MORE than $175,000 has been raised to help farmers at Rural Aid’s annual Long Lunch, thanks to incredible generosity of Woolworths, Gina Rinehart and James Power

Included in the lunch’s generous donations was a $60,000 cheque from S.Kidman & Co, presented on behalf of chairman Gina Rinehart by Kidman board member Loretta Leung and acting chief executive officer Adam Giles. Aid provides critical support to farmers affected by natural disaster through financial, wellbeing and fodder assistance. The programs are designed to help create more sustainable communities by building stronger futures for all Australian farmers.

Read More

Aussies Win Gold And Silver At Gold Coast Beach Volleyball Pro Tour

Australia have won gold and silver at the Volleyball World Gold Coast Beach Pro Tour on Coolangatta Beach today, with an all-Australian final in the women’s beach volleyball competition.The Beach Pro Tour finals brought to close the four-event Volleyslam Festival, with only 1500 athletes competing on Coolangatta Beach over the 10-day period.

Read More

The 2023 Gold Coast Volleyslam Beach Volleyball Festival

Volleyball Australia Patron Mrs. Gina Rinehart was courtside with President Craig Carracher at the Gold Coast Volleyslam Beach Volleyball Festival. An iconic beach volleyball event set on the Gold Coasts stunning Coolangatta Beach. A celebration of the very best beach volleyball activities bringing together the full range of competition from Schools to state representation, the Australian Championships and international beach volleyball.

Read More

Daniel Wild Discussing IPA Pension Work Reform Research On FiveAA Mornings

At the moment, only around three out of 100 pensioners or veterans in Australia work. This compares to about 25 out of 100 in New Zealand. Now, this is not because they don’t want to work. We know that about 20% of them want to work if they have the opportunity, but as you identify, there are massive red tape barriers with all the form filling and bureaucracy they have to navigate. There was a survey undertaken by the National Seniors Association recently, which found that 20% of pensioners or veterans would like to work if there were different taxation arrangements. For context, that’s around half a million that would come back into the workforce, and the current shortage is around 430,000. So there’s more than enough there to fill the jobs. We just need the right policy levers to get them in there.

Read More

Half Hearted Pension Reforms Fail To Alleviate Worker Shortage Crisis

“The latest job vacancy data confirms the Federal Government’s half-hearted pension reforms are inadequate to fix our unprecedented worker shortage. We need to get serious about fixing this problem once and for all,” said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director at the Institute of Public Affairs. A recent survey by National Seniors revealed that 20% of all pensioners would consider re-joining the workforce if work restrictions were adequately eased. That is equivalent to over 510,000 workers. Currently only 3% of the pensioners in Australia work compared to 25% in New Zealand. “The IPA presented research to the Senate Standing Committee for Community Affairs prior to the reforms passing Parliament, which showed it is fiscally and economically sound for all work barriers facing age pensioners and veterans to be removed,” Mr Wild said. “The dignity of work, a key tenet in the Australian way of life, must be extended to Australia’s age pensioners who are able, and importantly, wanting to make a contribution.”

Read More

Cost of living crisis forces thousands of pensioners back to workforce

Retired Australians are returning to the workforce as the cost of living crisis makes it harder for older people to live off the pension. Over 3700 retired teachers returned to New South Wales classrooms in the last 12 months, and thousands more are looking for jobs, with one in five pensioners wanting to work more. However, older people risk losing their pension if they make over $11,800 of income a year, an amount advocacy groups say isn’t enough to live off of.”The vast majority of people who go back to work do so because they need the money,” the Chief Advocate at National Seniors Australia, Ian Henschke, said. “We should take a leaf out of New Zealand’s book and simply let people on a pension work and pay income tax.”

Read More

Older Australians hit hard by cost of living crisis

The results showed 90 per cent of respondents were concerned about keeping up with rise of living costs, while 25 per cent were “extremely concerned”. “If you’re an older person renting or on a low income, you’re more likely to be hit hard by rising living costs,” National Seniors Australia chief advocate Ian Henschke said “The age pension is adjusted twice a year in March and September. Rather than have pensioners wait six months, government should increase payments quarterly when inflation is high,” Henschke said. “Another key measure would be to exempt work income from the income test for all government payments, so recipients can work more without penalty.”

Read More

National Seniors call for cost-of-living relief in budget submission

National Seniors Australia is calling on the Federal Government to address rising living costs in the Federal Budget, by indexing the pension more often and letting pensioners work without penalty. Chief Advocate, Ian Henschke said the budget was an opportunity for the government to index the Age Pension more frequently during times of high inflation. With more than 400,000 job vacancies it should also let pensioners and other government payment recipients work more without penalty, he said. “Older Australians are an integral part of the economy, but with high inflation, uncertain markets and cost of living pressures, government would do well to boost seniors’ confidence,” Mr Henschke said.

Read More
Back to top