This is how well Australian pensioners are treated.

[ivanhoe]

I was sent the following information from a friend in Australia about how well their pensioners are looked after.

The single aged pension is $670.90 per fortnight. we also get many concessions here, some federal and some state. Like concessions with power, rates, phone, car registration, medical we don't pay that at all, and some pensioners get help with rent if they don't own their own houses.

We also get a utility allowance paid every now and then to help as well, I think that is about $12 each...per quarter, well I think we still get it, can't remember the last time. Also if you are a carer for a partner or work as a carer you get a $600 a year bonus for caring for that person. You can care for up to 2 people.

The means test threshold for the pension, I know it is quite large like over $150,000 I think, and the home is not counted in that threshold. Hope this helps.

Ponders

re the don't pay medically, I would take that to mean they don't pay the drs for a visit. Most drs bulk bill (the gov) for pensioners & children. But you still have to pay prescriptions. They can vary between $10 - $60 depending on what you need.

nancy75

Has your dh been away long? All the houses of friends I know, have at least a gas fire, they also have split heat/air con installed. I do not know any one without air con.

Lots of people who cannot afford to install heaters have free standing heaters, as it gets pretty cold here, comparatively.

There is also water to heat for baths/showers, food to cook, so YES we do actually have gas bills...are you sure you have been here? You make it sounds like some 1850's rural nomansland!!!

Just a note on bananas in Australia, This year's crop was almost totally destroyed by a cyclone so that is why they are so exorbitant. Normally they are about half to a third of this.

Hardy's Nottage Hill (my current fave) around $13-$15 here, depending on where you buy.

//Cant wait till i retire and double my disposable income///

Smug self interest rules Britain and always has.

Again, these facts were sent to me by a lady living in Australia..

/////The single aged pension is $670.90 per fortnight. we also get many concessions here, some federal and some state. Like concessions with power, rates, phone, car registration, medical we don't pay that at all, and some pensioners get help with rent if they don't own their own houses.

We also get a utility allowance paid every now and then to help as well, I think that is about $12 each...per quarter, well I think we still get it, can't remember the last time. Also if you are a carer for a partner or work as a carer you get a $600 a year bonus for caring for that person. You can care for up to 2 people.

The means test threshold for the pension, I know it is quite large like over $150,000 I think, and the home is not counted in that threshold. Hope this helps.///////

This site is full of smug complacency, which is nothing new in Britain, Thatcher had it in bucket loads.

You are like a sheep, accepting everything you are told, without challenge.

Isn't it ironic that you said the above about me. Yet I'm the one challenging your statements by suggesting it's not a valid comparison because of differences in economy and affordibility.

Others have done similar.

Yet your response is merely to repeat what one person has sent you via email having completely accepted what she said without challenge.......

Yes, I sometimes wonder that as well.

Don't let the door bang your arse on the way out.

ivanhoe Australia has several states.

These states are stand alone in many things, such as...learning to drive differs from state to state, road rules differ, speeds on roads differ. Cost of food/eating out etc is different state to state.

Utilities differ state to state, as do pensions & the qualifying criteria for any benefits. In some states you pay to see your dr, in some they bulk bill the Gov for payment. In some states you pay school fees, in some you pay for a huge list of school essentials that can top $700 per child, easily. Some schools in some states charge school fees AND you still have to buy the 'book list'.

What we are trying to say, is that just because your friend says it's so, doesn't make it a blanket policy world wide.

Each state has it's own Government. The head of this Government is a premier.
The whole of Australia operates under a Federal Government. The head of this is the Prime Minister.

Because we all have a different premier, things are vastly different in some cases, state to state!

doesn't make it a blanket policy Australia wide.

Actually the health system, Medicare, and the pension system are under Federal jurisdiction and do not differ from state to state. Individual doctors differ as to how much extra they charge over the standard fee.

I certainly would not be looking at Australia as a fabulous utopian place. I lived there for many years and once cheap its far from now (blanket statment). It is a place not without its problems.
I do agree that they are rich in keeping as much as they can manufacturing/mining etc local something the Thatcher years did all in their power to eradicate. It wasn't an immediately cost effective measure. One of the many policies we are now paying for with our markets based on far more volatile and fluctuating in growth sectors.

niceguy2: [Australia] also have a MUCH stronger economy than we have based mainly on their vast natural resources. Something we don't have.

According to Wikipedia, 5.6% of Australia's GDP comes from mining and minerals. In the UK it's 1.6%, so the difference is only 4%. If Australia's pensioners were 4% worse off, they'd still be better off than British pensioners; so mineral resources aren't the reason.

Incidentally, an Australian minimum wage earner is better off than most Brits. Partly this is because Australia is a wealthier country overall, but also because Britain is a more unequal society, so in Britain the rich have a higher share of the country's wealth, so there's less for median-income people.