The reported $25.50 a fortnight increase for pensioners drew a chuckle from John Kostoulias and the quip that it was just enough to buy “one lettuce a week”.
Mr Kostoulias, who is the President of the Federation of Greek Elderly Citizen Clubs of Melbourne and Victoria, was responding to an article which originated from The Daily Telegraph and reported on the startsat60.com website that the increase to the full age pension by $25.50 a fortnight would come into effect in September.
He said the increase was not enough with rising prices for food, let alone living costs for electricity, rates, petrol, insurance, home maintenance and heating.
“Even $50 a fortnight is not enough, but it would be better,” he said.
“Before pensioners would go to supermarkets to sit and enjoy the heating in winter and the cool air in summer. Now they have taken away the seating and we go to cafes because our houses are cold but you cannot spend much time in the cafes where they expect us to buy a coffee and then ask us to leave soon after we have drunk it,” he said.
Mr Kostoulias told Neos Kosmos that it was unusual that any changes to pensions were announced so early ahead of announcements that are made in March and September.
The reported increase for September would be the largest in over a decade.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said “this indexation” was crucial “to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living”. The inflation rate is currently 5.1 percent and is expected to increase towards the end of the year.
“The shape of the challenge to inflation will get worse before it gets better, but it will get better,” Mr Chalmers told reporters: “We understand that pensioners are doing it incredibly tough when it comes to their costs of essentials like groceries, electricity and petrol and in other parts of the household budget. We don’t want to see pensioners fall further and further behind. And that’s why this indexation which tries to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living is so important.”
In March, the pension payments were increased by $20,10 per single person and $30,20 per couple each fortnight. This brought full age pension fortnightly payments to $987.60 per single pensioner ($25,6777.60 a year) and $1,488.80 per couple ($38,708.80 a year).
It is also expected in September that the asset test limit would be increased to enable more pensioners to receive a part pension.
According to startsat60.com, the $145 million proposal would also see the pensioner income limit raised from the current $300 each fortnight to $600 while still receiving the maximum age pension.
Mr Kostouias said the increase in pensioner limit had him wondering whether the message was to keep pensioners working so that they did not notice the real costs of living.
“It is not enough that they have increased the age of retirement but are they asking us, to keep working when we have a few years left to us to live our lives with some dignity and some ease?”
Meanwhile the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said older Australian were suffering from rising costs with the Michelle Marquardt, the Head of Prices Statistics, saying that the rise in grocery prices and household costs playing their part.
“These households were also more affected by increases in housing costs, as they have relatively higher expenditure levels on utilities, maintenance and repair, and property rates,” Ms Marquardt was reported as saying.
