Over 70 people packed into the Brunswick premises of the Australian Greek Welfare Society (AGWS) last week to quiz Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews.
The meeting, organised by the Association of Greek Elderly Citizen Clubs of Melbourne and Victoria, sparked a lively question and answer session lasting more than an hour.
Pensioners grilled Mr Andrews about what Labor would bring to the table if it was returned to power at the next state election, and what it could do better in opposition, for seniors facing hardship.
Concerns were expressed on a wide range of issues, but cost-of-living pressures held centre stage, with the audience’s empassioned descriptions of the pension’s inability to cover essentials such as rate increases and rising energy costs.
Labor recently slammed the Baillieu government’s credentials on seniors’ support, accusing the Coalition of cutting the value of state concessions on pensioners’ energy bills, increasing transport costs and slashing funding to the Home and Community Care program – which in turn has impacted home care, meals-on-wheels, respite services and home maintenance.
For Victorian pensioners living in public housing, the federal government’s recent pension increase has been swallowed up by increased public housing rents.
Other matters brought up included access to personal alert systems funded by the state government (recent changes in criteria some feel make it harder to obtain the potentially life-saving technology), and on the cultural side, the need to reinvigorate Victorian Seniors Week.
Observations made during the meeting included the plight of carers looking after their own elderly – carers who are themselves elderly – and how such carers could be supported more.
Also brought to the Labor leader’s attention was the issue of Greek Australian families being burdened by the needs of new arrivals from Greece, often elderly, returning to Australia because of the Greek economic crisis.
Voula Messimeri AM, executive director of AGWS told the forum that the welfare society had been “inundated by the demand [of new arrivals], and that this shows that the Greek community is not static and its needs are complex.”
In response, Mr Andrews offered to petition the government to look at support mechanisms to deal with the issue of new arrivals from Greece “not at the end of the year or in two years, but to take account of these factors now.”
After the forum Mr Andrews told Neos Kosmos: “There’s not enough effort from the state government in so many areas – altogether they add up to making it harder for pensioners – and that’s not what government should be about.”
On what a Labor government would do to respond to the concerns raised, the Labor leader added:
“I’m not wanting to make promises I can’t keep, so we’ll take the time to develop costed and funded policies.
“The most important thing has been to come and listen and hear first hand about things we might be able to do.”
Mr Andrews said that much was owed to Victoria’s Greek elders.
“They have made a fantastic contribution through hard work, a focus on family, putting-in to build a stronger Victoria, and we need to make sure as a government that we don’t forget them, at a time when they need the community to repay them for all those taxes and all that hard work.
“We need to make sure we’re there for them.”
Mr Andrews made a pledge to the audience to return before the state election to explain Labor’s costed policies in detail.