SMH Article on Age Pension Portability and AWLR

[Banjo]

I will retire in the next six months and would like to know how much pension I will get. I am single, own my house and have $400,000 in monetary assets. I have lived in Australia for 25 years. I believe that 35 years are required to get the full pension. I am not entitled to a pension in my country. I plan to live six months of the year overseas. I have tried to get the above information through the internet, but I have not found an informative site with a list of different scenarios, where you just tick the ones that apply to you and then get a final answer. M.C.

Assuming $420,000 in savings, car, personal assets etc, you can expect a part pension of around $365 a fortnight at January rates while in Australia.

To get an age pension, you only need to have been an Australian resident for a continuous period of at least 10 years, or for a number of periods that total more than 10 years with one of the periods being at least 5 years, unless you (i) are a refugee, (ii) were getting partner allowance, widow allowance or widow B pension immediately before turning age pension age, or (iii) are a woman whose partner died while you were both Australian residents, and have been an Australian resident for two years immediately before claiming age pension. You may also meet the residence requirements if you lived or worked in a country with which Australia has an international social security agreement.

You are referring, in Centrelink jargon, to "age pension portability", which you can Google, and changes are afoot, scheduled for January 1, 2017.

Currently, age pensioners (plus those getting the wife pension, widow B pension and disability support pension) continue to receive their pension payments while overseas for up to 26 weeks, that is six months. However, from January 1, this reduces to six weeks for pensioners who have lived in Australia for less than 35 years. Your payments will then be paid at a reduced rate proportional to your period of "australian working life residence".

For example, if you lived in Australia for 25 years between the age of 16 and age pension age, you will generally receive 25/35ths of the your means-tested rate of pension.

The changes will only apply to people whose absence starts after January 1. Those already outside Australia then, will only see future overseas travel affected. Start packing!

[humanrightsgirl]

I made a previous post about this parliamentary bill on October 29, 2016

The SMH article appears to assume that the parliamentary bill reducing the portability of the Old Age Pension from 26 weeks to just 6 weeks has or will pass the parliament, which is NOT AT ALL CERTAIN.

Our member Chris from the Philippines should be watching this, as the Bill reduces the overseas portability of the Old Age Pension without AWLR proportionalisation from 26 weeks to just 6 weeks. Chris mentioned his plans to try to do a fly-in fly-out method of maintaining his OAP when he receives it, so that he can stay in the Philippines with his family, and so exercise his human rights to liberty of movement and human fulifilment and the pursuit of happiness.

Here is the parliamentary bill before the Senate:

parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fbillhome%2Fr5704%22



Note that at this time, for this Bill, the Coalition has 30 Coalition votes, 4 One Nation votes, 1 Family First and 1 Liberal Democrat.

30 + 4 + 1 + 1 = 36 votes

39 votes are required to pass this Bill, and all Bills before the Senate, which implies that the Government needs the 3 votes of the Nick Xenophon Team.


An article published on the Guardian website:

Nick Xenophon Team to block big business tax cuts and one-month wait for dole


Party still seeking better protections for subcontractors’ pay and health and safety amendments in return for support on industrial relations bills

Rebekha Sharkie and Nick Xenophon

The Nick Xenophon Team will only support tax cuts for businesses earning up to $10m, blocking the government’s proposed cuts for bigger businesses.

A Xenophon team lower house MP, Rebekha Sharkie, has also revealed the party will oppose changes to the pension and a measure to make jobseekers under 25 wait a month before receiving the dole.

The party is still seeking improved laws to protect subcontractors’ pay and occupational health and safety amendments in return for its support on industrial relations bills.

Cutting corporate tax won't create jobs. It's yesterday's solution to our problems

In the May budget the government proposed dropping the corporate tax rate to 25% over 10 years, down from 28.5% for small to medium businesses and 30% for the rest.

The Greens oppose the corporate tax cuts and Labor will only support tax relief for companies earning up to $2m a year.

On Wednesday Xenophon told Radio National tax cuts for companies earning up to $10m were “a fair thing” but tax cuts for bigger businesses were “not the right priority”.

He described it as a “middle way that would cover many thousands of companies that are growing … many where their turnover is $6m, $7m or $8m, where their profit margins are fairly slim”.

Together Labor, the Greens and Nick Xenophon Team have 38 votes in the Senate, sufficient to block the big business tax cuts, dole and pension changes.

Xenophon said he accepted the government did not have “malevolent intent” when it proposed a one-month wait for the dole but said it was not the right way to encourage young people into the workforce.

He said many young people seeking apprenticeships were not job-ready.

“A four-week cut in itself is a very blunt instrument that doesn’t solve the problem, particularly if the jobs aren’t there in the first place.”

Speaking on ABC’s AM, Sharkie said: “We are all in favour of young people being activated and getting into the workforce.

“The challenge is if you’re being starved out of a foxhole to do this you have no capacity to find a job – it takes money to find a job.”

The Nick Xenophon Team will also block changes that would prevent access to the pension by people who spend more than six weeks overseas and a cut to a pensioner education supplement.


Sharkie said there were “a lot of other ways to save money”, noting that the pension cuts cost $168m – “pretty much the cost of the [same-sex marriage plebiscite]”.

Xenophon suggested again that improved laws to protect subcontractors’ pay could be required to win his party’s support for the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill.


Nick Xenophon, the 'anti-politician' poised to cause headaches – whoever wins election

In late September Xenophon convened an industry roundtable with the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and Master Builders Association calling for better protection for subbies.

Xenophon warned against the bill watering down occupational health and safety. He said if there was an imminent risk of death or serious injury on a building site there should be the same right-of-entry rights in the construction sector as other industries.

The senator said he could understand why his Senate colleague David Leyonhjelm felt “dudded” when the government refused to lift an import ban on the Adler shotgun.

On the merits of the issue, Xenophon said, he didn’t support any relaxing of gun laws or importation of the Adler.

[humanrightsgirl]

Nov 12, 2016 3:58:30 GMT 7 humanrightsgirl said:

Chris mentioned his plans to try to do a fly-in fly-out method of maintaining his OAP when he receives it, so that he can stay in the Philippines with his family, and so exercise his human rights to liberty of movement and human fulifilment and the pursuit of happiness.

....and also his human rights to engage in freedom of speech, including 'locker room talk'

[ann]

Hi all, it's been a while since I posted but check in very regularly and it's always interesting so thanks all.
I am once again confused re getting the OAP and moving permanently overseas to see out my days. Born here and certainly cover the 35 years.

I thought it would be ok but am back into confusion after reading this thread.

So can someone please just say yes I can go or no I can't go please?

Thanks to you all

[Banjo]

Yes, just go, it will only change your situation if you have less than 35 years AWLR. (...and is passed by the Senate).

[ann]

Thank you so much for your speedy replies, I do appreciate it. I am on the DSP and will only be able to survive out of Australia. Sad but true. I am counting the sleeps till I am entitled to the OAP and will leave for the last time. I will sleep easier tonight knowing your replies, thank you

[itsmylife08]

Nov 12, 2016 17:31:05 GMT 7 ann said:

Thank you so much for your speedy replies, I do appreciate it. I am on the DSP and will only be able to survive out of Australia. Sad but true. I am counting the sleeps till I am entitled to the OAP and will leave for the last time. I will sleep easier tonight knowing your replies, thank you

guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law/7/2/2/10

Hi all

Thank God I've got an exemption on proportionality grounds as I've got less than 35 AWRL . I 'm thinking of going back in the new year  for about 2 weeks and would hate to think that this proposed legislation which may come in on the 01/01/2017 if adopted by the senate , would  preclude me from travelling for more than 6 weeks after the said date outside OZ... Comments anyone
  

[humanrightsgirl]

Dear Mr. Banjo,

I would like to draw your attention to an article which appeared on the ABC news today.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-14/retiree-face-homelessness-ahead-of-court-ruling-on-park-eviction/8016856

Now, given that Banjo is much more experienced in these Social Media type things, I thought it would be a fantastic idea if Banjo could get into contact with these people and alert and inform them of their human rights to leave their impoverished existence in Australia behind, take their Old Age Pension overseas, and go and live in the PARADISE of South East Asia. Perhaps it would be a way for Banjo to publicise both the human rights of Aussie Old Age Pensioners living in such miserable poverty in Australia, and also to promote and publicise the OAP-OVERSEAS REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT that Banjo founded and promoted by setting up this Discussion Forum.

Yours sincerely,

Humanrightsgirl

[humanrightsgirl]

Retirees face 'nightmare' of homelessness ahead of ruling on park eviction

By consumer affairs reporter Amy Bainbridge
Updated about 2 hours ago

Hastings Point homes
PHOTO: Hastings Point residents have been arguing for fair compensation for their homes. (ABC News: Amy Bainbridge)
RELATED STORY: Pensioners on brink of homelessness after developer buys residential park
MAP: Hastings Point 2489

A group of NSW retirees whose fight for their homes made it all the way to the Supreme Court say they have reached "nightmare stage" as they prepare to learn their fate at a tribunal hearing today.

Key points:

A developer bought the residential park the group live in and issued an eviction notice
They have been fighting the matter for five and a half years
The group wants better compensation for loss of their homes
The group from Hastings Point in Northern NSW has been on the brink of homelessness for five and a half years, after a developer bought the park their demountable homes sit on and issued them with an eviction notice.

With the help of the Tenants Union of NSW, the residents have been fighting a court case for fair compensation.

"It's probably 'nightmare stage', is what you'd call it at the moment," resident Judy Tucker told the ABC.

"We've lived with stress for five and a half years and we're about to go into a court case that could be our last.

"This is the time that we thought we'd be spending enjoying our retirement, and instead of that we're living in just total stress every day, not knowing where we're going to live."

Judy Tucker
PHOTO: Judy Tucker say she is living in total stress everyday waiting for the decision. (ABC News: Amy Bainbridge)

Advocates said their case highlighted the problems people face at the lower end of the housing market, and said it was an area of growing concern as older people were priced out of the traditional housing market.

Thousands of people live in residential parks across Australia, which are characterised by demountable homes with residents paying a weekly site fee without owning the land.

The Hastings Point residents have been arguing for fair compensation for their homes and their case made it to the Supreme Court, in complex legal wrangling that has lasted more than five years.

Do you know more about this story? Email [e-mail]

The developer offered compensation at a rate of less than half what the residents' valuations showed their homes were worth.

TriCare declined a request for an interview, but in an email told the ABC the company is keen to resolve the matter as soon as possible and that it would not comment on the specifics of the matter.

"There have been some complex issues raised by the parties which explains much of the delay in resolving the matters," company director Peter O'Shea said.

"TriCare believes the offers made to residents of the Holiday Park have been fair and reasonable, and importantly are consistent with legislative requirements.

"Importantly the development of the residual of the retirement community (expected to accommodate 100+ persons) will add further to the local economy, and address a shortage of retirement options for seniors in the northern NSW."

Over the course of the case, NSW has changed its Parks Act which covers residential parks, and the residents say the change is their last hope for a fair outcome.

Residents do not have anywhere else to go

Residents from Hastings Point in Northern NSW
PHOTO: The group has been battling five and a half years for a better deal. (ABC News: Amy Bainbridge)

The group has called dozens of parks and none will take them and their homes, and the group is not being offered enough compensation to move elsewhere.

"The option many years ago was that you could pick up your home and have it relocated to another park, [but] that's ceased very much in the last five years," Ms Tucker said.

Lawyer Paul Smyth from the Tenants Union of NSW has been helping the residents fight their cause, which he said was shaping up as a test case for the amended laws governing residential parks.

"It may help to set the tone for how future matters will be dealt with, where home owners have received notices of termination," he told the ABC.

"There are a number of factors in the new legislation which take into account for example the current onsite market value of the home."

He said similar homes in other parks now sell for half a million dollars.

Consumer group calls for retirement housing ombudsman

Hastings Point
PHOTO: Consumer groups want a more accessible way to resolve housing disputes (ABC News: Amy Bainbridge)

The laws governing residential parks have been reviewed by various state governments.

In Western Australia, residential park laws have been reviewed and recommendations made to Government, which include giving more certainty to tenants on fixed-term leases if a park is sold.

This week, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into retirement housing continues in Melbourne.

The Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC) will this week tell that inquiry there should be a retirement housing ombudsman to specifically resolve disputes, including in residential parks.

"It's a waste of public resources to be clogging up these administrative tribunals with these kinds of matters, for that amount of time and the strain it puts people under is outrageous," Zac Gillam from CALC told the ABC.

"We need a simpler, more accessible, free and available form of dispute resolution."

National framework needed for residential parks

The Council on the Ageing (COTA) Chief Executive Ian Yates said the idea of an ombudsman had merit, but first there needed to be appropriate legislation in place to make the system work better.

"Retirement Parks are the largest growth area in retirement living, exceeding retirement villages," he told the ABC.

"But there's quite substantial inconsistency around Australia in how they're being treated.

"I think there needs to be a national framework even if there is some flexibility in it, some parameters about these issues of how you deal with security of tenure, how people can get out, how valuations are arrived at, and how disputes are dealt with."

James Kelly from Lifestyle Community Limited, which owns a range of retirement housing businesses, said disputes were "low" in their industry.

"By way of example in Victoria, there has only been 18 complaints made to Consumer Affairs Victoria in two years from 2014 to 2015 from a resident base of 7,000 people living in parks in Victoria," he said.

[Banjo]

Nov 14, 2016 7:40:07 GMT 7 humanrightsgirl said:

Dear Mr. Banjo,

I would like to draw your attention to an article which appeared on the ABC news today.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-14/retiree-face-homelessness-ahead-of-court-ruling-on-park-eviction/8016856

Now, given that Banjo is much more experienced in these Social Media type things, I thought it would be a fantastic idea if Banjo could get into contact with these people and alert and inform them of their human rights to leave their impoverished existence in Australia behind, take their Old Age Pension overseas, and go and live in the PARADISE of South East Asia. Perhaps it would be a way for Banjo to publicise both the human rights of Aussie Old Age Pensioners living in such miserable poverty in Australia, and also to promote and publicise the OAP-OVERSEAS REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT that Banjo founded and promoted by setting up this Discussion Forum.

Yours sincerely,

Humanrightsgirl

I'd need to get a deal on cheap charter flights first.

...and if your previous post is about encouraging Centrelink to have another go at me on residency, they are batting 0-3 at the moment so I doubt that they would bother.

[Banjo]

Thread too far off topic....

#closed.