Your only income is a full old-age or disability pension? Facing the usual Christmas without any of the trimmings? Well be heartened and start carolling - you are in the money! Or are you?
That old Howard Government lie about how well pensioners fare out of government payments is still out there.
"Improvements to pension indexation have greatly improved the economic status of the elderly and those on disabled and single-parent allowances.
Pensions used to be adjusted according to changes in the cost of living, but now they track average male weekly earnings, which rise more quickly as productivity increases."
Any one living on a full pension can tell you that this was a load of codswallop. The Howard Government may have promised to keep pension payments at one quarter of average male weekly earnings but this promise was never fully implemented and resulted in continuing poverty line payments.
During the recent federal election campaign I heard Kevin Rudd himself state that line about guaranteeing pensions would be 25% of average male weekly earnings.
While Jenny Macklin was somewhat more circumspect.
"Jenny Macklin's reply was as follows:
I understand that it can be difficult for many pensioners to meet the rising cost of goods like food, petrol and utilities bills. Federal Labor's plan to help pensioners with the costs of living – Making Ends Meet – was released earlier this month, and includes increases to the Utilities Allowance and the Telephone Allowance for eligible pensioners. We hope that this will go some way to helping pensioners with their cost of living pressures. We have also committed to increasing the pension in line with a new pensioner cost of living index, which would more accurately reflect the wider consumer price index, or in line with increases to the benchmark of 25 per cent of average male weekly earnings, whichever is higher."
Now the Australian Bureau of Statistics Key National Indicators show that average weekly earnings for an adult in full-time work at ordinary rates this period last year was $1,058.90.
In the twelve months to August 2007 an increase in the male average weekly earnings of 5.2% was recorded.
This example sounds a lot, but using this calculation criteria will still see pensioners and the disabled scratching to house, feed, clothe and manage their health from a current pension allotment of around $537.70 per fortnight plus $5.80 pharmaceutical allowance or $271.75 per week.
So Prime Minister, what's it going to be? Are Australian pensioners going to continue receiving fortnightly pension payments calculated on CPI or the percentage increase in AMWE (both of which keep them on or below the poverty line) or are they going to receive payments which are set at a more realistic level?
