A Fair Go For Pensioners
Our goal: A decent standard of living for all older Australians
The 2009 Federal Budget brought about the long awaited increases for age pensioners - the increase $32.49pw for single age pensioners and $10.14pw for couple (combined) age pensioners is a good interim measure while the economy is strengthened.
COTA welcomes the Establishment of a Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index, designed specifically for households who rely on the pension. The new index will be used to index base pension rates where it is higher than the CPI.
Both initiatives are seen as a good start, we still have a long way to go.
COTA four-point plan for the Federal Government
- Establish a Cost of Living in Retirement (COLR) benchmark as a decent standard of living and keep it aligned with the actual cost of living a healthy life as an active member of the community.
- Guarantee, as a minimum for each person, that their combination of income from private sources (savings, superannuation, etc.) and government sources (pension, supplements, etc.) meets the COLR benchmark for a decent standard of living.
- Until the new Cost of Living in Retirement (COLR) benchmark is established, set the age pension at 35% of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings. The rate for singles would be $375.30 per week, and for couples $562.95 per week, thereby maintaining the two-thirds parity between singles and couples.
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Immediately provide a bonus of at least $750 for singles and $1000 for couples.
Key Facts
- More than 3 million people (or 15% of the population) are affected by the Federal Government’s Pension Review
- 75% of retirees rely on government benefits as their principal source of income
- 77% of Australians over the age of 65 receive income support
- Most pensioners have low incomes: over half have less than $20 a week of private income
- The single rate of pension is 60% of the combined couples rate, lower than the average for OECD countries (63%).
- More than 50% of pensioners have assets under $30,000 and 30% have bank balances less than $1,000
- Westpac’s ASFA Retirement Standard indicates the requirements for a modest lifestyle is $373 per week for a single and $521 per week per couple. This is based on the assumption that retirees own their own home
- Click here contact details of MPs, press and radio.
What you can do
- Visit you local Member of Parliament (MP) - take your budget or bills for essentials
- Write to your Member of Parliament, the Prime Minister and Minister Jenny Macklin
- Encourage other pensioners, family and friends to get active
- Organise a Petition
- Calculate the value of the hours of work (paid and unpaid) that you do for the community. (Minimum wage casual is $16.50 per hour)
- Write to your local paper and/or get involved in talk back radio
- Ask your family/friends to remind MP’s that “Seniors are part of families” and must be treated fairly in all family policies
Contact us and we can help you get details of your State or Federal MP, local media and radio station.
COTA NSW working for you
We are working nationally with COTA Over 50s (our national organisation) to:
- Lobby Members of Parliament
- Influence the Tax Review
- Run a media campaign and raise awareness in the wider community
- Prepare submissions to the Review and for the Federal Budget
We are working with other non-profit organisations to:
- support the campaign and create a stronger voice for pensioners
We are part of the Fair Go For Pensioners Coalition (non-party political) to:
- Encourage pensioners to show politicians that we need better pensions now
- Lobby leaders of all political parties and independent Senators
Remember: Every action you take counts
- Let us know what action you take and the replies that you get
- Register to be part of our organised activities
- Send us your ideas for action
- Become a member of COTA NSW call 1300 1300 50
Click here to download the Fair Go For Pensioners Guide To Action