|
Post by Banjo on Sept 13, 2011 16:07:10 GMT 7
Asset rich, income poorA FOOTSCRAY couple are setting up a lobby group to help get over 50s back into the workforce. Marilyn King and her husband Howard took up the cause earlier this year after Howard, 64, lost his job in a company restructure and has struggled to find work since. He is convinced he has not found work because of his age. After putting in hundreds of job applications, Mr King has only had two job interviews this year, and now refuses to put his date of birth on his resume, with some online applications not even going back far enough for him to select his year of birth. To top it off, the Kings are not eligible for any Government assistance because they own investment properties. Mrs King, who is studying documentary film making, decided to use her husband’s experience as a film subject and soon found out that he wasn’t alone. The Kings said through their research, many people over 50 were struggling to find work, with the average over-50-year-old taking 102 weeks to find employment in Melbourne. The pair hosted a morning tea in July to speak with like-minded people, which attracted a host of people in the same boat as Howard. Since then, the Kings have been working to set up a lobby group, which will lobby the Government to review the Centrelink criteria for receiving benefits and to seriously look at mentoring programs for older workers. “We’re from an era where we were told to work really hard and save, so when you reach retiring age you’ll get your pension and your savings will allow you to do things, like go on holiday,” Mrs King said. “We did that, but along the road the Government changed their policy and now the pension is asset tested. “We’re caught in the trap – we’re asset rich but income poor.” “We’re not looking for handouts, we’re looking for someone to help.” For more information, call Marilyn or Howard King on 9317 9602. www.starnewsgroup.com.au/star/footscray-yarraville/313/story/140408.html
|
|
|
Post by Banjo on Sept 13, 2011 16:09:46 GMT 7
An interesting issue, many people in their age group had to start changing their retirement plans late in life when it became apparent the pension they had paid their taxes for wasn't going to cut it.
64 and looking for a job....
|
|
|
Post by Banker on Sept 13, 2011 17:11:52 GMT 7
I have just been talking to a friend of mine who lives on the Gold Coast. He tells me that the unemployment rate there is now 70% , people are leaving by the truck load, going back to the southern states where there is a better chance of finding work. (or is there?)
|
|
|
Post by latindancer on Sept 13, 2011 21:49:32 GMT 7
If only some of the Southerners on the Sunshine Coast would go back home as well, I might be able to move there and maybe get cheapish rent......
|
|
|
Post by Banker on Sept 14, 2011 6:58:27 GMT 7
I was also told that rent has dropped on the Gold Coast by about 25%.. which is good for low income family's "If they have a Job"
|
|
|
Post by Banjo on Sept 14, 2011 7:42:10 GMT 7
Queensland used to have some of the lowest price properties in Australia at one time, as long as you were prepared to live back in the ranges a bit. Gradually southerners started filling the place up, retirees and also the jobless found it more attractive to be poor in a warm climate than a cold one. (Sounds familiar doesn't it?) I remember back in the 70s I lived in Cairns as a wannabe hippie and it had the highest rate of unemployment in Australia... nearly all of them from the south!
|
|
|
Post by spaceyone on Sept 14, 2011 7:46:30 GMT 7
If they have a job .....
Yes, rents are a bit cheaper at the moment, but trying to get a real estate to rent to you when you are on welfare has become harder.
I think they became aware that C/L no longer pays us enough to maintain private rent, and that we can have our payments cut off or suspended at the drop of the hat, which then makes us undesirable tennants.
Its a crying shame that investors are missing out on rent money from empty properties, while people on welfare live on the streets, and again, no one thinks to change anything.
Once I was on DSP I thought it would be easier to rent, due to the higher payment and that it is long term and therefore 'safe'. Instead I was told by many people, that because there are laws which make the process of eviction longer for people on DSP, no one wants to rent to you for that reason.
Its all just great. And the only solution either organisation can come up with, is to get together and design a new application for tennancy form, granting the realtor permission to spy on you for the government if you do happen to be approved for a rental.
|
|
|
Post by Banjo on Sept 14, 2011 8:52:40 GMT 7
If I could fix just one thing that's wrong with the system it would be to do with cheap housing. Governments justify the sell off of public housing on the grounds that a minority abuse it, they say it is a privilege, not a right. I think everyone in Australia has a right to a roof over their head.
|
|
|
Post by latindancer on Sept 14, 2011 9:50:17 GMT 7
Yes, Banjo....not just a roof, but a _separate roof_ ! Most of my adult life has been in share-house situations. Sometimes this has been good, but a lot of the time it has been similar to the book "He Died With A Felafel In His Hand", which describes some of the loonies and odd people in share houses. Oh, the stories I could tell ! Even nice housemates were still sometimes difficult to live with if, for instance, they had to get up at 4.30 am to get ready to go to work. Wooden houses (common in my hometown) transmit every noise. The worst part was having to occasionally move at short notice and being thereby forced to accept another place with less than ideal people...... "out of the frying pan & into the fire". Being vegetarian narrows one's options a lot. Imagine for a moment being vego and having to share a kitchen with people who during food preparation smear animal fat all over the kitchen taps, cloth kitchen wipes and where there are dead animals in the fridge ! Though I've met a lot of interesting people, I had to endure more loonies. For instance people who think it's socially acceptable to come home late on a week night and play the stereo or TV.....loud.....knowing you are home. Or people you think are nice but later turn out to be mannerless. Two women in different places had horrid tempers. These things leave emotional scars. There is a core group of odd bods who simply move from one share house to another, as a result of not being able to pay rent/bills or do chores regularly, and thereby not get on with housemates.....but they can not afford to get their own place. In Asia I have my own place, and it's bliss. And I can go out and socialize with whoever I like. I'll really spit the dummy if CL cut me off due to "non-residency" !
|
|
|
Post by zorro1 on Sept 14, 2011 9:58:03 GMT 7
Hi Latin., yes I can relate to all of that when i was sharing in younger years. I swore never ever again! I would rather live in a trailer park than share a house What pension are you on? do you do the 13 week thing?
|
|
|
Post by latindancer on Sept 14, 2011 15:18:46 GMT 7
I'm on DSP, and do the 13 week run. Getting a little nervous from time to time though. I have relatives and a registered car in Oz, but may be declared non-resident when I get married soon. Apparently they think that sort of thing shows stronger ties to the foreign country that to Oz. If they do cut me off they will find me a formidable opponent though.
|
|
|
Post by Banjo on Sept 14, 2011 15:27:18 GMT 7
Apply for entry visa and PR for wife to be? Make sure it's a lengthy procedure. (:
|
|
|
Post by spaceyone on Sept 14, 2011 20:37:26 GMT 7
If I could fix just one thing that's wrong with the system it would be to do with cheap housing. Governments justify the sell off of public housing on the grounds that a minority abuse it, they say it is a privilege, not a right. I think everyone in Australia has a right to a roof over their head. They had a story on one of the current affairs show a couple of months ago, where a citizen had blown the whistle on the fact that there was at least 50 dept. of housing houses sitting empty, in one suburb alone. They weren't far from each other, so to send a team around to get them prepared for renting would not have been a drama. Yet those running the show were unable to get that organised. Same with a story from Victoria about tptb realising how many people were in prison, while paying rent on a public housing property just to keep it for their release. If the system were efficient, they could give it up for someone else, if they knew they would be able to get back into the system easily upon their release. To beat the inefficiency of the system, they are encouraged to be selfish and deprive someone else a roof over their head, to ensure their own survival.
|
|