Election Special - Your guide to 2019

Election Special

Your guide to 2019

Seniors’ issues are front and centre in this federal election and older Australians will be decisive in who wins government. As a senior, what can you do to make a difference? And how is your National Seniors putting you first? Here’s Chief Advocate Ian Henschke.

For older Australians this is an election like few before it.

If you believe the government, the usual frenzy of speculation about when we will head to the polls no longer applies. Don’t you worry about that! Well, not until mid to late May, which is when the Prime Minister has promised we can exercise our democratic duties, after he brings down the budget.

Labor is pretty much saying “bring it on” as Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison have been engaging in a not-too-phoney election campaign since Christmas. The leaders continue to bump into each other in marginal seats around the country while announcing policies.

The joke goes, “Do you ever get the feeling the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?” At the time of writing, Labor is ahead in the polls and has been for many months. But the Coalition is narrowing the gap.

Whether over-confidence or a demonstration of policy transparency, Labor has been releasing policies well ahead of the election campaign. In few other recent elections have policy issues affecting seniors been announced so early and continued to fuel news headlines and public debate.

The Coalition has joined in, if only to stand opposed to what Labor wants. For starters there is aged care, retirement planning and financial services, including superannuation, negative gearing, capital gains, franking credit refunds, the Age Pension, health and energy policy.

Taxing matters

Labor appears to be unafraid of scrutiny and has been promoting a radical taxraising policy platform that will significantly impact retirement income and financial planning. Policy initiatives include ending cash refunds on share dividends for investors who don’t pay tax; reforms to

negative gearing, the capital gains tax discount, superannuation concessions, and discretionary trusts; and capping deductions for managing tax affairs.

Your opposition to the proposed franking credits reform has been fiery and so,

Your opposition to franking credits reform has been fiery and so, too, your frustration about meddling with retirement planning. ”

too, your justifiable frustration directed at all parties for constantly meddling with retirement planning: cutting income from superannuation; the Age Pension; and other investments.

National Seniors, in partnership with other advocacy groups, has told Labor to back off and to keep franking credit cash refunds if they win the election. The pressure we applied when the policy was first announced helped convince Labor to exempt pensioners. There is a long way to go before any Labor government will legislate the reform, and National Seniors will continue to press all

parties and, importantly, independents to drop the policy.

Unsurprisingly, the Coalition has ramped up its campaigning against Labor’s tax reforms, so far preferring to oppose, raise alarms and stand on its economic record than put its own initiatives out there.

Marginals rule OK

Many federal electorates are extremely marginal, requiring only a small swing in votes to change hands. This puts significant opportunity, and potentially power, in the hands of senior Australians fighting for what they believe. You can make a real difference.

All candidates would be wise to know that older Australians cannot be ignored and may well determine their future, given almost half the voting population is aged over 50.

The rise of independents is a feature of contemporary Australian politics and this federal election even more candidates will not be members of the major parties. How successful they will be is yet to be seen but polls, including the Wentworth byelection win by independent Dr Kerryn Phelps, points to independents having an even greater influence in federal parliament.

National Seniors is targeting candidates in marginal seats, including independents. For some time, we have been proactively campaigning to influence the parties as they develop and refine their policies. Later in this feature you can read about each of our election policies and how you and your National Seniors branch can join the campaigning at a local level.

The election and that royal commission

Aged care is a ground zero electoral issue for all candidates: electors will judge the parties and candidates on what they are going to do to fix the mess. Across the country we all have lived aged care system experiences – as residents, consumers or friends and families.

Even before the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety began, the failings and horrors, especially in residential care, highlighted the infringement of basic human rights and responsibilities, putting profits before the standard of care we expect for vulnerable people, including

ourselves as we age closer to that phase of our lives.

The good fight

Better aged care is one of the priorities you have told us you want us to fight for at this election. That and a suite of seniors’ priorities is outlined in this special feature.

These initiatives form the basis of our communications to candidates encouraging them to support us in parliament and get the job done to better support older Australians. They also reflect the priorities in our Budget Submission to the federal government.

You have told us that pension poverty needs fixing by taking the politics out of the Age Pension, ensuring better dental health care and helping older renters. Better age care means increasing the number of home care packages and staffing in residential homes, and ensuring mandatory dementia care training for staff.

Retirement income means retaining franking credit refunds and reducing the

Age Pension means test. Low-income seniors need cost of living support especially with energy affordability.

Better housing comes by exempting up to $250,000 of home sale proceeds from the Age Pension means test. Let’s have better government services and cut those long Centrelink waiting times.

Health costs can be cut with lower specialists’ fees and linking private insurance premium rises to CPI. National Seniors acknowledges Labor’s pledge to freeze premiums to 2%.

We are not just saying to candidates ‘here’s a bunch of problems, fix them’. Read about the solutions on pages 14 and 15.

National Seniors is your election voice. So, please connect with us as we fight for what you have told us you want. As American critic and commentator Alexander Woollcott observed: “I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course, it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.” ■

Our election priorities

We are fighting for policies that create a fairer and stronger retirement system for all. These policy priorities have been sent to candidates around the nation. They now know what we want of them and we will hold them to account.

Fix pension poverty

Let’s take the politics out of setting the Age Pension so the more than half a million people who rely on it as their sole source of income get a fair go.

The solution: Establish an Independent Age Pension Tribunal

The tribunal would work out the pension rate and any supplements based on need and circumstance. Its decisions would be accepted by the government without debate in the same way monetary policy is set by the Reserve Bank.

1. Rental assistance for seniors.

Many older people have not been able to buy their home and must seek shelter through the private rental market.

The solution: Increase the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA)

The CRA maximum rate should be lifted to a proportion of average housing costs in specific localities and be set by the Independent Age Pension Tribunal.

2. Internet for disadvantaged senior.s

The increased cost of the NBN and lack of digital literacy stop many older Australians accessing services.

The solution: Provide a subsidy to connect to the NBN

Subsidised access to the NBN will ensure older people are connected to essential services and information, family, friends and the community.

3. Improve dental care.

The cost of dental care has been privatised, leaving behind older people on low incomes.

The solution: Expand the provision of basic dental care for age pensioners

A universal dental health care scheme, based on the Child Dental Benefits Scheme (CDBS), would provide pensioners without private health cover.

from National Seniors members highlights concerns about residential care and the number, skills, dementia training and qualifications of care staff.

The solutions

1. Double the number of Level 3 and 4 home care packages.

Australians want to age in their homes. Doubling the number of Level 3 and 4 home care packages would keep more seniors from being forced into residential care, which is far more costly.

2. Require aged care providers to publish staff-to-resident ratios.

Aged care

The failings of the aged care system are top of mind for older Australians. The number of people requiring home care packages is outstripping supply, resulting in unacceptable waiting times. Feedback

Providers should know the number of staff, their skills and qualifications, relative to the number of residents in their facility. This information should be published and regularly updated so consumers are better informed when choosing a home.

3. Ensure all aged care staff in directcare roles have basic dementia training.

Trained and qualified staff would better manage dementia symptoms and help ease the high incidence of conflict in residential facilities.

Improve retirement incomes

Australians want a retirement system that encourages self-reliance and doesn’t punish them by changing rules or for saving for their retirement.

Self-funded retirees, many of whom do not have significant incomes, are tired of being targeted as a source of revenue by government. They face potential loss of income at the stroke of pen if franking credit refunds are withdrawn. Some will fall back on the pension.

In 2017, around 90,000 older Australians lost access to the pension through changes to the asset test and taper rate. The change in the taper rate from $1.50 to $3.00 per $1,000 of assets has undermined the value of saving for retirement. Retirees close to the cut-off for the pension are now paying a wealth tax because their assets are not able to earn as much as what they lose in pension. This creates a disincentive to save enough to be self-funded and encourages people to spend to achieve the pension.

Pensioners should be able to boost their income by downsizing without jeopardising their pension.

Our research shows that many older people want to downsize their home, but the impact on their pension, combined with the cost of stamp duty and moving, is a major barrier. Many would benefit from downsizing because they live in housing that is inappropriate for their needs and difficult and expensive to maintain.

The solutions

1. Retain access to franking credits for self-funded retirees.

All self-funded retirees want is to be treated fairly. We call on all political parties and independent candidates to reject the proposal to strip self-funded retirees of franking credit refunds.

2. Reduce the asset test taper rate from $3.00 to $2.00.

Reducing the taper rate to $2.00 will make it more attractive for people to save for retirement. It also will remove the strong incentive to spend money just to get the Age Pension and its benefits, reducing government spending in the long term.

3. Exempt up to $250,000 of home sale proceeds from the Age Pension means test.

Encouraging downsizing will have multiple economic and social benefits. It will unlock large sums of wealth tied up in family homes, increase retirement incomes, boost the construction of new housing, free up older stock, and improve health and wellbeing outcomes for older people.

Health costs

Spiralling out-of-pocket health care costs are the biggest concern of older Australians. Costs are rising far above inflation, fuelled by rising health insurance, private specialist services and a lack of transparency in the market. People on low

and fixed incomes are particularly hard hit.The solutions

1. Require all specialists to publish fees on a public register, and all GPs to make patients aware of choice when referring to a specialist.

Comparing and understanding medical specialist fees for hospital and other services is difficult for most consumers. Greater choice in accessing specialists would enable consumers to shop around for the most suitable service and help drive costs down.

This can be done by publishing all specialists' fees and requiring GPs to inform patients they have a choice of specialists' rather than just their recommendation.

2. Restrict health insurance premium increases to no more than CPI.

This would put downward pressure on the major driver of escalating out-ofpocket health costs, stem the departure of policy holders, and encourage insurers to develop products that offer better value for money and attract people back to the private insurance market.

Energy costs

Energy prices have been increasing at rates far above inflation over the past 10 years, hitting all consumers hard, but especially those on low incomes. Pensioners should be able to keep warm in winter and cool in summer, without having to sacrifice other essentials, such as food, clothing and shelter.

The government has not done enough to put downward pressure on prices or upgrade existing compensation for pensioners in the form of the Energy Supplement.

The solution

1. Reinstate indexation of the Energy Supplement.

Without indexation, the value of the supplement will continue to diminish over time. The federal government should assist pensioners by indexing the Energy Supplement in line with the energy component of CPI. This will help lowincome households meet rising energy cost and encourage governments to keep energy prices stable.

Centrelink waiting times

Excessive wait times for essential services such as Centrelink are unacceptable and cause significant problems for older Australians, who need access to government services other than going online.

The solution

1. Cut Centrelink telephone waiting times and reduce Age Pension processing times.

Adequate funding is required to ensure that Centrelink can service customers’ needs in a timely manner. The government must ensure call waiting and processing times for Centrelink meet community expectations.

Elder abuse

The most common form of abuse experienced by older Autralians relates to their finances. It is often implicated in other forms of abuse, such as physical and emotional abuse and neglect.

Financial abuse can occur because older people do not have access to the tools to protect themselves.

The solution

1. Expedite efforts to create nationally consistent Powers of Attorney legislation and a single national POA register.

A lack of consistency between states and territories is undermining legal protections for older Australians. Powers of Attorney documents can be used to appoint a trusted person to manage the financial affairs of someone not able to do so on their own. Creating nationally consistent legislation with stronger protections against misuse and a national register will increase safeguards for seniors. ■