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UTILITIES
Dam unnecessary, dam expensive and dam unjust!
2010-08-30 10:49:00 Voice Editorial Team
THAT’s what some of the banners said at a recent community forum in Maitland calling on local Federal MPs to oppose construction of the controversial Tillegra Dam.
CPSA also spoke at a Newcastle forum in July where State MPs and c
Super reforms a big step forward for pensioners and superannuants
2010-08-02 11:22:00 Voice Editorial Team
RETIREMENT incomes will receive a big boost and the superannuation industry will become more transparent if the findings of the Cooper Review into Superannuation, released in July, are taken on board by the Australian Government.
PENSIONERS and other low-income households in the Hunter are furious that they’re paying for the future construction of the Tillegra Dam that hasn’t even been approved by both the NSW and Australian Governments.
Welfare quarantining rolling on despite strong opposition
2010-08-02 11:18:00 Voice Editorial Team
PENSIONERS and other welfare recipients may soon have at least half of their payments controlled by the government when new measures trialled in the Northern Territory take effect nationally.
MORE than 100,000 carers are missing out on millions of dollars in government assistance by not accessing the Carer Payment from Centrelink, a new report shows.
The report from The Australia Institute has left welfare organisations call
Free water saving measures for Sydney Water customers
2010-06-24 11:10:00 Voice Editorial Team
IF you are a Sydney Water customer and are a pensioner or hold a low-income health care card, you are eligible for a free ‘water fix’ service from Sydney Water.
The water fix service offers a qualified plumber to c
Disability Support Pension applicants to face tougher tests
2010-05-28 17:22:00 Voice Editorial Team
PEOPLE applying for the Disability Support Pension (DSP) will now face a tougher application process and face periods of time on the Newstart Allowance.
The Australian Government is cracking down on DSP applicants in order to stem rising
DR John Falzon, CEO of St Vincent de Paul Society was scathing of the Treasurer Wayne Swan’s Budget. Here is Dr Falzon’s response to the media pack after the Treasurer’s budget speech.
THE big banks caved into pressure from CPSA and the Welfare Rights Centre to agree to lift their interest rates on pensioner deeming accounts to be in line with that of Centrelink’s deeming rates.
Electric shock for pensioners? The premier doesn’t think so
2010-04-27 09:47:00 Voice Editorial Team
THE NSW Premier seems satisfied that the assistance package put in place to protect pensioner and other low income households will ensure that people won’t go without when electricity prices rise.
Woy Woy School for Seniors petitions against unfair pricing in supermarkets
2010-04-27 09:46:00 Voice Editorial Team
CPSA has received a petition from 43 members of the Woy Woy School for Seniors against the common trend in major supermarkets selling goods in bulk for less.
For example, a supermarket may offer two loaves of bread for $6, but sell each
MARCH has proved to be a good month for most pensioners, who will see a boost to their fortnightly payments thanks to regular indexation of the pension.
Singles will receive an extra $29.20 per fortnight and couples will receive an extra
DESPITE an almost unanimous objection to compulsory welfare quarantining by the biggest welfare, community, and legal organisations in the country, including CPSA, the Senate Committee set up to assess the merits of compulsory welfare quarantining
Fast forward to the past: welfare quarantining in 2010
2010-02-08 15:45:00 Voice Editorial Team
THE Australian Government plans to manage people’s income support payments, to “support” the disadvantaged, harking back to 1908 when welfare was given to those only of suitable character.
CPSA Conference 2009 - Mr Frank Quinlan, Catholic Social Services Australia
2009-11-26 16:04:00 Voice Editorial Team
Mr Frank Quinlan of Catholic Social Services Australia spoke of his organisation’s call for an Australian Entitlements Commission.
He said the core principals of Catholic social teaching underpinned the work of the organisation.
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UTILITIES
How Tillegra Dam was always going to be built
2009-11-26 15:59:00 Voice Editorial Team
WHICH came first? The determination or the dam?
That’s what Hunter residents will be asking when their water bills go up by 40% over four years after the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s (IPART) determined that H
Energy Retailers to pay customers, by charging customers more!
2009-11-26 15:54:00 Voice Editorial Team
THE recently announced NSW Solar Bonus Scheme should come as wonderful news to those who have, or are planning to install, solar panels on their rooftops.
From 1 January 2010, people with solar panels will be paid for the electricity the
BUDGEWOI CPSA President, Tom Wiegold, gave to Head Office correspondence he’d received last year from the then NSW Treasurer Michael Costa regarding the ever-increasing Fire Service Levy on his home & contents insurance.
More work for less pension: the new work incentive
2009-10-26 10:25:00 Voice Editorial Team
THE Australian Government’s Pension Reform changed the way that earned income is assessed under the income test to treat it more favourably. It is a sensible idea to encourage greater workforce participation among Age Pensioners able and wan
2009-10-26 10:00:00 Bill Hall, CPSA Executive Committee Member
THE Australian Government has established the Henry Review of Taxation. One proposal on the table is that people retiring with a modest superannuation payment (the average payment at present is only $140,000), could invest that payment and buy a t
THE NSW Government is pressing ahead with its sale of electricity assets despite concern that there may not be sufficient interest from the private sector.
Three of the state-owned electricity retailers, Energy Australia, Integral Energy
THE FORMER Minister for Energy Ian MacDonald announced a $272 million package of consumer protection measures in response to the sharp increases in electricity prices.
The package, likely to be introduced at the end of 2009, will assign
IN LAST year’s budget, the Australian Government tightened means-tests for Centrelink customers under Age Pension age to include income which is salary sacrificed into super. The measure had its largest impact on people in receipt of family
THE AUSTRALIAN Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board (AGFLB) have released a new guide to reverse mortgages.
The guide, Thinking of using the equity in your home? A new indepe
AS PENSIONERS are aware, rebates are provided by the State Government and Local Councils to assist pensioners in regional and rural areas pay their water and sewerage bills.
While the cost of groceries and pharmaceuticals keeps creeping up and rents, power and water bills soar, the minimum wage will be staying put for another year.
In July, the Australian Fair Pay Commission somehow decided that it was &lsqu
MORE and more organisations are coming out against increasing the pension age, supporting what CPSA has said all along: increasing the pension age is unjust to low income
After all the talk, consultations, and research into what would make the pension ‘adequate’, singles have been given an extra $32.49 a week and couples combined an extra $10.14 a week.
ELECTRICITY charges are set to soar from 1 July 2009 following the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s decision to allow a 20 per cent increase in electricity prices.
THERE HAS been a lot of confusion in the media about what is actually happening to the pension and the other smaller payments pensioners receive throughout the year.
SOLE parent pensioner, Riitta Hellstedt of Revesby Victoria, regularly struggles to pay utility bills and provide the basic necessities to her two children with the money she receives on the pension.
Who needs privatisation to jack up electricity prices?
2009-03-27 14:22:00 Voice Editorial Team
LAST year CPSA lobbied the NSW Government to increase the energy rebate for pensioners if they sold off electricity.
The former Premier, Morris Iemma agreed to increase the energy re
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PENSIONER MEETING
Boost for pensioners who need it: public meeting tells it like it is
2009-03-27 14:17:00 Voice Editorial Team
PENSIONERS met this month at CPSA’s public meeting to hear views about what is really needed for pension reform and why.
Elisabeth Kirkby, ex-actor in Neighbours and (more)
PENSION
Centrelink too strict with Disability Pension claimants
2009-03-27 14:11:00 Voice Editorial Team
THE COMMONWEALTH Ombudsman, Prof John McMillan, recently put out a report highlighting problems in the assessment process for the Disability Support Pension (DSP) for people with acute and terminal illnesses. Many compl
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PENSION LOAN SCHEME
Pension Loan Scheme needs a fixin’
2009-03-27 14:07:00 Voice Editorial Team
AMID ALL the talk on deeming rates, pension increases and superannuation nosedives this last month, CPSA was quietly informed by a pensioner that the interest rate on Centrelink’s Pensioner Loan Scheme (PLS) has n
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NICRI
A warning on shonky deals
2009-03-27 13:57:00 Voice Editorial Team
RECENTLY, CPSA has been contacted by a number of its members and the wider public with concerns about advertisements seen in various media to save or make money.
A REPORT from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests that more than one third of older Australians will work until at least 70. 15 per cent of those surveyed said they would work until the e
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PENSION RAISE
The $80 campaign
2009-02-23 14:38:00 Voice Editorial Team
THE MAY budget is not far away now, and by the time this issue of THE VOICE goes to press, the Pension Review report will be in the hands o
RESPONSES to CPSA’s Pension Bonus Survey are trickling in, and it’s very clear that the money was spent on the basics: most spent the bonus on electricity and gas bills
THE COLLAPSE of superannuation and retirement earnings caused by the global financial crisis has led to a dramatic increase in the number of people claiming the Age Pension.
Towards the end of 2008, the number of people being granted the Age Pens
CHRISTMAS will arrive early for all pensioners and carers this year with Santa Rudd handing out bonuses that we didn’t believe would be on the Christmas table!
Just a few weeks ago, CPSA was alarmed the Minister for Finance Lindsey Tanner’s ref
RETIREE couples now need $50,000 a year to retire comfortably.
Data from Westpac and the Association of Super Funds Australia shows that due to the rising cost of living, retirees need more and more dough to not worry about money in retirement
It’s been revealed that the cost of local government elections has gone through the roof, and as a result, local governments are struggling to pay for other communi
IN an important development for the way reverse mortgages are regulated, the Federal Government’s plan will take over all state-based consumer credit laws.
This will weed out dubious home loan brokers, Australia’s mortgage industry says.
FOLLOWING an invitation, CPSA met with the Minister for Family, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, to talk about the pension.
CPSA is one of the seniors’ organisations to be represented in a reference group for the
SOME readers have expressed confusion about the use in THE VOICE of the terms ‘poor’, ‘modest’, ‘low-income’, ‘comfortable’, ‘rich’, ‘pensioner’, ‘superannuant’, ‘self-funded’ and ‘retiree’.
So here are some definitions used by THE VOICE. They ma
CLIMATE Change Minister Penny Wong has warned Australians to prepare for a hit to household budgets as the Federal Government introduces an emissions trading scheme.
At a Centre for Economic Development of Australia conference, Ms Wong said that
Macklin announces pension review: 'Keep your shirt on.'
2008-06-03 15:15:00 Voice Editorial Team
IT TOOK the Rudd Government suspiciously long to do it, but they got there in the end.
There was always going to be a review of the tax and welfare system. But after the outcry, the Rudd Government decided to spin the announcement of this revie
ON 3 May Premier Morris Iemma will turn up to the NSW Labor Party Conference. At stake is the NSW electricity industry, which Iemma and his Treasurer Michael Costa want to privatise.
Apparently, the Iemma and Costa allies are limited to a handful
ON 19 March 2008, the Senate referred the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Fair Bank and Credit Card Fees) Amendment Bill 2008 to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics.
This draft legislation introduced by Senator Fielding
FEDERAL Treasurer Wayne Swan has been huffing about inflation and puffing about global crunches for weeks now. What it all means is that he has been softening us up for Budget night on 14 May.
Is there going to be good news in the Budget for pens
I WAS disgusted by the tone of the Sydney Morning Herald editorial (27th February)on electricity privatisation which more or less told Iemma to go ahead and ignore the people's wishes, as expressed in the Herald's own opinion poll the day before.
LIBERAL Senator Gary Humphries is a confused chap.
He put out a press release last month rubbishing the idea of indexing the pension according to a pensioner Living Cost Index (LCI) if the LCI had increased by more than both the CPI and the Male
A FEW months ago CPSA made a submission to the review of prices charges by Sydney Water Corporation. In March it was the turn of local water authorities.
New South Wales has three types of water authorities. There’s Sydney Water and Hunter Water
CPSA made a submission to the committee headed up by Mr Barry Unsworth, which will look into the issues that may complicate privatisation of electricity assets in NSW.
CPSA believes that pensioners are already disadvantaged because of their low in
SEQUAL, the club of reverse mortgage providers, has put out a report, It’s on the house, about consumer attitudes and perceptions of reverse mortgages.
The report is an attempt to inform the media and public opinion about reverse mortgages and st
QUITE a few members have mentioned that a class action might be the way to go to resurrect the National Welfare Fund or get compensation for those who contributed to it.
Oscar Bem, law student at the University of Western Sydney has investigated
THE new Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has called on “families, individuals, business and community groups” to submit their ideas for the Rudd Government’s first Budget.
Note the political buzz word “families”. It’s hard to imagine families making budget
This is the NSW Government’s story on electricity privatisation.
Electricity consumption in NSW is forecast to increase by 13 per cent by 2013, with only one-tenth of that 13 per cent increase to be covered by renewable energy.
Do financial planners know how to tie their bootlaces?
2007-11-29 16:02:00 Voice Editorial Team
WESTPAC’S wealth management subsidiary BT increased revenue by 44 per cent in the past 12 months. NAB’s subsidiary, MLC, increased cash earnings of its investment division by 42.5 per cent, with investment sales up 67 per cent.
TOM WIEGOLD, Vice-President of Budgewoi CPSA, is one of the many people who wrote to his local member to find out what NSW Treasurer Michael Costa was on when he said that pensioner concessions were costing the Government far too much and that, by im
Community sigh of relief - Pollies' pay keeps up with cost of living
2007-07-27 11:48:00 Voice Editorial Team
Pollie pay rise a problem
VARIOUS groups have condemned the 6.7 per cent pay rise which Federal politicians are due to vote themselves after the Remuneration Tribunal announced its review of salaries.
NSW Budget Surplus? Yes, but concessions have to go!
2007-06-29 12:59:00 Voice Editorial Team
IT DIDN’T take long. The day after delivering his budget and three months after the Iemma Government was returned to office, Treasurer Michael Costello identified rail fare concessions, the car rego exemption scheme and utility rebates as things that
AS REVERSE mortgages grow increasingly popular with older Australians, the Australian
Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has conducted a review and urged the promoters of revers
THE COST of generating electricity has increased significantly for electricity producers in NSW and this is creating price rises for householders. The increases have been blamed on droughts affecting the sup
THE BUDGET supposedly has something for just about everyone, but Prime Minister John Howard, taking talkback calls on Southern Cross radio in Melbourne, encountered Peter, a 47-year-old Disability Support Pension recipient.
MANY women are falling through a social and financial gap that leaves them to retire with only a quarter of the average man's superannuation, despite their longer lifespans.
Max Super chief executive Andrew Barlow said women generally had two
OPPOSITION Leader Kevin Rudd has promised he will not change the government's new superannuation laws if elected to power later this year because he wants Australians to have certainty when they retire.
Planning a large super contribution before 30 june?
2007-05-07 13:34:00 Voice Editorial Team
WITH THE LARGE number of Australian superannuants taking advantage of the tax benefits arising from the Federal Government’s Simpler Super changes, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) offers some tips to consumers planning to
THE TAX man is coming after employers who cheat their workers out of superannuation entitlements following a bipartisan appeal from a federal parliamentary committee today.
Australia's tax commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo sent a warning to super c
IT BEATS waiting in a queue. Centrelink has internet and phone self service options to check information such as your personal details. It also offers a facility to update Family Income Estimates.
THE DRIFT of baby boomers to Queensland's tropical north coast continues, with buyers snapping up $7 million of residential land near Mackay recently released by a resort group.
Developer Consolidated Properties said that after the first week
Bring out the tarot cards Intergenerational report update
2007-04-26 15:36:00 Voice Editorial Team
Mr Costello recently released a five-year update on his intergenerational report of 2002, which considered the challenges faced by Australia as the population aged and the nation had a smaller proportion of workers to meet the cost burden.
THE TAX office says the popularity of self-managed super funds is on the rise .. as people sell assets to take advantage of new tax breaks before the mid-year deadline.
Applications to the ATO for self-managed superannuation funds have risen by
MANY low income earners are missing out on superannuation because the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is failing to collect unpaid employer contributions.
Many employers deceive employees by showing nine per cent employer contributions on paysl
THE VALUE of Australia’s reverse mortgage settlements grew almost two thirds last year as retirees tapped home equity to supplement income, a study showed.
Settlements of new loans grew to $520 million as of December 31 compared with $315 millio
FOUR-HUNDRED elderly residents were facing eviction from their homes after the takeover of 10 retirement villages across the country. However, in a deal worked out between all parties, the NSW Government has secured the continued tenancy for NSW resi
Industry super gets involved in affordable housing
2007-04-13 10:49:00 Voice Editorial Team
THE FINANCIAL Review (8/3/07) reported that Industry Funds Management (IMF), which manages $10 billion worth of assets, is set to put half a billion dollars into affordable housing projects. IMF stresses that it doesn’t regard the availability of aff
CPSA is saddened by the political demise of Upper House stalwart Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, nicknamed ACE, who is a staunch campaigner for the rights and living conditions of the disadvantaged.
It was he who was instrumental in getting up the Dent
NEWLY elected Nationals MP Geoff Provest has attributed his victory in the northern NSW seat of Tweed to people having had enough of a Sydney-centric state government.
Mr Provest tonight won the seat after a swing away from incumbent Labor MP Ne
The Liberal/National coalition fell well short of the swing of more than 12 per cent it required to win office, but Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said they had managed the first swing away from Labor since 1988.
NSW PREMIER Morris Iemma pulling off Labor’s twenty-first consecutive victory in state and territory elections leaves federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd poised to paint the whole of Australia one political colour for only the second time in history.
The Liberal/National coalition fell well short of the swing of more than 12 per cent it required to win office, but Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said they had managed the first swing away from Labor since 1988.
WHEN a landlord or an agent wants to put the rent up on a property, there are procedures they have to follow. If you’re given a rent increase that you think is unfair you are able to challenge it.
FOUR elections on the trot, but is the fifth going to sink him? Although John Howard has consistently warned the members of his Government against complacency and arrogance, it looks as though he has fallen victim to those feelings himself in not han
2007-02-26 11:28:00 Paul Versteege, Policy Coordinator
IF you wanted to buy a new car and went to a Toyota dealership and asked the salesman his honest opinion and independent advice on what make of car would be most suitable for you, would you expect his response to be anything else but: Toyota?
Survey points to changing trend in retirement planning
2007-02-26 11:28:00 Paul Versteege, Policy Coordinator
THERE is a lot of attention in the media for anything to do with babyboomers. Everybody seems to be worried about them. It’s a pity that age pensioners, particularly the ones who are doing it tough on just the pension, don’t share in this attention.
2007-02-26 11:28:00 Paul Versteege, Policy Coordinator
A NEW study about the financial effects on babyboomers by David de Vaus, professor of sociology at La Trobe University shows that the primary role of sociologists is to tell us what we already know.
2007-02-26 11:28:00 Paul Versteege, Policy Coordinator
LATELY there has been some concern that the NSW Valuer-General’s enthusiastic program of doubling or tripling property valuations from one year to the next is going to affect pensioners paid under the Centrelink asset test.
2007-02-26 11:28:00 Andrew Boulton, Older Persons Tentants Service Coordinator
MOST tenants are covered by the Residential Tenancies Act 1987, but there is other tenancy legislation covering a distinct group of tenants that many people are not aware of, even if they are covered by it.
2007-02-26 11:28:00 Paul Versteege, Policy Coordinator
ELECTIONS usually are between the Government and the Opposition, but not this time. The State Election this month is not a contest between Labor and the Liberals/Nationals.
At the time of writing, the on-line betting shop Sportingbet offered odds
RECENT changes to the law have improved the situation for residents of parks and villages. Residents can now individually contest an invalid or unreasonable park rule. There are tougher provisions before a park owner can issue a notice of termination
EACH quarter, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research publishes an update on the Henderson poverty line. This is a formal measure of poverty created in 1973.
At the end of June 2006, total income of a single full rate Pen
CPI Pips PIP: Pensioners lose out in the inflation stakes
2007-01-23 11:50:00 Voice Editorial Team
WANT the good news first?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) produces a set of four cost-of-living indices to cover 90 per cent of Australian households from June 1998. Employees, Age Pensioners, welfare recipients and self-funded retiree
THE AUSTRALIAN Tax Office recently made a ruling which adds, by stealth, $11.20 to the annual energy bills of pensioners. It does this by changing the way the Pensioner Energy Rebate is taxed.
This rebate gives you an annual $112 discount on you
THE HORNSBY Shire Seniors’ Advisory Committee wrote to CPSA expressing its concern over the adequacy of the Age Pension and the concessions and benefits that go with it. The Committee notes that indexation of the Age Pension doesn’t mean that concess
There are arguments for and against taxing couples jointly. These arguments are usually about how fair or unfair it is that, of a single-income family, only the working partner should be taxed.
IF YOU make something more expensive, people will buy less of it. The early August interest rate hike makes borrowing more expensive, so it is reasonable to expect that people will start to borrow less.
Have you got a small parcel of shares? The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) is warning seniors about the activities of David Tweed.
David Tweed writes to shareholders offering to buy their shares for far less than their v
We are told what good economic managers our Governments have been. Since the Australian population was made aware of a new world order, the ‘global economy’, politicians of all persuasions have beguiled us with the view that all will be wonderful un
It’s known as a reverse mortgage. You borrow money from a bank against your house, usually up to 40 per cent of the value of your house. There are no repayments. The bank gets its money back when you sell or when you die.
When Telstra puts out a press release saying it is “considering” the removal of up to 5000 public payphones, you can pretty much put your house on it that Telstra is absolutely dead-set determined to rip these phones from their brackets.
An eye-opening paper by the Australian Greens, The Costs of Ageing in Australia, shows that most of what we believe about super, the pension and self-funded retirement is wrong.
The super industry has worked hard to convince people its product
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