UPDATE 3 FEB 2016: Age Pension recipients who travel overseas to a country with which Australia has an International Social Security Agreement (e.g. Malta) should be able to retain their full payment under such agreements. [Source: www.yourlifechoices.com.au]
Migrant and refugee groups have severely criticised the Australian government for its plan to set a limit on the time pensioners can spend overseas before their pension is reduced, thereby discriminating against Australians who were born overseas.
Under the proposed change, pensioners who spent less than 35 years of their working life in Australia will have their pensions reduced after six weeks of overseas travel – down from the current time limit of 26 weeks.
The new rule, which is due to start in January 2017, was announced in the last budget and is yet to pass Parliament. It will save about $168 million over four years.
The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia, along with the Australian Council of Social Service, is urging the government to rethink the new rule, noting about 40 per cent of Australia’s pensioners were born overseas.
“Once people [get] their pension, they’ve got certain rights,” federation chairman Joe Caputo said.
Mr Caputo said pensioners born overseas often needed to travel overseas for extended periods to stay in touch with family, or to care for a sick or dying relative. In some cases, they had never been back to the country of their birth and were going on “the trip of a lifetime”.
In a submission to a Senate inquiry into the measure, the Refugee Council of Australia added the change would particularly hurt refugee communities.
“This is especially problematic due to the significant difficulties with family reunion [in Australia],” it says. “[This means] the only way a person can see their family is by travelling overseas.”
A spokesman for Social Services Minister Christian Porter said the change was about making things “fairer for taxpayers”.
“The government believes a person’s retirement costs should be fairly distributed between the countries a person has spent most of their working life.”
He said Australia had 30 international agreements that allowed people social security from more than one country.
“It is the expectation that where a person has spent a proportion of their working life overseas, they will be eligible to receive a pension from that country.”
But the Refugee Council cautioned refugees were not necessarily eligible for pensions in other countries – given they had fled to Australia because of persecution “often at the hands of the government”. Or had come from countries which did not have comparable welfare systems.
Labor will oppose the change in Parliament, with the opposition’s payments spokeswoman Jenny Macklin noting it will hurt “thousands of migrant pensioners”.
“These pensioners have worked hard their whole lives. They deserve our support in retirement.”
The Senate committee looking at the measure is due to report when Parliament resumes next week.
[Source: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/moves-to-limit-overseas-travel-for-pensioners-discriminatory-say-migrant-refugee-groups-20160123-gmcr8v]
Australian Government’s plan to reduce pension in overseas travel cases 'discriminatory'
