TIME TO HELP LOCAL PENSIONERS
The Member for Berowra, Philip Ruddock said today it is time to act to help local pensioners by increasing the single aged pension by $30 a week.
This week in Parliament the Coalition will introduce legislation to give Mr Rudd the opportunity to deliver an extra $30 a week to around 860,000 Australians who need it and deserve it.
“Single aged pensioners who currently receive just $273 a week are facing increasing cost of living pressures and are doing it extremely tough."
Since coming to office the Government has announced some 170 reports, reviews, committees and commissions. Pensioners will now have to wait for yet another one before Mr Rudd takes any action. Australia’s single aged pensioners need this increase, and they need it now, not in a year’s time,” Philip Ruddock said.
Despite Mr Rudd’s claims that the government assisted older Australians in the Budget by paying a one off bonus, it must be remembered that this was the bonus that Mr Rudd was planning to scrap before succumbing to pressure from both the Coalition and pension groups.
The Coalition will also advocate change to the method of indexation so that pensions increase by whichever is greater out of the Consumer Price Index, 25 per cent of the Male Total Average Weekly Earning or the Living Cost Index for Age Pensioners Households – which better reflects what pensioners buy.
In Government, the Coalition backed by a strong economy took practical steps to improve the financial position of pensioners by:
• increasing pensions at two per cent a year above the rate of inflation;
• introducing the Utilities Allowance to assist pensioners with the cost of utilities bills such as gas and electricity;
• introducing a non-taxable $500 bonus payment annually;
• introducing a 30 per cent private health insurance rebate which Labor voted against;
• legislating that the Age Pension be set to at least 25% of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings, or increased by the CPI, whichever is greater. As a result the maximum single rate pension is now $72.80 a fortnight higher than it would have been;
• increasing the amount of Age Pension a part-time pensioner receives above the income test free area by reducing the pension income test withdrawal rate from 50 cents in the dollar to 40 cents; and
• halving the assets test taper rate from $3 to $1.50 per fortnight for each $1,000 of assets above the allowable asset limits. This meant that around 300,000 people either received a pension for the first time or an increase in their pension rate.
“Despite admitting the difficulties facing single aged pensioners, Mr Rudd continues to sit on his hands hoping it will all go away while failing to make a decision and put forward a solution.
“This is a group of Australians who have done so much to build our country. They deserve a fair go and increasing the single aged pension is an important and urgent first step to doing that,” Mr Ruddock said.