Seniors and pensioners from Goodna, Redbank and surrounds today joined the Shadow Minister for Health and Medicare Catherine King MP and local Federal Member Milton Dick MP to discuss the challenges faced by local seniors and pensioners.

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The message from pensioners in Oxley today was loud and clear: they have had a gutful of the Turnbull Government’s cuts to older Australians.

They don’t want to see any further cuts to pensioners in the Turnbull Government’s 2017 Budget.

New pensioners in Oxley are also very worried about losing the Energy Supplement – a cut of $14.10 per fortnight to single pensioners or $365 a year. Couple pensioners will be $21.20 a fortnight worse off or around $550 a year worse off.

This will impact 2 million Australians, including 400,000 age pensioners over the next 3 years

Pensioners need help with the cost of energy, that’s what the Energy Supplement was designed to do. Now Mr Turnbull wants to axe it.

 Around 1,270 Oxley pensioners have also seen a cut to their pension or have lost their pension altogether since changes to the pension assets test were introduced on 1 January 2017.

The legislation to change the pension assets test and cut the Age Pension passed the Parliament in June 2015 as a result of a backroom deal between the Liberals and the Greens.

The Liberal Government’s track record on the Age Pension is nothing short of atrocious.

Before the 2013 election the Liberals promised “no cuts to pensions”.

Then in every single Budget the Liberals have tried to cut the pension. 

In the 2014 Budget they tried to cut pension indexation – a cut that would have meant pensioners would be forced to live on $80 a week less within ten years.

Then the Liberals did a deal with the Greens to cut the pension to around 330,000 Australian pensioners by changing the assets test. 

The Liberals still want to increase the pension age to 70 – meaning Australia would have the oldest pension age in the developed world.

On top of all that around 190,000 pensioners will have their pension cut as a result of Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts for pensioners born overseas when they travel for more than six weeks.

Pensioners in Oxley are sick and tired of LNP cuts to older Australians.

They don’t want to see any cuts to pensioners in the 2017 Budget.

Only Labor will stand up for Queensland pensioners.