Charlotte Varcoe
PENSIONERS and business owners have supported fresh calls to overhaul restrictions surrounding senior pensioner tax to allow pensioners to work more in paid employment.
According to Australian Super, to receive the maximum Age Pension payment, fortnightly income needs to be under $180 if the pensioner is single or $320 a fortnight if they are a couple which lives together or apart due to ill health.
For every dollar earned over this limit, the pension will then be reduced by 50c for a single person and 50c per couple.
Mount Gambier pensioner and volunteer Margaret Hogg has had to stop working while on a pension due to health issues but said if there were less restrictions she would have worked more hours per week and longer.
Ms Hogg said she and her husband had to be careful with the amount of work they completed each fortnight to prevent their pensions being affected too much.
“When I was working we were able to pick up a bit of cleaning work and milking cows, things like that to just supplement a bit of extra money,” Ms Hogg said.
“Most people I speak to in regards to this have the extra money going towards a holiday or just helping their family and I firmly believe if pensioners are able to work without it really affecting their pension, they should be able to.”
She said by not having the extra income it made it difficult for pensioners both physically and mentally as it prevented them from leaving their homes.
“It is bad for people who don’t feel involved in the community and extra work does help keep them motivated,” Ms Hogg said.
“Having their pensions affected by their wages so quickly and so often can also deter pensioners from working in the first place.”
Zema Estate owner Nick Zema said he had hired a number of pensioners during the busy vintage seasons over the years and would hire them for longer if the restrictions were eased.
He said pensioners were usually hired for tractor driving or pruning throughout the year, but found it hard to keep them on the roster for more than one day at a time.
“Retired farmers and pensioners are great for pruning and tractor driving and we have hired a number of pensioners before which works quite well,” Mr Zema said.
“If they were able to work longer hours or more days that would help us out a lot because we can utilise their skills more whereas if they can only work a certain amount of time it is not feasible for us.”
He said the ideal number of days for pensioners to work during vintage time would be between three to four days a week, rather than the average of one.
“There are great skills out there that are being underutilized because of these restrictions and I think it is deterring pensioners because there is a lot of red tape holding them back which is an issue,” he said.
Ms Hogg and Mr Zema’s comments were backed by National Seniors Australia chief advocate Ian Henschke who labeled the system “outdated and clumsy”.
“The current system prevents pensioners from working and we have designed a system that actively discourages people from working,” Mr Henschke said.
“A lot of pensioners also don’t like dealing with Centrelink on a fortnightly basis and by allowing the pensioners to work extra hours, it will not cost the Government money, it is good for the pensioner and the economy.”
