Greek Australian’s on the pension have be spared from the announcement last week that will see annual welfare payments reduced depending on how long you spend overseas.
Last week, the Federal Government announced that welfare payments to families, pensioners, single parents and carers will be cut if the recipient chooses to spend more than six weeks away on their overseas travel but announced this week that Greek Australian’s will not be affected.
Due to agreements between the Greek and Australian governments, the Federal Government’s new changes will not affect Age Pension or Disability Support Pension recipients who have no future work capacity and have been assessed as having a severe and permanent disability.
There are currently around 69,000 Greek-born pensioners living in Australia and around 11,300 Australian pensioners who are receiving their pension sums in Greece. These parties have all been spared from their welfare being slashed due to time spent outside of Australia, that will affect other welfare recipients of different backgrounds. People from New Zealand are also not affected by these cuts.
Once the income changes come into action in 2012, pensioners not eligible for the Greek Social Security agreement will have to have spent at least 35 years of their work life in Australia to be eligible to receive their full pension if they choose to retire or travel overseas for extended periods.
Pensioners who have not worked in Australia for at least 35 years will have their pension reduced according to their active working period.
However, those pensioners already living overseas before the changes come into place will not be affected by the changes and will continue to receive the amount they are eligible for.
The government predicts the changes, which will be effective from January 1 2014, is set to reap savings of $178 million over four years to be distributed on other budget priorities.