Our chance to "torpedo" pension cuts
We've found a powerful new ally in the fight to protect the age pension: the Liberal Party backbench. The very same group that mutinied over the GP copayment has taken aim at Prime Minister Abbott's planned cuts to the pension, calling it "the next public battle" in the Coalition party room.
Following last month's spill, Mr Abbott's stepping on eggshells and eager to please, so a big push now to stir up the backbench could see this unpopular policy axed for good.
Powerful anecdotes about how these cuts will affect you or someone you know will give our MPs the constituent stories they need to make a compelling case in the party room. Will you ask your Coalition MP to speak up to protect the pension?
Following last month's spill, Mr Abbott's stepping on eggshells and eager to please, so a big push now to stir up the backbench could see this unpopular policy axed for good.
Powerful anecdotes about how these cuts will affect you or someone you know will give our MPs the constituent stories they need to make a compelling case in the party room. Will you ask your Coalition MP to speak up to protect the pension?
Introduce yourself – The most powerful stories are those that paint a compelling picture of the person involved. Who you are? Where you live? What do you do?
Share your story - Illustrate your point with a compelling example from your life, or the life of someone you know. How would your life be different if these cuts come into effect? How would it affect your family or your community? What sacrifices might you need to make?
Ask for a commitment - Thank your MP for their time and ask for a committment that they'll speak out against cuts to the age pension in the party room.
See below for some more detail on what exactly these cuts will mean for the age pension.
Share your story - Illustrate your point with a compelling example from your life, or the life of someone you know. How would your life be different if these cuts come into effect? How would it affect your family or your community? What sacrifices might you need to make?
Ask for a commitment - Thank your MP for their time and ask for a committment that they'll speak out against cuts to the age pension in the party room.
See below for some more detail on what exactly these cuts will mean for the age pension.
The Abbott Budget proposed two main changes to the age pension that will adversely impact the livelihoods of older Australians:
- The indexation of pensions would be changed from using the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index (PBLCI), or the male average weekly earnings, as a benchmark to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This seemingly innocuous change is anything but, with the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) estimating this will mean a loss of $80 per week over the next 10 years. For those Full Age Pensioners already living below the poverty line, this is untenable.
- The age at which the age pension could be collected would rise from 67 to 70 – whether work is available or not. This change also places a disproportionate burden on those who work in manual labour industries.
YourLifeChoices is the most active site in Australia for those aged 50+, with 110,000 members nationally. YourLifeChoices is committed to ensuring well-being and high quality of life for older Australians, providing information about seniors health, work, travel, finance, retirement planning, aged care, centrelink pensions and seniors services.
YourLifeChoices condemns the Abbott Government's attacks on older Australians as fundamentally unfair and failing to recognise the contribution older Australians continue to make to our society. In particular, YourLifeChoices believes cuts to the age pension must be halted if we are to prevent the creation of an aged poor cohort in Australian society.
Visit their website to find out more, and to sign on to their mailing list: https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au
YourLifeChoices condemns the Abbott Government's attacks on older Australians as fundamentally unfair and failing to recognise the contribution older Australians continue to make to our society. In particular, YourLifeChoices believes cuts to the age pension must be halted if we are to prevent the creation of an aged poor cohort in Australian society.
Visit their website to find out more, and to sign on to their mailing list: https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au