last month that although he was not an Australian resident, he was entitled to the pension because of the severity of his disability
Paul Ray, who’s travelled to Bali 18 times since being granted a disability pension in 2003, and who has started a family there, also successfully appealed against a departmental move to strip him of the pension over breaching residency requirements.
Mr Ray, who grew up in Port Melbourne, told the tribunal he suffered a back injury in a car accident in the late 1980s and his doctors had suggested a warmer climate would provide some relief.
Mr Andrews has ordered a review to make recommendations on tightening the system.
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/youre-paying-100m-for-pensioners-to-live-overseas/story-e6frg6n6-1226901383832
AUSTRALIANS are paying $100 million every year to thousands of disability pensioners living overseas, prompting concern that taxpayers are financing holiday lifestyles.
As the Abbott Government prepares to slash entitlements and introduce a debt tax to rein in the Budget deficit, the Herald Sun can reveal 7313 disability support pensioners are living overseas, costing $99.9 million a year.
The most popular destination is Greece, where 1242 live; Turkey has 849.
Another 870 are in New Zealand and 506 are in Croatia.
Many also prefer Asian holiday destinations: Thailand (370), the Philippines (457), and Indonesia, including Bali (83), official figures show.
Social Service Minister Kevin Andrews said he was seeking clarification on the residency requirements for such pensioners.
“It concerns me that some DSP recipients may be choosing to live overseas for lifestyle reasons, at the expense of taxpayers,’’ he said.
Mr Andrews said he was also seeking departmental advice on the case of a Melbourne man in Bali who succeeded in getting his pension restored, arguing that the warm climate helped his back injury.
The Federal Government now disallows the pension for those who are overseas for more than six weeks.
Until last year, recipients had to visit Australia every 13 weeks to claim the pension.
Successive governments have tightened restrictions on the disability pension, and about 1000 fewer people living overseas claim it today than did so 10 years ago.
Almost 82,000 pension payments, mostly the age pension, go to people overseas.
There are reciprocal social security agreements with at least 27 countries, but many pensioners - including more than 3000 of the 7313 disability pensioners - live where there is no such agreement.
Several attempts to strip the disability support pension from those living overseas for extended periods have been overturned by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Some had repeatedly missed Centrelink assessments and weren’t considered Australian residents.
Michael Urdzal kept his disability pension despite living in Bali for almost nine years and returning on day trips for Centrelink appointments.
The AAT ruled last month that although he was not an Australian resident, he was entitled to the pension because of the severity of his disability
Paul Ray, who’s travelled to Bali 18 times since being granted a disability pension in 2003, and who has started a family there, also successfully appealed against a departmental move to strip him of the pension over breaching residency requirements.
Mr Ray, who grew up in Port Melbourne, told the tribunal he suffered a back injury in a car accident in the late 1980s and his doctors had suggested a warmer climate would provide some relief.
Mr Andrews has ordered a review to make recommendations on tightening the system.
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/youre-paying-100m-for-pensioners-to-live-overseas/story-e6frg6n6-1226901383832