Struggling to live
One in 10 Australians on the dole can’t afford a substantial meal each day, while one in eight can’t afford prescribed medicines and one in 20 cannot heat their homes, according to unpublished research. Commissioned by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs for the 2008 review of pensions, it finds age pensioners are much better off than the unemployed.
One in 10 Australians on the dole can’t afford a substantial meal each day, while one in eight can’t afford prescribed medicines and one in 20 cannot heat their homes, according to unpublished research.
Commissioned by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs for the 2008 review of pensions, it finds age pensioners are much better off than the unemployed.
Only about 1.4% of age pensioners surveyed could not get medical treatment if needed, 0.7% of age pensioners could not get a substantial meal at least once a day and only 2.1% of pensioners could not afford the medication prescribed for them.
The research has never been published, either by the department that commissioned it or by the researchers themselves, Peter Saunders and Melissa Wong from the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.
Asked by the department to examine the adequacy of the payments “to different groups, including age pensioners”, the research compares what it calls ‘deprivation rates’ among seven groups, including low wage workers, self- funded retirees and age pensioners.
The research reveals: “Although the results do not necessarily imply anything about whether or not the age pension is adequate at current levels, it does appear to be the case that the age pension is more adequate than the existing payments made to people with a disability, parenting payments, and those whose eligibility for income support is a consequence of unemployment”.
In its submission to the inquiry, the federal government argues lifting the rate of allowances would act as a disincentive for recipients of the payment to seek work.
“In a climate of fiscal constraint, it remains important to consider expenditures on income support alongside other public expenditure priorities and to note that the position of people out of work is also assisted through investment in taxation measures, employment services and broader social policy and program reforms,” the submission says.
