To the Beagle Editor
New Assets Test for Pension
Many pensioners have recently been alarmed to receive a letter from the Australian Government advising their Centrelink pension payments have been drastically reduced due to a change in assets test. I don’t know if this was voted for by politicians but I do know that politicians enjoy extravagant lifetime pensions, so such a vote may be a conflict of interest. I wonder if retired MP’s will have their pension similarly assets tested ! An option for pensioners losing income is to cease paying into a Medical Fund. There are three messages here –
Do not work hard for 40 years to build assets because you will be penalised in retirement.
Politicians receive excessive pensions and travel expenses far beyond that of the honest working citizen.
The Government prefers to chase pensioners rather than large corporations with creative accounting who pay little or no tax.
Bring on the next election.
Gary Smith . Moruya
