Australian Pensioners’ and Superannuants’ League Qld Inc.

Reverse Mortgage Forum - March 24, 2010

By natasha | February 28, 2010

The APSL will be holding a Forum taking a look at the ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’, when it comes to Reverse Mortgages.

The Forum will be an opportunity particularly for pensioners and seniors in general to hear and learn about real facts concerning the advantages, repercussions, shortcomings and tragedies with Reverse Mortgages.

A forum that will reveal the whole story…

Presented by the Australian Pensioners’ & Superannuants’ League Qld Inc., the Forum will include a panel
of guest speakers including:

Kevin Conlon – CEO of the Seniors Australian Equity Release Association of Lenders (SEQUAL)
Donald & Susan Gowans - Seniors First Specialist Finance
Basil La Brooy -Community Education Officer National Information Centre on Retirement
Investments (NICRI)
Speaker - Queensland Law Society

The APSL welcomes members of the public and media to attend this forum that hopes to sort out some of
the key challenges seniors and pensioners are facing with regards to Reverse Mortgages.

When: WEDNESDAY 24TH MARCH

Time: Morning Tea from 9am, Forum 10am - 12.30pmVenue: APSL State Office, 174 Boundary Street, West End 4101

For more information please contact us on (07) 3844 5878.

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HELP NEEDED - Volunteers to train seniors in Computers

By natasha | January 31, 2010

The APSL has been successful in gaining a grant from the Federal Government and NEC Australia for a project called Broadband for Seniors. We have been successful in gaining access to a computer kiosk which will consists of two computer desks, two NEC notebook computers and a wireless broadband network.

To get the project up and running we would like to invite interested APSL members to volunteer as tutors to train seniors in computer use, internet access and email access.

If you are interested, please ring State Secretary Ian Gordon on on 0417 796 887.

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Electricity increases impact on pensioners and low income earners

By natasha | January 9, 2010

The Australian Pensioners’ and Superannuants’ League, Qld Inc. (APSL) have opposed Full Retail Contestability (FRC) of the distribution of electricity since its inception. In the last decade we have seen power consumption rise by 90%, this coincides with a population growth in South East Queensland of around 30% in the similar period. The effect, the government and electricity providers has said is a necessary increase in the cost of power supply.

While recognising these significant changes and the impact of population growth that has impacted on electricity demand, the guarantees and assurances that were given to Queenslanders (particularly those in the South East Corner) that the introduction of privatisation of retail suppliers would not increase the cost of power, but would provide the necessary competition to bring about a reduction in the cost of electricity has been proven to be a myth.

Now, once again consumers and in particular pensioners and other low income people will face a further hike of at least 13.83% as of July 2010.

Since the introduction of private electricity retailers, the cost of electricity over three years in Queensland has increased by over 30% and with the latest announcement consumers will be looking at nearly a 50% increase in the cost of electricity since 2007.

The impact of these significant increases is now having a serious effect within the community and last year the Energy Ombudsman’s report revealed that over 30,000 Queenslanders were disconnected from their source of electricity. This compares with less than 12,000 accounts in New South Wales.

While the APSL appreciates the power rebates that currently apply to pensioners and seniors in general, the impact of these price increases is having a serious effect on low and fixed income people as has been revealed in the numbers that have been disconnected from power.

We call upon the Minister of Mines & Energy, Mr Stephen Robertson and the Bligh Government to extend the current rebate as in some other states to those people who hold a Commonwealth Health Card. Failure to provide assistance to these groups of people is likely to see a further increase in the number of people facing disconnection and further aggravate an already increasing level of poverty in Queensland.

Over the last few days, since the price increase was announced to the public, the APSL has been inundated with phone calls from worried consumers demanding the ‘re-regulation’ and ‘government intervention’ in this out of control energy pricing mechanism.

Raymond Ferguson, APSL Policy Coordinator says that “the APSL will continue in conjunction with other consumer organisations to take whatever action is necessary to bring about a change.

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Increased electricity costs impact on pensioners, Minister doesn’t care.

By natasha | June 11, 2009

The Australian Pensioners’ and Superannuants’ League, Qld Inc. (APSL) have opposed Full Retail Contestability (FRC) of the distribution of electricity since its inception.

In this regard, in its advocacy and research, the APSL has drawn heavily on experiences in other states where FRC had been introduced earlier and demonstrated quite clearly that this has led to significant increases in the cost of electricity to consumers and in particular impacting on pensioners and other disadvantaged people.

Clearly, as a result of this recent announced increase of nearly 16%, the position and opposition taken by the APSL to FRC has proven to be correct.

Ever since the introduction of Full Retail Contestability, there has been an increase in the price we pay for electricity by approximately 35%.

While the Minister of Mines & Energy, Mr Stephen Robertson buries his head in the sand and simply fobs off the increases as being natural and necessary to maintain energy supply and then advisors consumers to shop around for a better deal. Spare a thought for those consumers, thousands of pensioners, seniors and other disadvantage people living outside of South East Queensland who are subjected to the regulated tariff and cannot shop around.

The previous Minister for Mines and Energy, Mr Geoff Wilson, regularly consulted with the Energy Consumer Reference Group which included the APSL on all issues regarding changes in the costs of energy, particularly impacting on pensioners and other disadvantaged people. To date, the Energy Consumer Reference Group has not been consulted by the newly appointed Minister.

Raymond Ferguson, APSL Policy Coordinator says that “the APSL will continue in conjunction with other consumer organisations to take whatever action is necessary to bring about a change.

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Budget relief for Pensioners

By natasha | May 12, 2009

The Australian Pensioners’ and Superannuants’ League, Qld Inc. (APSL) welcomes the commitment by the Federal Government to follow through on their commitment to improve the situation of pensioners.

The pension has been in the past completely inadequate and now pensioners are a major beneficiary of the Federal Budget for 2009/2010.

For almost two years; through lobbying, forums, protests, letters, meetings and begging we have been calling on the Government to show some compassion to pensioners and urgently increase the level of the pension. Some of our calls have been answered.

Raymond Ferguson, APSL Policy Coordinator says “that pensioners, particularly single pensioners will welcome the increase in the base pension rate as announced by Treasurer Swan. The $32.49 increase for single pensioners in particular lifts them to approx two-thirds of the age pension base rate. From this position the APSL is appreciative that our claim for single pensioners of receiving two-thirds of the combined pension rate has been met. This will help the lives of pensioners who are struggling to meet the growing expenses of living.”

“We express our bitter disappointment though that the combined pension rate remains inadequate

even with the increase ($10.14) announced in the budget. This is a frustration as the formula of 25% of the AMTWE of single and combined pension rates has not increased to the 35% rate which was the demand of seniors’ organisations in general.”

“In the Government’s failure to make an improvement to this rate, the increases announced will only be a band-aid remedy and will not sustain adequate income for pensioners and seniors in general for the future” said Ferguson.

“We are opposed to the qualifying age for the aged pension being increased to 67 years of age. We feel this could have been avoided if the government gave some consideration to increasing the current pension bonus scheme for those who remained at work for another 2 to 3 years after reaching pension age. In doing this it would encourage prospective aged pensioners to remain at work.”

Adjustments to the marginal tax rate of 40% seemed to be another casualty of this budget. The APSL had hoped that an adjustment to the rate that pensioners are subjected to concerning a modest income above the current threshold, which is $138 per fortnight for a single and $240 per couple, would be reduced.

“The APSL will continue its activities in support of the ongoing Fair Go for Pensioners Coalition campaign to have the pension base rate adjusted to no less than 35% of the AMTWE and a reduction of the marginal tax rate of 40%.”

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