Age pension rate 'totally inadequate'
Sept 16, 2016 7:23:24 GMT 7
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Post by Banjo on Sept 16, 2016 7:23:24 GMT 7
Age pension rate 'totally inadequate'
The age pension is wholly inadequate, with some half a million older Australians living well below the poverty line.
For some that means skipping meals to pay for medication, blending meals which can be swallowed because dental care is unaffordable and turning off the hot water during summer months.
A new study, based on information from age pensioners, calls for some radical changes.
That includes an independent tribunal which assesses pension adequacy twice a year and recommends a suitable level, increases in rent assistance, better dental services and a broadband supplement to allow pensioners to participate in online health and government services.
"The age pension in Australia is clearly inadequate. That is an indisputable fact and the government has to face up to that fact," said Everald Compton, chairman of the Longevity Innovation Hub and report co-author.
The base rate pension now stands at $794.80 a fortnight for a single person and $599.10 for each member of a couple. The minimum wage is $1345 per fortnight while average weekly earnings is $2320.
The poverty line is $851.
"The bottom line is, if you are a single person receiving the age pension and you are not entitled to rent assistance because you own your own home ... then your living income is $56 below the poverty line," co-author Jo Toohey, chief executive of the Benevolent Society, told the National Press Club.
Ms Toohey said a third of the 1.5 million pensioners who lived solely on the age pension lived at or below the poverty line.
"The very ordinary demands of contemporary Australian life place so much stress on their finances that many of them are teetering constantly on the edge of poverty and deprivation," she said.
The report identified some key factors. Home ownership is the most important single determinant of pensioner financial wellbeing. Those renting pay out a substantial part of their pension before considering other expenses.
Report recommendations are costed at $2 billion a year. It points to potential savings of $8 billion a year through a range of measures, some deeply controversial. That includes cutting negative gearing, capital gains and superannuation tax concessions.
David Hetherington, co-author and executive director of the Per Capita think tank, said pricing an adequate pension was extraordinarily difficult because pensioners had diverse circumstances.
However, just $50 a week more could make a material difference to many pensioners, he said.
www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/age-pension-rate-totally-inadequate/news-story/dd1957d1872953d48c49e56cdfe1832d
The age pension is wholly inadequate, with some half a million older Australians living well below the poverty line.
For some that means skipping meals to pay for medication, blending meals which can be swallowed because dental care is unaffordable and turning off the hot water during summer months.
A new study, based on information from age pensioners, calls for some radical changes.
That includes an independent tribunal which assesses pension adequacy twice a year and recommends a suitable level, increases in rent assistance, better dental services and a broadband supplement to allow pensioners to participate in online health and government services.
"The age pension in Australia is clearly inadequate. That is an indisputable fact and the government has to face up to that fact," said Everald Compton, chairman of the Longevity Innovation Hub and report co-author.
The base rate pension now stands at $794.80 a fortnight for a single person and $599.10 for each member of a couple. The minimum wage is $1345 per fortnight while average weekly earnings is $2320.
The poverty line is $851.
"The bottom line is, if you are a single person receiving the age pension and you are not entitled to rent assistance because you own your own home ... then your living income is $56 below the poverty line," co-author Jo Toohey, chief executive of the Benevolent Society, told the National Press Club.
Ms Toohey said a third of the 1.5 million pensioners who lived solely on the age pension lived at or below the poverty line.
"The very ordinary demands of contemporary Australian life place so much stress on their finances that many of them are teetering constantly on the edge of poverty and deprivation," she said.
The report identified some key factors. Home ownership is the most important single determinant of pensioner financial wellbeing. Those renting pay out a substantial part of their pension before considering other expenses.
Report recommendations are costed at $2 billion a year. It points to potential savings of $8 billion a year through a range of measures, some deeply controversial. That includes cutting negative gearing, capital gains and superannuation tax concessions.
David Hetherington, co-author and executive director of the Per Capita think tank, said pricing an adequate pension was extraordinarily difficult because pensioners had diverse circumstances.
However, just $50 a week more could make a material difference to many pensioners, he said.
www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/age-pension-rate-totally-inadequate/news-story/dd1957d1872953d48c49e56cdfe1832d
