Rising costs of living push many pensioners into poverty: "I'm not sure I will survive"
- Replies 28
Pensioners in Australia are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain their living conditions as a result of the country's rapidly rising cost of living.
Pat Isaacs, who is 78 years old and hails from Orange in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, is living in a state of perpetual anxiety as a result of rising daily expenses.
She does not have any investments or superannuation funds to her name and is solely supported by her Age Pension.
"I was doing okay really until everything increased in price so much," Pat told 9News. She added that she doesn't even eat meat or buy new clothes anymore, seeing that she can no longer afford them.
As the prices of groceries continue to rise, so do her out-of-pocket medical bills.
The cost of living continues to rise on a monthly basis, yet there has been no increase in the pension.
She can only rely on her retirement income and a meagre savings account, both of which she has to delve into in order to maintain her quality of living.
"I'm not sure how well I will survive at 78 and plan to be around a while longer to enjoy my family," she cried out.
Pat Isaacs is one of about 1.5 million Australians who only rely on the Age Pension. Credit: 9News.
It is estimated that 1.5 million older Australians rely on the age pension as their primary source of income, which corresponds to slightly more than $900 per fortnight for singles or slightly less than $25,000 per year.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals that numerous retirees have experienced the largest yearly increase in living expenses in the past 16 years.
Due to embarrassment or to avoid feeling like a burden, many individuals with financial difficulties do not notify their families.
Ian Henschke asserts that the government is ignoring pensioners and that they have been "barely featured" in an election campaign that has almost exclusively centred on the cost of living.
"We've got pensioners living in poverty and they are out of sight, out of mind," Henschke, the Chief Advocate for National Seniors, a non-profit organisation that campaigns for better outcomes for older Australians, told 9News.
"And no one is caring about it. The age pension is not adequate to provide for all Australians," he added.
"We've got roughly one in four older Australians living in poverty. And the fastest-growing are single women who are renting."
National Seniors' Ian Henschke thinks retirees should earn more before losing benefits. Credit: 9News.
Under the Age Pension income test, a person's age pension is reduced by 50 cents for every dollar of income earned beyond $180 per fortnight.
A recent "Work Bonus" was also implemented, in which pensioners receive the first $300 of their biweekly wages to reduce their eligible income.
Henschke argues that fundamentally, pensioners are not being paid enough and when they work to cover their expenses and contribute to the economy, they're being unfairly penalised.
He says that if pensioners were allowed to work without having their pensions cut, their combined efforts would probably bring in more income tax and give Australia's economy a bigger boost than the money the government would save by cutting their pensions.
"Don't penny-pinch off the pensioners. Change the taxation system," he said.
What are your thoughts, folks? Is the age pension inadequate to cover your basic living expenses?
.png){kind=icon}
