Pension payments for millionaires

As David and I sit here contemplating not having a cent on us for the next few days so we can pay the rent, electricity, and phone this week, I was struck by this article about wealthy retirees getting welfare. 

How can people worth over a million get welfare, period? When I got my redundancy payout from work Centrelink made me live off it for an entire year before giving me the full pension. Before that it was only about $100 a fortnight. Why doesn't Centrelink make these people live off what they've got before handing them the full pension?

At $42 billion per year and rising, the Age Pension is the one of the government’s largest and fastest growing expenses. With the budget currently estimated to be in a $40–$56 billion deficit (depending on the source), the government needs to find savings from public spending in order to get back in the black. 

So far it has targeted unemployment benefits, education, a GP co-payment and family tax benefits as sources of revenue and savings to cover the debt. A raft of legislation changes, which include Age Pension indexation and eligibility age are waiting to be passed – such changes will hurt those on a meagre limited income, who can least afford to lose even a few dollars each week. Yet according to the NATSEM findings, around $500 million per year is being handed out to multi-millionaire retirees (with over $3 million in assets). A further $1.4 billion per year in benefits is being provided to those with a net worth of $2 million. These groups would seem ripe for the picking in order to refill the steadily emptying government coffers. 

An upcoming intergenerational report is set to spell out the exponential increase in spending on items such as the Age Pension. So, in order to balance the books, the government faces the tough task of implementing policies that may adversely affect a large portion of constituents – who may also be conservative voters. Still, it may need to be done, and rather than taking more away from those who need it most, the government needs to take aim at those who can realistically fund their own lifestyles without the benefit of taxpayer-funded handouts. more  

An interesting fact to go along with this from my own experience. Recently I re-did our phone on the do not call register as we were constantly getting calls from charities asking for money. Usually I'd just say "I'm on the pension" and that would be it, but on occasion I'd get an irate person on the other end of the phone telling me that pensioners were some of their biggest contributors. How the fuck is that possible?