It seems that Nationals Senator for NSW Fiona Nash has been stirring the possum a bit according to Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin in The Far North Coaster last Friday.
Apparently young Fi has been telling pensioners that their Centrelink Utilities Allowance has been scrapped.
Just to set the record straight here's Labor Senator Kim Carr informing the Senate of the new arrangements during the 17th June 2009 second reading of the bill which will increase pension payments:
"New pension and seniors supplements
The range of supplementary payments and allowances currently paid to pensioners will be simplified and made more flexible through the introduction of a new Pension Supplement.
This will help make pension payments easier to understand. Following the reforms, pensioners will receive two main payments: the base pension and the Pension Supplement.
This new Pension Supplement incorporates the value of the existing GST Supplement, Pharmaceutical Allowance, Utilities Allowance and Telephone Allowance (at the higher internet rate). Increases of $2.49 a week for singles and $10.14 a week for couples combined will be paid on top of the value of existing allowances.
The Pension Supplement will be indexed in March and September each year in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index. It will be available only to people resident in Australia or temporarily overseas.
The Pension Supplement for a single pensioner will be around two-thirds, 66.33 per cent, of the Pension Supplement for a couple combined. This mirrors the new single to couple ratio established for pension rates.
At 20 September 2009, it is estimated the Pension Supplement will be worth up to $1,462.70 a year for singles (or $28.13 a week) and $2,199.60 a year for couples (or $42.30 a week). This is an estimate as the actual indexation increase is not yet known.
The Pension Supplement will be included in the pension payment rate and subject to income and assets testing. This means that, once the base pension rate is reduced to nil, the Pension Supplement will decrease until it reaches a minimum payment of an estimated $790.40 a year for singles (or $15.20 a week) and $1,190.80 a year for couples (or $22.90 a week). The payment a person receives will not fall below the minimum amount of the Pension Supplement until the person’s income or assets reach a level that would otherwise reduce their payment to nil.
The new Pension Supplement will provide pensioners with more flexibility in managing their own budgets.
From 20 September 2009, the Pension Supplement will be paid fortnightly, along with the base pension. From July 2010, pensioners will have the choice of receiving around half of the Pension Supplement in quarterly instalments. This flexible part of the Pension Supplement will be equal to the minimum payment of Pension Supplement.
Self-funded retirees will also benefit from these reforms. A new Seniors Supplement for holders of a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card will be introduced from 20 September 2009. The Seniors Supplement will replace the Seniors Concession Allowance and Telephone Allowance (at the higher internet rate) for eligible recipients. The Seniors Supplement will continue to be available as a quarterly payment and will be paid at the same rate as the minimum amount of the Pension Supplement. The Seniors Supplement for a single person will be 66.33 per cent of the Seniors Supplement for a couple combined. In September 2009, the Seniors Supplement will be an estimated $790.40 a year for singles and $1,190.80 a year for couples.
Increases in the Pension Supplement minimum amount for couples combined and for singles will flow through to increases in the Seniors Supplement. This will mean pensioners cannot receive less supplement than eligible self-funded retirees."
The complete explanation can be found here.
Either Senator Nash was not in the Chamber at this time, was not listening if she was or she is taking a leaf out of Luke Hartsuyker's Little Book of Lies to Tell the Electorate.
Monday 22 June 2009
Sunday 21 June 2009
While Turnbull wouldn't reveal the exact content of that alleged email Rudd apparently wasn't so coy
Click image to enlargeIt has been extremely interesting watching the case of the alleged Ozcar email develop.
What has been a real eye opener is Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull's admission that he didn't have a copy of and indeed hadn't seen this email on which he based his call for the Prime Minister to resign.
According to journalist Glenn Milne writing in The Daily Telegraph today:
Mr Turnbull now says he has been relying on Mr Lewis's reports for his resignation calls on Mr Rudd and Mr Swan. He denied anyone in the Opposition wrote the email or sent it to Mr Lewis.
Presumably Rudd's staffers released the copy of a News Ltd email used by Bernard Keane in his Twitpic to put us out of our misery as to the exact wording of that phantom email.
Tomorrow the world needs to stand up for whales
Humpback Whale breeching off the Perth coast from PerthNow
On Monday 22 June 2009 the International Whaling Commission will commence holding a series of meetings in which those nations wanting to break the international moratorium on commercial whale hunting will seek to prevail.
As I write, the annual whale migration on the east coast of Australia continues and the migration up the West Australia coast has begun.
Phone, email or Twitter the Australian Prime Minister now and let him know that you do not want to go down any concession path which would result in more whales being killed each year by those nations which have sufficient access to protein for their citizens as it is.
The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Direct email link here.
Twitter KevinRuddPM
Sign the World Society for the Protection Of Animals NZ anti-whaling petition here.
Whale breeching off the Kimberly coast
Yes, Iran is sexy news - but what about Fiji?
The widespread national election result protests in Iran are eye-catching, politically compelling and happening right now.
Consequently the mainstream media is all over the subject even though getting hard news out of that country is currently difficult.
Without wanting to talk down the situation in Iran, it does place into stark relief the media's attitude to Fiji which earlier this year had its democratic institutions and processes stolen away by a military dictator.
After a week or so of intermittent news coverage of the Fiji coup the matter effectively slipped into newsprint oblivion.
In recent days it has only rated a few low-level mentions of Australian and New Zealand plans to lobby for the UN to remove Fiji military personnel from its peacekeeping forces.
Over to you Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
Saturday 20 June 2009
Something to ponder at the end of the week
You know you're getting older when.......
.......most of the thespians named on the back of DVDs lining racks at the local video store are actors that a) you've never even heard of before and b) all look younger than your kids.
Picture: Google Images
Dirty tricks or dirty politics?
Is Kevin Rudd prevaricating over Ute-gate or is it Malcolm Turnbull who is telling pork pies?
Well..................ask yourself who was it that recently had a merchant bank pay an out-of-court settlement on his behalf, after the liquidator took them to court over the HIH collapse amid accusations of of deception?
With software freely available on the Internet which allows anyone to produce and send a genuine looking email as someone else, I would also be asking for access to the Libs' computers to double-check any 'proof' the Coalition might present.
Fer gawds sake - I could send a fake email as the PM tomorrow and have any reply routed to another address entirely.
So could most Internet users on the NSW North Coast.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Truffles may not have been as smart as he thought.
A small clue might've been the fact that the mate didn't get financial help after all.
But then, maybe I'm a bit biased 'cause I'm plain terrified of the idea of that drongo (who when he was last in government tried to rip-off our North Coast water supplies) ever getting back in the saddle again.
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