Advocacy Wins
National Seniors has had a number of significant advocacy wins. With your help, we can achieve even more!
As a not-for-profit organisation, we work hard to achieve better outcomes for older Australians. But we couldn't do it without your support. Together, we can and do make a difference. Check out our full list of advocacy wins below and get involved in our free campaigns.
Lowering the deeming rate
National Seniors has led the campaign to reduce deeming rates since 2019, resulting in two rate reductions. The first in July 2019 reduced the lower rate to 1% (from 1.75%) and the upper rate to 3% (from 3.25%), affecting 630,000 pensioners. The second occurred in May 2020 and reduced the lower rate to 0.25% and the upper rate to 2.25%, affecting 565,000 Age Pensioners. This has boosted income support payments to pensioners and other payment recipients by more than $1.2 billion.
Pension Loans Scheme wins
The Pension Loans Scheme was extended to everyone of pension age from 1 July 2019. This included an increase in the allowable income to 150% of the Age Pension. We also called for a lowering of the Pension Loans Scheme interest rate. On 1 January 2020, it fell from 5.25% to 4.5% per annum. On 15 December 2021, it was announced that the interest rate would drop from 4.5% to 3.95% per annum from 1 January 2022 - a reward for our strong and consistent campaigning.
Pension stays at 67
We campaigned against plans to increase the pension age from 67 to 70 and were pleased when Prime Minister Scott Morrison backed away from the unpopular idea. The decision reverses a policy announced in the 2014 Budget and is a win for common sense.
Improvements to the Pension Work Bonus scheme
Following calls from National Seniors, the Coalition announced an increase to the Work Bonus in the 2018 Budget, later extended to eligible self-employed people. From 1 July 2019 pensioners can earn up to $7,800 per year without impacting their pension entitlements.
Ending the Medicare freeze
We continue to pressure governments and industry to put the brakes on rising health-care costs. Doctors blamed out-of-pocket costs on governments limiting the rebates they received for seeing Medicare patients. The cost was passed on to patients. It was a big win when this was acknowledged and the freeze ended.
Agreement for greater scrutiny of specialist fees
In early 2019, the federal government announced it would fund the development of a new website to enable consumers to compare specialist fees. We will work with the government to ensure this tool drives down the cost of health care, and will continue to advocate for ongoing reforms that reduce out-of-pocket health care costs.
Energy Supplement retained for new Age Pension recipients
We opposed the federal government’s 2016 proposal to scrap the Energy Supplement for new Age Pension recipients. This would have cost a single pensioner $365 and a couple $551 annually. In 2018, we welcomed the announcement that the policy was no longer being considered. Easing the rising cost of energy is central to our broader energy affordability campaign.
A regulated price for electricity
After considering submissions to the inquiry into electricity pricing in 2017, including National Seniors' own submission, the ACCC recommended a default offer with a regulated price and basic consumer protections be created. A default market offer (DMO) with regulated price was created by the federal government on 1 July 2019. This was a huge win for older consumers unable to shop around for a better deal on energy.
Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety
One of the biggest announcements in 2018 was the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. National Seniors has highlighted the problems in aged care for many years and welcomed the establishment of the commission. We have been actively engaged, providing submissions, attending hearings and communicating the experiences and views of members through the media.
Extra home care packages
In 2020 alone, there were an additional 29,105 Home Care Packages released at a cost of almost $2 billion. In total, there has been an extra 73,105 Home Care Packages released at a cost of $4.6 billion since the 2018-19 Budget thanks to our pressure on the federal government. We will continue to call for more high-level packages to meet the high demand; and for government to act quickly on the recommendations of the aged care royal commission.
National elder abuse plan
In 2016, we made a range of recommendations for action on elder abuse. A new national plan to tackle elder abuse was released in 2019. We continue to promote reforms to improve protections for older people including a national register for Enduring Powers of Attorney.
Franking credit cash refunds
We opposed Labor’s proposal to scrap franking credit cash refunds in 2018. Many lower-income self-funded retirees, who worked hard and planned their retirement within the rules, would have been significantly impacted by the change.
Better Housing
National Seniors has lobbied hard to make housing more accessible as part of our Better Housing campaign. On 30 April 2021, Ministers attending the building ministers’ meeting agreed to adopt mandatory accessibility standards in the National Construction Code (NCC). This means all new homes and apartments will have to meet 7 minimum accessibility standards to accommodate people with limited mobility or a disability. This includes: a step free entrance door, wider internal doorways to allow wheelchairs and a toilet at entry level.
Become a member
As a not-for-profit organisation, your membership directly funds our Advocacy and Research work. It helps us fight to fix pension poverty, tackle the cost of living and health care, improve aged care and fairness in retirement income.
Plus, get access to discounts, competitions, weekly news and Our Generation magazine 4 times a year!
Donate to our advocacy campaigns
Your gift today can help fix pension poverty, rebuild the retirement income system and provide more home care places so that older Australians can live safely and make ends meet.
