Centrelink pensioner assets test estimator for 2017

Centrelink asset/pension calculator for 2017

There's a lot of talk going around at the moment in regards to pensioners being cut off from their pension because the assets test has changed. Although I don't know what the new limits are, I believe you can still have hundreds of thousands in assets and still qualify for the pension. Those who get cut off will be those at the very top.

Then there are people like us, paying private rent in Sydney out of my pension and David's Carer Payment (still waiting for housing) leaving us with a bit under $7,000 each per year to pay everything else with. I've been into all this before here. We basically have fuck all. Some super money which we've been lucky to be able to access a bit of it under financial hardship, and assets worth fuck all. Everything gets paid but we often spend almost a week sitting at home without a cent to our name.

It's people like us that have been in such situations with the pension so low for us, foregoing a higher pension so that people at the top with hundreds of thousands of $ assets can get the same amount as us. People who own their homes and don't even have to pay rent, sitting on megabucks. Is that really fair?

Turns out we're going to be a lot better off come 1st Jan 2012 as we'll both be getting about $30 more, paid for by courtesy of those at the top getting cut off with the assets test reduced. May not sound like much, but to us that is like winning lotto.

So next time you hear somebody whinging how terrible it is that they've been cut off the pension, remember how much they must already have to get cut off anyway, and think of people like us who need that money much more than they do. I consider it completely fair and reasonable in a society that cares about the vulnerable.

This of course was a deal made by the gov with the Greens. The Greens pushed for this redistribution as a matter of fairness and need. 

Centrelink asset/pension calculator for 2017 here.