Stopping aged care neglect can’t wait until the May Budget:
3 March 2021
The Aged Care Royal Commission's final report has been released to the public. Now it's time for action. Here's what must happen.
The Government subsidy that pays employers to sack older workers
3 March 2021
The JobMaker credit scheme pays employers for hiring workers under the age of 35. Getting young people back into work is important but the scheme will only make life harder for older workers in Australia's job market which has already been criticised for age discrimination long before COVID-19.
Domestic gas users pay more for no good reason
3 March 2021
Australians have been paying more for gas produced in their own backyards than overseas gas importers pay for Australian gas plus export charges. The Australian consumer watchdog said there is no "adequate reason" as to why this is happening. So what's the federal government doing about it? So far, not a lot.
$3.57 daily Jobseeker raise slap in face of unemployed, young and old
24 February 2021
After years of campaigning and despite everyone agreeing a meaningful increase to Newstart, now called Jobseeker, was needed urgently, the Australian Government has come up with a miserly increase of $50 a fortnight.
Aged Care Royal Commission: now for the real reform!
24 February 2021
Friday 26 February is when the Aged Care Royal Commission finally ends, more than two years after it started. The Department of Health's responses to Counsel Assisting's recommendations to the two Commissioners seem to indicate disagreement between the Commission and the Government.
End of the line for Lithgow Aged Care Ltd
24 February 2021
Another nursing home is facing forced closure by the regulator, but the home is not part of a nursing home chain. It's stand-alone. 73 residents have to find something somewhere else.
Unsupportable burden: NSW property tax
17 February 2021
An annual property tax proposed by the NSW Government would place an unsupportable burden on many households which now struggle to cover the cost of utilities and council rates, writes contributor Frances McMahon.
‘Dine and discover NSW vouchers’: no smartphone, no problem
17 February 2021
THE 'Out and About Vouchers' that were announced in the November 2020 NSW state budget have been renamed Dine and discover NSW vouchers, and they are available in paper form, says the Minister.
A self-funded retiree responds
17 February 2021
ROGER is a self-funded retiree who took exception to last week’s 'Crying poor and being poor: assistance for retirees' item. He wrote a response.
Aged care standards are substandard standards
10 February 2021
New aged care standards came in just before the Royal Commission started, but the compliance results published by the Productivity Commission are curious, to say the least.
Crying poor and being poor: assistance for retirees
10 February 2021
Apparently the Reserve Bank is being flooded with mail from retirees who can't see why the Governor doesn't put up the interest rates on their term deposits. Talk is of emergency measures. But what about the retirees who are not self-funded and who do not have anything to invest?
NSW retirement village law shakeup
10 February 2021
New rules make it easier for a retirement village resident to sell up if and when they need to move into a nursing home.
Super could be super
3 February 2021
In the debate about contributions, what's forgotten is what, and especially how, all these saved contributions are going to fund your retirement. Why don't super funds offer pension plans while people are working and accumulating savings?
Are self-managed home care packages a good idea?
3 February 2021
Does choosing your own care worker sound like a good idea? It might be, but be careful of the pitfalls.
Second NSW Regional Seniors Travel Card now available
3 February 2021
NSW regional seniors will be wasting no time to get this $250 freebie!
Cashless Welfare Card for Cape York Age Pensioners voted through
16 December 2020
The Australian Government's denials that Age Pensioners would not be forced onto the Cashless Welfare/Debit Card have proven to be untrue. Age Pensioners in the Cape York area can now be forced onto the Card and probably will be. This sets an alarming precedent for Age Pensioners throughout Australia.
Aged care: why medication reviews are not popular in nursing homes
16 December 2020
Free to nursing homes, free to residents, but medication reviews for new residents are only conducted twenty per cent of the time.
Does Centrelink terrorise pensioners?
16 December 2020
The federal Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, let rip during Question Time recently, suggesting Robodebt was back, with a focus on age pensioners. Perhaps it's not quite that bad, but Automation of Income Streams reviews are not for the faint-hearted.
Waterloo History Research Project
16 December 2020
Looking for people with vivid memories of Waterloo in the 1960 and 1970s.
Regional NSW funeral directors thumb their noses at new regulations
9 December 2020
Recently, the NSW regulator introduced new rules about what pricing information funeral directors must publish online and display in their office. The requirement is for extensive pricing information as well as the price of the cheapest funeral package they offer. Funeral directors in Broken Hill, Bathurst, Tamworth, Dubbo and Wagga Wagga are dragging the chain, and those are towns we checked.