COTA Media Releases 1998 COTA Media Releases 1998search | about COTA | index | links | membership | policy and information
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July - December
Older peoples' group starved of funds for International Year, 10 December 1998
Accountants' report supports case for income boost to pensioners, 8 December 1998
30% rebate risk to private health insurance, 4 December 1998
Older people appalled by bank fee rises, 24 November 1998
Older people bypassed by Tax Consultative Committee, 29 October 1998
Uneasy poll choice for older Australians, 30 September 1998
Coalition recycles policies in bid to win over older Australians to GST, 28 September 1998
Older people welcome Labor dental and Medicare pledge, 10 September 1998
Labor listens to older people on nursing homes, 4 September 1998
Modest Labor package, some benefits for older people, 27 August 1998
Risk for older people in Coalition tax package, 26 August 1998
Back to Media releases and Press articles main page.
10 DECEMBER 1998
OLDER PEOPLE'S GROUP STARVED OF FUNDS
FOR INTERNATIONAL YEARThe Council on the Ageing (COTA) said that it was a great shame that the national office of the Australian Pensioners and Superannuants Federation (AP&SF) was closing on the eve of the International Year of Older Persons which is due to commence in just a few weeks.
The AP&SF national office lost its funding last year in a review of Commonwealth support of community organisations. While the office had managed to stay open for more than 12 months after the loss of this funding, the situation has at last become unsustainable.
"AP&SF has been an important voice for disadvantaged older people for many years and it is regrettable that the Commonwealth has not seen its way clear to give some assistance for this important work," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director.
"Consumer groups do not have the same access to funding as do service provider organisations, whether they be commercial or not-for-profit.
"In the aged care area, service providers are dominant. There are more of them and they are well-resourced. The demise of the AP&SF national office will mean that it will be even harder for the consumer voice to be heard.
"COTA works hard to keep up pressure on government for low income and disadvantaged older Australians, but we do not have the resources to take on all the issues that need to be addressed. AP&SF and COTA have had complementary roles in many areas. AP&SF has had a particularly strong voice in retirement incomes, while COTA has had a greater specialisation in health.
"COTA wishes the staff of AP&SF well for their future and acknowledges their dedication and professionalism over the years. We will miss them as colleagues and friends," concluded Mr Correll.
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8 DECEMBER 1998
ACCOUNTANTS' REPORT SUPPORTS CASE
FOR INCOME BOOST TO PENSIONERSThe Council on the Ageing (COTA) said today that the case for improving the income of people reliant on the full Age Pension received a significant boost in a new report from the Institute of Chartered Accountants which compares retirement incomes across a number of OECD countries. The report shows that Australia's expenditure on pensions is the lowest of the ten countries surveyed.
"COTA has been very concerned for some time about the situation of older people whose sole means of support is the Age Pension. For example it is not uncommon for a woman who goes on to the Age Pension at 63 to have no additional income for another 20 years.
"While the pension allows for day to day survival, it is by no means enough to allow a person to put aside money for larger items such as a new washing machine or large expenses such as dentistry.
"COTA has been saying for some time that people in this situation need a periodic supplement to their pension income to enable them to manage such costs. We have also argued that the Government should look again at reverse mortgage schemes which would help some older people release the equity in their house to improve the quality of their life.
"COTA recognises that any international comparisons of retirement incomes must take account of non-cash benefits such as medical care as well as rates of home ownership.
"Even so we are convinced by our day to day contact with older people that many are struggling on low incomes. Government policy is also making it harder for them to manage due to cut backs in home and community care services and increased user pays.
"The findings of the international report are supported by the Budget Standards project completed earlier this year by the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. This major study of expenditure patterns of different groups in the community showed that a 70 year old woman living in her own home needed $215 per week to live within a low cost budget. The single pension at $179 per week is about 20 per cent short.
"The evidence is stacking up for help for older people on the lowest incomes. While Australia needs an affordable retirement incomes system, it should not be at the expense of depriving some of its citizens of a decent standard of living," concluded Mr Correll.
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Top of page4 DECEMBER 1998
30% REBATE RISK TO PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE
The Government's 30% private health insurance subsidy promised in the election to commence in January 1999, would be damaging to the long term viability of both the private health insurance (PHI) industry itself and the public health system, according to the Council on the Ageing (COTA).
"PHI has been losing large numbers of members over the past few years because it's products are unattractive to consumers, they are too expensive and they are poor value for money.
The 30 % subsidy will perpetuate these underlying problems," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director, speaking before the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee which is inquiring into the Government's rebate proposal.
Dr Michael Wooldridge said earlier this year that "Customers are running out of patience and are not going to idly wait for the industry to get its act together and fix the problem....the Government has done its bit with the $450 rebate... Dr Wooldridge concluded that it is "up to those who receive money paid by health funds......to acknowledge it is in their own self interest to work with the funds to achieve better cost control, establish single billing systems and eliminate the gap payment."
"Insurers must establish cost control arrangements with medical specialists and private hospitals and address problems of multiple billing and the large gap payments. Some insurers, such as National Mutual, are doing some excellent work in these areas. The rest of the private health insurance industry must catch up.
"We have been told by the Government that if more people are in private health insurance, this will ease pressure on public hospitals. In reality the rebate may create further pressure on public hospitals by drawing away scarce medical specialist resources.
"Because multiple billing and gap payments will continue to be a problem, many people with private health insurance will still be using the public system for emergency care, complicated care and for procedures likely to incur high copayments in the private system.
"It is perplexing that the Government should choose a very large and expensive package of industry assistance to shore up private health insurers. It will be very difficult for the Government to withdraw the subsidy without major trauma for the industry itself and consumers in the future. It turns off the pressure for the industry to make the necessary adjustments and reform. This will be bad for the industry in the long term," concluded Mr Correll.
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24 NOVEMBER, 1998
OLDER PEOPLE REJECT CALLS BY POLITICIANS AND HEALTH FUNDS TO DELUGE SENATORS WITH LETTERS SUPPORTING PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE REBATE
Mr Denys Correll, national executive director of Council on the Ageing said today "The health insurance scare campaign against older people is scurrilous. Health Insurance Funds have a poor track record in designing and selling their product. Governments have closed public hospital beds. The Medical lobbies want to extend their lucrative private practices. Older people are the victims".
"Let us start again. Older people want access to affordable health care. Private health insurance is only the first cost, say $1000 out of a pension of $9000. Then come the copayments when private hospital care results in a stack of bills".
"Government claims the population want rebates. Offering anyone something for "free" of course will attract a high "yes" rate. Rephrase the question (Newspoll 22/9/98) then 78% of Australians say public hospitals should be the priority for Government spending. What is more, 64% of Coalition voters believe public hospitals should be the priority for Government spending".
Mr Correll continued "Governments have squeezed the public hospitals over the last decade. They have closed beds and made the system unattractive for specialists. No wonder the surgeons prefer the facilities of private hospitals, not to mention the extra income".
The real crisis is not with the numbers dropping private health insurance. The health insurers have failed to control their costs (12.5% spent on administration) or the costs of private hospitals - the highest area of cost increases in the health system (8.4%)."
Mr Correll concluded "The rebate proposal is one of the most ill-considered Government policies. There are no promises of the number of extra people who will be treated. There are no promises of cost restraint. There are no promises that access to public health care will improve".
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Top of page24 NOVEMBER 1998
OLDER PEOPLE APPALLED BY BANK FEE RISES
Older Australians have expressed their anger and dismay this morning about the Commonwealth Bank's decision to increase the price of cash withdrawals fees - $1.50 to $2.00 for over the counter transactions and 45 cents to 60 cents for ATM transactions - a hefty 33 per cent price hike.
"Older people are saying that this is yet another big slug making it all the more difficult to manage on low and fixed incomes, said Mr Denys Correll, Council on the Ageing (COTA) national executive director.
"For an older person, making two or three cash withdrawals of small amounts of money per week for safety reasons, this fee increase means that they could spend over $100 per year just to access money to live on. This is a large amount of money for a pensioner.
"COTA has been pleased to be a partner with the Australian Bankers' Association in a project developing strategies for older people to learn about new banking technologies. Raising ATM fees is totally counter-productive.
"The Prices Surveillance Authority inquiry of 1995 revealed how the banks' arguments for increasing fees on retail transaction accounts were unjustified. Considering the record profits posted, there is certainly no justification to increase fees in 1998.
"The real question is whether the Commonwealth bank - the people's bank! - is still interested in having individual customers or is it really only interested in large corporate clients and share holders?
"There are still problems for many older people - especially the very old, frail aged or disabled - in using electronic banking:
* physical access to ATMs,
* remembering pin numbers
* no standardised keying procedures
* queuing in the street and making transactions under pressure
"What happened to the community service obligations of the banks? This latest price increase is indicative of how cynical banks are becoming about consumers and the community. This is a fairly difficult attitude for older people to swallow given that around $14 billion of Age Pensioner money will wash through banks this year," concluded Mr Correll.
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29 OCTOBER 1998
OLDER PEOPLE BYPASSED BY TAX CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
The Council on the Ageing (COTA) today expressed its regret that the Government's Tax Consultative Committee will be unable to address the concerns of older Australians about the impact of the tax reform package due to its tight timeframe and narrow terms of reference.
"Older people have put their trust in the Government. They expected that they would have a chance to put forward their concerns and that the Government would listen. This was implicit in the document Tax Reform: not a new tax, a new tax system,"said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director.
"It says very clearly on page 32 of that document.....Some reform proposals are already well advanced in design, while with others the policy intent is clear but the design would benefit from consultation with those most affected.
"One of the most important elements of the tax package where there is outstanding design issues is the compensation for older people on fixed and low incomes.
"Significant doubts have been cast on the compensation for older people since the release of the tax package. COTA is not convinced that the 4 per cent indexation of the pension will be sufficient.
"Older people do spend more on food and necessities as a proportion of their incomes than do wage and salary earners. The Government needs to thoroughly reexamine its position.
"In residential care, some residents already have costs for pharmaceuticals and medical services exceeding their income. A GST could compound these problems.
"There are also a lot of issues that need to be examined around exemptions for pharmacy only medicines and medical equipment. Older people are very worried that they will be paying much more for essential medical items.
"Then, there are many uncertainties about the activities of the charitable sector which provides many services to older Australians.
"The Government has let older people down in this process. We ask the Government to keep to its commitment to consult," concluded Mr Correll.
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Top of page
30 SEPTEMBER 1998
UNEASY POLL CHOICE FOR OLDER AUSTRALIANS
The Council on the Ageing has called on the Coalition to make a commitment to monitoring the effects of the GST on older Australians and to make an adjustment to the level of the compensation if it is found to be inadequate. The monitoring should be a key role for the Tax Consultative Taskforce which the Prime Minister has promised to set up.
COTA today released its policy inventory of key Coalition, Labor and Democrats policies affecting older Australians showing that they will have a hard choice to make in Saturday's elections.
"There are many issues for older Australians to consider," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director.
"Clearly the biggest choice for older Australians is the acceptability of the GST in terms of tax reform.
The Coalition has assured older people they will not be worse off. But it is still not clear to many older people especially those on a full pension or other low income that this will be the case. The inclusion of food in the GST remains a considerable liability in terms of the acceptability of the Coalition tax package.
"The Labor platform offers a more incremental approach tax reform. But various groups including ACOSS and COTA have asked whether the approach is sufficient to rectify the problems we have in the tax system.
In many respects, the ideal policy package is an amalgam of all three major parties' packages.
"In the Coalition policies COTA particularly welcomes:
- the easing of the pension income test by reducing the taper rate from 50 per cent to 40 per cent
- the commitments of funding to supporting the nation's carers
- improvements to Commonwealth/States financial relations
- the national strategy for an ageing Australia
"On the Labor side COTA strongly supports:
- $100m per year for dental care and an additional $500m per year to public hospitals
- the employment package and recognition of the special needs of mature workers
- the abolition of additional fees and charges for nursing homes
- the introduction of an active ageing agenda
"COTA also commends a number of the Democrats policies: the increased funding for community care, the dental care proposal, recognition of special needs of older unemployed, and commitment to public hospitals.
"Whichever party wins on Saturday, the Government elect should make it a priority to consult with older people as quickly as possible," concluded Mr Correll.
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28 SEPTEMBER 1998
COALITION RECYCLES POLICIES IN BID TO WIN OVER
OLDER AUSTRALIANS TO GSTThe policy statement on older Australians released by the Coalition today was perplexing as it offered little that was new according to the Council on the Ageing (COTA).
"The policy statement makes much of the Coalition's achievements of the past two years. Certainly there have been a number of worthwhile initiatives," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director.
"Older people have welcomed the Coalition's policies for carers. The legislation to maintain the age pension at 25 per cent of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings has also been well regarded by older people.
"The Government's National Strategy for an Ageing Australia and its commitment to International Year of Older Person's are very creditable achievements.
"There have of course been some policies which will be a liability for the Coalition in this election - the nursing home charges, the abolition of Commonwealth dental care and the inclusion of superannuation in the social security assets test for unemployed people over 55.
"The Coalition's older Australians policy statement has been packaged well but in some areas there is not uch substance.
"For example, COTA has sought a special employment program of training, counselling and job placement for unemployed older people.
"The Coalition is promising a Mature Age Workers Program but all it will do is provide promotional material in the Job Network and with employer associations. While this is a start, it falls far short of the comprehensive program that COTA has envisaged.
"The Coalition's policy statement for older Australians released today did not placate the concerns of many older people about the potential effects of the GST on their incomes due to the inclusion of food in the GST.
"COTA will be releasing its summary of Coalition, Labor and Democrat policies for older Australians tomorrow, Tuesday, 29 September.
"Older people will have a chance to compare the policies of the parties," concluded Mr Correll.
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10 SEPTEMBER 1998
OLDER PEOPLE WELCOME LABOR DENTAL AND MEDICARE PLEDGE
The Council on the Ageing (COTA) welcomes Labor's announcement today that it would restore $100 million of Commonwealth funding to dental health.
"A promise of Commonwealth funding for dental care is one of the key policies we have asked for from all parties in our election policy guide which is available now from COTA," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director, commenting on Labor's health policy announced today.
"The policy guide sets out the policy priorities for older people. It is designed to help all political parties form their policies for older Australians in this election campaign.
"COTA will be looking to the Coalition to match Labor's promise on dental health. Of all the issues COTA has had to deal with in the past couple of years, few have been as sensitive with older people as dental care. COTA in New South Wales has received more calls from older people on dental care than any other issue.
"There have been too many horrific stories of people having to wait months and sometimes years to get dentures repaired or teeth filled. Of course if teeth are not repaired soon enough, eventually they have to be extracted. COTA believes that the Commonwealth has an important role in the funding of dental care.
"COTA is pleased with Labor's commitment to Medicare although we will need to look at the proposals for additional funding in more detail. COTA believes that a universal health system delivers the best health care to the most people for the least cost. Medicare should be nurtured not starved of funds.
"The Australian Hospitals Commission is a sensible policy initiative announced by Labor today. This commission would manage Labor's additional $500 million for public hospitals, encourage hospital system reform, publish information about public hospitals performance and foster better Commonwealth-State relations.
COTA welcomes the measures announced on rural health which will encourage doctors to go to rural areas. With the ageing population in rural areas, this is important. The Coalition has long recognised this need. It has worked hard over the past few years to get doctors to go to and remain in rural Australia.
"Other good policies announced in the Labor health policy statement include additional funding for indigenous health, mental health and a new Men's Health Program. These could all have some benefits for older Australians," concluded Mr Correll.
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Top of pageSEPTEMBER 1998
LABOR LISTENS TO OLDER PEOPLE ON NURSING HOMES
The Council on the Ageing (COTA) today said that it was pleased that Labor had got the message from older people and had dropped the annual fees and extra daily charges for nursing homes.
"Nursing home annual fees and income tested extra daily charges are a great burden on sick and frail older Australians," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director.
"They are in the awful situation of having their income and assets tested at the most vulnerable moment of their lives - often after an acute episode in hospital, when they are most alone and when they are least able to look after their own interests.
"Labor's proposal to put back $360 million of the $520 million to upgrade nursing homes that have failed certification is most welcome.
"Many nursing homes that have failed certification are unable to charge the annual fees. Without capital assistance, refurbishment and renovation are near impossible.
"COTA also welcomes the Labor promise of dropping of the additional daily charges for care in nursing homes which are set according to the income of the resident. These fees do not go to the care needs of residents but go into government coffers. It is well that Labor would drop them.
"Another good point in the Labor policy is that it would adequately fund nursing care to ensure conditions for nurses in nursing homes are equivalent to those in other sectors. This is important in ensuring that the nursing staff are of a high calibre and are retained in the aged sector with their specialised skills.
"COTA still believes that residential aged care needs structural reform. Major issues remain as to the long term future of the industry and the options for its development.
"COTA believes there needs to be stronger links between community care in the home and residential care. Most older people wish to stay in their own homes as long as possible but often they have to go into residential care because there are insufficient community support resources.
"We are hoping both major parties will announce a major boost in funding for Home and Community Care (HACC) and Community Aged Care Packages (CACPs) in this election campaign. We believe this would be a big winner with older people.
"COTA is also waiting with great interest the dental health policies of both sides. This is a dire need amongst older Australians," concluded Mr Correll.
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27 AUGUST 1998
MODEST LABOR PACKAGE,
SOME BENEFITS FOR OLDER PEOPLEThe Labor tax package would preserve the status quo for most older Australians in terms of income security and offers a few welcome benefits said the Council on the Ageing (COTA) today. However, the question remains as to whether the Labor package would deliver on the type of tax reform that Australia needed, it said.
"Older Australians will welcome the abolition of annual and daily nursing home fees and the increased funds for public hospitals. The refundable imputation credits and the restoration of the tax exempt status to allocated pensions will also be welcomed," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national executive director.
"COTA has wanted tax reform for many years to improve Australia's declining revenue base. We are still not convinced that either Labor or the Coalition has the plan that Australia needs.
"The Labor package appears to be better targeted at low to middle income groups than the Coalition package. But, if it fails to secure a sustainable and adequate revenue base for important social programs and infrastructure over the long term, then it really is just an election vote-catcher.
"COTA will be examining the Labor tax package in depth over the next few days to determine whether or not it does indeed sort out some of the fundamental problems of the tax system. The package does have a healthy focus on employment and investment incentives but the likely efficacy of the incentives needs to be further assessed.
"The package has a strong focus on reducing the effective marginal tax rates caused by the interaction between the taxation and social security system for families. This is good of course, but it does not recognise that this same problem affects many older people who would like to earn some additional income from employment, interest or dividends.
"The package also does not do anything for the many people reliant on the age pension for long periods with little or no private income. This group has been a major concern for COTA in recent years.
"COTA welcomes the commitment to a progressive Medicare levy set at the rate of the former "gun levy" but only applying to those earning over $50,000. The proceeds will go directly to public hospitals.
"We are perturbed though that the package does not seem to abolish the private health insurance rebates which are absorbing much needed public funds into the inefficient private health insurance industry.
"Older people will be carefully weighing up the two parties' platforms in coming weeks leading up to the election," concluded Mr Correll.
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26 AUGUST 1998
RISK FOR OLDER PEOPLE IN COALITION TAX PACKAGE
Older people reliant on the Age Pension as their main source of income fear they will be worse off under the Coalition Government's plans for tax reform according to the Council on the Ageing (COTA).
"After consideration, COTA believes that the Government has failed to convince age pensioners with little or no additional private income, that they will not be disadvantaged by the reforms," said COTA's national executive director, Mr Denys Correll.
"We are perturbed by this because COTA believes that tax reform is essential.
"The Government has insisted that pensioners will be well looked-after under the package. However, this is not very clear from the information presented to date. People on the age pension are at risk of being worse off. Many find this level of risk unacceptable.
"Food is not excluded from the GST. This is a serious deficiency in the package. Age pensioner households spend on average 28 per cent of their weekly budget on food whereas wage and salary earner households only spend 18 per cent.
"The Government should remember that it is not so long ago that it lost the trust of older people when it tried to shift more of the cost of aged care on to frail older people themselves.
"Older people are paying for the income tax cuts through expenditure cuts to important programs and services such as the Commonwealth Dental Health Program. They are paying more fees and charges, and waiting longer for treatment in public hospitals.
"A most serious anomaly in the tax package relates to the rebates for private health insurance amounting to nearly $7 billion over 4 years. While the 30 per cent rebate on PHI will make it more affordable for some older people, it will continue to remain out of reach of many, especially those on the lowest incomes.
"COTA considers that the Government would be more successful in convincing pensioners that it is genuinely concerned with their well-being if it improved the quality and access to public hospitals.
"The message is clear. There are over 1.1 million people who receive a full pension. There are also many non-pensioners on low incomes. Many of these people are doing their own calculations and believe they will be the worse off under tax reform.
"COTA calls on the Prime Minister to show his leadership and commit his Government to review the levels of direct and indirect compensation to pensioners." concluded Mr Correll.
COTA will be responding to Labor's tax proposals.
Click here to see COTA's detailed response to the tax package
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Top of page20 AUGUST 1998
Council on the Ageing (Australia) welcomed the announcement today by Warwick Smith, Minister for Family Services, that the GST pension increase of 4% will go entirely to nursing home residents.
Mr Denys Correll, National Executive Director of Council on the Ageing (Australia) said today "The Minister's announcement will give confidence to nursing home residents that the compensation for the extra costs of the GST will not just become new revenue for nursing homes".
Mr Correll said "There are many aspects to the tax package which are causing concern to full pensioners. It is taking time to unravel the implications. While COTA welcomes the clarification of the compensation payment to nursing home residents, the Government has not convinced full pensioners in the community that the pension increase of 4% in July 2000 will be adequate to cover their increased costs. The Government has said itself that individuals and groups do not have the capacity to analyse the losses and gains in the package. It is therefore up to the Government to convince the 1.1 million full pensioners that they will be adequately compensated."
COTA is in constant contact with the Government on aspects of the package. The next areas we are working on are the quarantining of all essential services in residential care from the GST and ensuring community care services are GST free.
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14 AUGUST 1998
The Council on the Ageing said that although elements of the tax package released yesterday looked positive, older people would need time to grasp the detail.
"We have been handed a massive proposal for significant changes in the way revenue is collected in Australia," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's National Director.
"This package must be assessed against the 1998-99 budget which involved major expenditure cuts.
"COTA is investigating the adequacy of the compensation for the GST, especially for low income groups. The compensation includes a 4% pension increase, a 2.5% increase in the income test free area, the softening of the income test, savings and retiree bonuses, the abolition of provisional tax, the increase in the tax rebate, making franking credits refundable and the reduction in marginal tax rates at lower levels. What all this amounts to if, for example, you are living on an age pension and do not have much private income is yet to be tested.
"One of the most important questions for older people is whether the level of expenditure on important services such as community care and public hospitals will be increased to meet need over the longer term. One of the greatest dangers in the package is the assumption that GDP growth targets will be achieved. If they are not achieved the Government will have three alternatives - increase tax, run a deficit or cut expenditure.
"Over the last few years there have been massive expenditure cuts affecting services to older people as the Government has sought to get the budget into surplus.
"Older people have paid for the budget surplus through increased user charges, delays in getting services, waiting lists for treatment or not getting services at all.
"The guarantee of a revenue stream to the states may help to replace regressive taxes but we will need to examine the implications of the new arrangements in more detail.
"COTA welcomes the fact that many health services are GST free. The exclusions must include, however, community care services. We are disappointed that the Government has narrowly defined pharmaceuticals to include only those on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Pharmaceuticals which can only be dispensed by pharmacists must be added to the GST free products.
"The private health insurance subsidies amounting to nearly five billion dollars over four years are a waste of money that could be directed to the public health system.
"Older people have much weighing up to do in the coming weeks and months," concluded Mr Correll.
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28 JULY 1998
OLDER PEOPLE WON'T SWALLOW FOOD TAX
The Council on the Ageing (COTA) today warned the Government that a GST on food could be rejected by older Australians.
"The problem is that food is the largest expenditure item in an older person's budget.
A tax on food will have a large effect. A 10 per cent GST could mean a 10 per cent price increase," said Mr Denys Correll, COTA's national director.
"This means if an older person is spending $40 per week on food, the food bill may rise by up to $4 per week. This is a big loss if you are a single age pensioner living on around $180 per week.
"Older people, both pensioners and non-pensioners alike, are naturally very nervous about the tax package due to be released shortly.
"There are rumours that health will be zero-rated. This must include residential aged care and community care.
"Of course, the impact of the GST will depend on the compensation that the Government offers and whether or not the GST is used to pay for income tax cuts.
"COTA believes that income tax cuts should be ruled out at the present time. Tax reform should focus on shoring up the Government's revenue base first of all.
"Older people have suffered greatly as a result of expenditure cuts in the past few years in important programs. We need to see some funds flow back into important programs such as Home and Community Care and dental care.
The Government will need to get the compensation package right for pensioners and self-funded retirees:.
- it must be enough to cover the effect on income of all price increases - the age pension must be increased and there must be compensation for people who draw income from superannuation, interest, dividends and other assets
- it must cover the impact of the one-off devaluation of all savings and assets in terms of purchasing power
- it must be guaranteed over the long term.
"One of older people's greatest concerns is that compensations will be quickly eroded by inflation or by government pushing up the rate of the GST at a later date.
"It will be hard for the Government to convince older people that the GST will be in their interest. COTA is waiting in anticipation to see how older people will fare," concluded Mr Correll.
For comment on any media releases or articles please contact:
Council on the Ageing (Australia)
Level 2, 3 Bowen Crescent
Melbourne 3004
Tel: (03) 9820 2655 Fax: (03) 9829 9886
email: cota@cota.org.auBack to Media releases and Press articles main page.
Copyright © 1997 Council on the Ageing. All rights reserved.
Revised: 23 October 2001Council on the Ageing (Australia)
Level 2, 3 Bowen Crescent, Melbourne Vic 3004
Tel (03) 9820 2655 Fax (03) 9820 9886
email cota@cota.org.au