Media Releases > Press Articles 2002

COTA pushes for security and support

Fifty-Plus News, March 2002, p4

COTA has put a 10 point Budget plan to the Department of Family and Community Services to assist older Australians, by following through on policy reform undertaken in the Government's last term of office, and to also instigate new areas of reform.

"Even though the 2002-3 Budget will be constrained in spending, there are very important areas of need that must be addressed even if it means taking the Budget into deficit", Veronica Sheen, COTA's Deputy executive director, argues.

"We do not want the Government to bolster a budget surplus through cuts to social and health programs. New areas of expenditure such as the commitment to the war on terrorism, and the costs of asylum seekers could be paid for by a special levy as introduced for the East Timor, and the gun buy-back scheme."

COTA has called for the following budget initiatives:

1 Age Pension increase

An ongoing increase of $300 indexed or 3 per cent in the incomes of all age pensioners and other people 50 and over who are reliant on social security incomes. The GST compensation has not been adequate.

2 More flexibility in the pension bonus scheme

The Pension Bonus Scheme should provide stronger incentives for people to remain in employment for between one and four years and also allow older people who have already received an Age Pension to take advantage of the scheme if they have opportunities to return to work.

3 Earnings Credit Scheme

Establishment of an Earnings Credit Scheme for working age people on social security payments.

4 Meshing Newstart Allowance with retirement incomes policy

The social security assets test for mature age people should be revised to more realistically reflect lifecycle factors affecting savings and retirement savings requirements of older Australians.

Newstart Allowance for older unemployed people should be increased or replaced with another payment - COTA suggests the current level of pension payment- that more realistically reflects the duration of unemployment they are likely to experience.

5 Mature Age Allowance

Defer abolition of Mature Age Allowance until there is an improvement in employment rates for people 60 and over.

6 Support the National Information Centre on Retirement Investments (NICRI)

An immediate increase of $200,000 per annum to the funding of NICRI to ensure that the service is available to all older Australians considering their investment options in both pre-retirement and retirement years. Additional funding is also needed to meet the demand for information about banking services.

7 Further Welfare Reform

COTA believes that effective return to work strategies for mature age people should include specialised services covering:

Referral to appropriate services and training
Careers advice
Assistance with job search
Information technology training
Transition to retirement programs
Education about the labour market of the 21^st century

The promised introduction of age discrimination legislation should be accompanied by a campaign of positive reinforcement about the benefits of employing mature age people.

8 More Public housing

The Commonwealth Government should re-establish a public housing policy and through the Budget allocate funds to the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreements to increase and upgrade public housing stock.

9 Assistance for older people in private rental accommodation

10 Assistance for owner occupiers

Support could include:
- Helping older people to make use of Home Equity Conversion programs to help them remain in their own homes and to improve their quality of life.
- Funding housing relocation services to help older people who wish to move but cannot afford to do so.
- Improving home modification and maintenance schemes to assist older people to remain independent.