PENSIONERS are arguably Australia's new poor.
A Federal Government pension review background paper, released this week, has highlighted some brutal facts about life on the aged pension.
For couples on $456 a week things are tough enough when rent, fuel, food and energy prices are racing well ahead of inflation. But for singles on the maximum $273 a week the situation is even worse.
In a damning finding, the review concluded that Australia's single pensioners are worse off than their counterparts in other comparable countries, receiving just 60 per cent of the married rate.
The Government should be commended for conducting the review, a decision it made after a Senate committee heard evidence that the single pension rate was probably too low to support a decent standard of living, especially for people in the private rental market.
It is apparent that this hardship is falling disproportionately on vulnerable groups of people such as older widows, the chronically ill and people who have devoted themselves to long-term caring roles for other family members.
According to the review, almost 80 per cent of Australians over the age of 65 are pensioners, with more than 2 million people on an aged pension or related payment. Most have little or no other income and most have hardly any assets.
The fact is, most people will wonder why a full-scale government review was needed to conclude what thousands of Hunter pensioners could have told anybody who cared to ask.
Rising cost of living
Pensions have so patently failed to keep pace with the cost of living that many recipients are in appalling financial circumstances. Various discounts, rebates and support measures notwithstanding, rising prices of essential items have forced many aged people into chronic rationing.
Owning, maintaining and operating a car has become an impossibility for many, a reality which effectively grounds those people who don't live near public transport routes. Health insurance is equally problematic, a particularly painful issue for those who have paid premiums for decades but must abandon insurance when they need it most.
Internet access is a luxury many can't afford, the companionship of pets is a difficult stretch for single pensioners and for many an unexpected expense such as a failed refrigerator or washing machine represents a financial catastrophe from which they may take many months to recover.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that many pensioners have been forced into debt, either by paying large, unavoidable expenses by credit card and finding themselves unable to pay more than minimum monthly repayments, or by drawing on equity in family homes.
It is a national disgrace that a rich country like Australia should rank at the tail end of developed countries in its support of its aged citizens. The Government must follow its pension review with some prompt action.
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