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Post by Banjo on May 4, 2013 16:22:53 GMT 7
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Post by Banker on May 4, 2013 17:12:03 GMT 7
It looks as if a few are getting caught out on this so called 2 year rule.
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Post by macadamianut on May 4, 2013 18:34:44 GMT 7
Was an interesting site until I saw the $97 joining fee. I am just too cheap I guess. Some good info there though.
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Post by Banjo on May 5, 2013 4:52:02 GMT 7
He has a joining fee there now? I never paid, I've never paid to contribute to a message board in my life.
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Post by Banjo on May 6, 2013 11:37:33 GMT 7
Why would you suspect that after 40 years or more of paying taxes in Australia that when you turn 65 you wouldn't be eligible for a fully portable OAP just because you had a couple of years out of the country? Not only is it draconian, it's hard to find even in the Centrelink rule book and I suspect wouldn't last 2 minutes in a serious court of appeal.
I knew all about it which is why I'm currently having a very quiet year travel wise but I've spent the last three years reading up on the "important stuff".
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Post by aussieinusa on Oct 23, 2013 7:22:46 GMT 7
Why would you suspect that after 40 years or more of paying taxes in Australia that when you turn 65 you wouldn't be eligible for a fully portable OAP just because you had a couple of years out of the country? I know that back in the day the government told people, "pay your taxes like good citizens and when you get too old to work, we'll take care of you." But what they said and what they did are two different things. They didn't save up your taxes to pay for your retirement later. They didn't set up a pension scheme where what you've paid in is considered when you go to drawn out. In a lot of countries, they have contributions-based welfare systems. If you've paid a heap of money into social security via your taxes, you're eligible. If you haven't, you're not. Our system is a needs-based system. In some ways that's a lot fairer, because it means poor people who've never earned much are able to access just as much help when they need it as rich people who've earned a stack. But the flip side is, what you paid into the system is irrelevant in making decisions about what you can take out. So even though you fulfilled your half of the social contract that was presented to you as a young wage earner, the system can be changed to deem you ineligible for reasons related solely to your current circumstances. If the reason is, "you're rich, you can pay your own way"... well, it still breaks the social contract after you fulfilled your half of the bargain, but it doesn't result in anyone starving on the streets. If that reason is, "you did something we said was OK but then we got the media to demonise you and no-one thinks you deserve help any more"... that's crap. And it resulted in Aussies who fulfilled their half of the social contract being left stranded overseas, because the politicians who made you that promise are long gone and the ones here now aren't going to make good on it. It's why our "needs-based system" has age pensioners with a million dollar house and a few hundred thousand in the bank who still get a pension. They were promised, "pay your taxes and we'll take care of you in old age," so any government that tried to take that away, en masse, from every oldie who could pay their own way for a while would have every single oldie (and a lot who are on their way there, or who care about their parents or grandparents) vote against them. So they're sneakily taking it away one step at a time, through "closing loopholes" and other euphemisms for rule changes. Or kicking truly impoverished people below AP age off benefits to reduce the overall cost of the system. Our system is a bloated, spaghetti-tangled, mess. Too complex, too many different payments, too many different rules for getting and keeping payments, too many ways to mess up and get cut off. I personally think the current system needs to be thrown out and redesigned from the ground up to work simply, fairly and consistently, but I can't see it actually happening. But when even CL's own staff can't keep track of it all (which is the #1 reason why they've given so many people on here bad advice) it's a sign things have to change.
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Post by fonze on Aug 8, 2014 7:56:18 GMT 7
they are after the super now
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