Abbott's pension cuts set to die in the senate

There is a stark difference in the amount of money paid by the Newstart job search payment and the pension (whether it be the old aged pension or the DSP) as we recently found out personally. Indeed the difference is startling, much more than what I thought it might be. The Newstart payment is $470 a fortnight. The Carers Payment pension, along with the Carers allowance and his share of rent assistance is about $820 a fortnight. Nearly double.

Why the vast difference? Simply put, indexation. Newstart is indexed at the rate of inflation. Pensions are indexed as a percentage of average weekly earnings. The impossibly low rate of Newstart now exists because of being indexed at the lower rate. Indeed, pensions over time will follow the same path as Newstart if pension indexation is changed to the Newstart rate of inflation. So much so that the gov expects to save a massive $22billion over the next ten years on pensions by changing the indexation to that of Newstart.

It could be argued that people go on the DSP as Newstart is so low, which I'd have to admit was one of the reasons getting David on the Carers Payment came up in discussions with the social worker as a way forward to avoid likely bankruptcy. But in the end that is all for naught if you don't qualify and aren't eligible. As he's eligible for these payments it was a straight forward matter. If he wasn't Centrelink would have rejected his claim and he'd have remained on Newstart, simple as that. So in the end the argument of slyly going on the pension doesn't hold a drop of water at all.

It must be said too that David didn't want to end up in this predicament. The pension is a help, not a bloody jackpot. In fact the only way he agreed to apply for the Carers Payment was because he can still work 3 days a week if he finds somewhere. He was over the moon about the job they told him he had for a month and then rejected him at the 11th hour.

Thankfully the gov's proposed pension indexation changes now appear certain for the senate chopping block. 

One has to ask though, why oh why is the gov trying to get pensioners to pay off the national debt FFS? Why can't corporations pay tax? Don't they understand that we have nothing? You can't get blood out of a stone. Battling against bankruptcy, how the hell do they expect us to survive by cutting $22billion out of pensions? What a bunch of dumb fucks.

Another landmark policy loss is looming for the Abbott government, as Senate crossbenchers firm in their resolve to sink a $22 billion cut to pensions. 

Just days after the Coalition's defeat on its higher education reforms, Palmer United Party's Zhenya "Dio" Wang and independent senator Glenn Lazarus have signalled their opposition to Scott Morrison's fresh bid to change pension indexation - where a lowering of the indexation rate would be accompanied by regular reviews of pension adequacy. 

Senator Wang and Senator Lazarus' opposition follows that of independent senator Jacqui Lambie and strong reservations expressed by South Australian senator Nick Xenophon. more