! Aussies Go Home !

[rexall]

Sat 4 Dec 04 , 7:43 p.m.

Hi all,

I have an Aussie pensioner friend who believes that there is a (new?) policy that Aussie expat pensioners have to return to OZ every six months to keep their pensions payments coming in. Terrible, if true. But the thing that sounded really strange is that apparently you don't even have to report in person; only call on the telephone and answer some questions or give a password or something.

I'm not Aussie, and my friend is not very sophisticated about ferreting out info like this. He thinks he may have to get on a plane this week! Can anyone confirm that, or have any additional information?

Thanks, lah!

Aloha,

Rex

[Limbo]

I'm not Aussie, and my friend is not very sophisticated about ferreting out info like this. He thinks he may have to get on a plane this week! Can anyone confirm that, or have any additional information?

Thanks, lah!

It is really very sweet of you to help your Aussie friend, Mister Lah!

And I also hope that there is somebody who can and actually does help you to help your Austarlian, sorry Aussie friend.

What is ferreting out? It is not in my dictionnary.

Maybe time to get another dictionary.

Many times you can phone to the Australian Embassy with questions and if they can not answer them they could be able to give you a website or telephone number where they might be able to help you to help.

I sometimes also help a friend. He is now almost 80 years old and as you know not every old person is still 100% between the ears.

Somebody has to take care of these silly old bastards, because as we all know one day we will be one of them!

Chok dee Lah!

[Pink Mist]

If I get time I will "Ferret" the information tomorrow.

[badboybilly]

Yere what i read is true,you must go back every 6 months for old age and 3 months for invalid pension,they return your call so u must be in australia.

Regarding your thread LIMBO,mate i didnt laugh ,might be time for you to get a life instead of plonking your fat yank ass at the computer everyday.

You thought you were funny,mate,thats the main thing.As long as your happy thinking you were funny.Mate your definetely a 100 % ######.

[udon]

I don't think it applies to someone living in a Country which has a reciprical agreement with Oz, but....... I could be wrong.

If an Oz pensioner was in the UK he/she should be ok.

Strewth.... 25,000bt a quarter in airfares, just to answer the bloody phone.

but....... if you gave them an Oz mobile number with "roaming" they wouldn't know where you were, would they? A 55 55

[rexall]

Sun 5 Dec 04, 10:20 a.m

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies!

(1) FERRET : A ferret is a fuzzy skinny, little animal related to a weasel that chases rats & such out of holes in the ground. In the context that I used it, it means to uncover hidden information.

(2) THANKS BRONCO! Happy ferreting! Lemme know, please.

(3) BADBOY : I don't know what you are on about. LIMBO?? Are you confusing me with someone else? In any event, my fat ass in front of this computer pays the rent, so I think I will keep it right where it is, thank you very much. BTW, Speak English!

(4) UDON : Yea, a mobile with roaming would do it. I suppose they also have call forwarding in OZ which would also do it. But what about just having a friend call for you. If all this is true, they must have some security in place, but it doesn't seem very difficult to crack, especially with the motivation of saving 25,000 THB x 2!

BTW, your avatar cat is wearing an orange! Strange!

Thanks, lah!

Aloha,

Rex

[udon]

Security may be to ask you personal info such as Centerlink number etc.

The Oz fone would be fairly important with the roaming.

Let's wait and see what Bronco digs up.

That's a small Pomello.....on a big cat!

[Pink Mist]

Rex I prefer to think of a Ferret as a cute and cuddly Mammal closely related to that magnificent hunter the Mongoose.

They were used to chase rabbits out of burrows, but these days are kept as pets.

[rexall]

Rex I prefer to think of a Ferret as a cute and cuddly Mammal closely related to that magnificent hunter the Mongoose.

They were used to chase rabbits out of burrows, but these days are kept as pets.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's what I said, "fuzzy". Doesn't fuzzy count as cute and cuddly? Oh, well. A friend of mine in Florida has a bunch of them as pets. Very affectionate. "Conan The Barbarian" is her favorite. They crap in a litter box like cats. What the ###### are they, anyway? They aren't rodents. They aren't feline or canine, I don't think. Bears? They obviously aren't lizards, lizards aren't fuzzy or cute and cuddly. <tee hee>

[Pink Mist]

they are my brothers and sisters.

[lambous]

Roaming wont cut it as Centrelink cross reference with Australian immigration records. They always check if you've been in the country or not. I know from my own experience with getting youth allowance while in Thailand. If you buy return tickets from Bangkok instead of Australia it will cost you around 16,000 - 18,000 Baht return + taxes (East Coast) rather than 25,000.

[Pink Mist]

will do the mirror job tomorrow

[udon]

Roaming wont cut it as Centrelink cross reference with Australian immigration records. They always check if you've been in the country or not. I know from my own experience with getting youth allowance while in Thailand. If you buy return tickets from Bangkok instead of Australia it will cost you around 16,000 - 18,000 Baht return + taxes (East Coast) rather than 25,000.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pray..... tell me, where in BKK can you get a rtn ticket to SYD for 18,000bt +? taxes

[a2396]

I'm not Aussie, and my friend is not very sophisticated about ferreting out info like this.  He thinks he may have to get on a plane this week!  Can anyone confirm that, or have any additional information?

Thanks, lah!

It is really very sweet of you to help your Aussie friend, Mister Lah!

And I also hope that there is somebody who can and actually does help you to help your Austarlian, sorry Aussie friend.

What is ferreting out? It is not in my dictionnary.

Maybe time to get another dictionary.

Many times you can phone to the Australian Embassy with questions and if they can not answer them they could be able to give you a website or telephone number where they might be able to help you to help.

I sometimes also help a friend. He is now almost 80 years old and as you know not every old person is still 100% between the ears.

Somebody has to take care of these silly old bastards, because as we all know one day we will be one of them!

Chok dee Lah!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You mean "Aussies" the masters of Queen's/King's English slang never heard of "ferret out". Maybe no ferrets in Australia??

[Limbo]

I always thought that one is entitled to a pension because one has paid contributions for it. It is something you paid for. It is a right, not a favour.

It sounds strange to me that the Australian Government wants to decide where you spend your pension. Next step is that they even will dictate how to spend it.

Concerning pensions for invalidity it is of course another case. Let's say that you lost an arm and both of your legs in an accident and you emigrate to Thailand.

It is quite reasonable that they want to check every three months if your limbs grew back because in that case you could work again.

[Patong Bob]

Disabilty Pension - maximum time overseas is 13 weeks. Records are computer cross referenced with DIEA. If you exceed this time your pension will be cancelled, you will not receive arrears, and you will have to re-apply.

Thank you for all your taxes over the years, and F*** you,

Australian Government.

From Patong Bob,

former pensions manager, Centrelink, Southern Victoria.

[Limbo]

Disabilty Pension - maximum time overseas is 13 weeks.  Records are computer cross referenced with DIEA.  If you exceed this time your pension will be cancelled, you will not receive arrears, and you will have to re-apply.

Thank you for all your taxes over the years, and F*** you,

Australian Government.

From  Patong Bob,

former pensions manager, Centrelink, Southern Victoria.

Yes Bob and the shit (excuse the word) is, that people who got a disability pension didn't get that for nothing. This is cruel, because it everytime puts people back into the shit (no, no excuse anymore). Everytime they have to prove that they are disabled. They don't get a possibility to adjust to it, no, they have every three months to put a new sticker with 'disabled' on their forehead.

It is worse enough to be disabled in what way ever. But they want to rub it in.

Shame on the Australian politicians, shame on the people who voted them in again. OK, I don't know about Australian politics, so maybe another government had done the same.

And, I hardly dare to ask the question, has it something to do with abuse of these arrangements by non-australians?

[lambous]

Roaming wont cut it as Centrelink cross reference with Australian immigration records. They always check if you've been in the country or not. I know from my own experience with getting youth allowance while in Thailand. If you buy return tickets from Bangkok instead of Australia it will cost you around 16,000 - 18,000 Baht return + taxes (East Coast) rather than 25,000.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pray..... tell me, where in BKK can you get a rtn ticket to SYD for 18,000bt +? taxes

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I regularly buy 3 month open tickets with Royal Brunei for 17,000 to Brisbane through my travel agent in BKK. They have just started flying into Sydney too not sure about the price.

[cojones]

maybe its because farangs who retire to LOS never pass away , officially on paper ,because the thai family will never want to admit he is gone and lose the monthly pension income. so they keep the corpse on ice and make out everything is just fine !

They have to keep those pension payments coming no matter what happens

This is prolly why they are double checking on whether the old fella is still alive and kicking!

[udon]

Roaming wont cut it as Centrelink cross reference with Australian immigration records. They always check if you've been in the country or not. I know from my own experience with getting youth allowance while in Thailand. If you buy return tickets from Bangkok instead of Australia it will cost you around 16,000 - 18,000 Baht return + taxes (East Coast) rather than 25,000.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pray..... tell me, where in BKK can you get a rtn ticket to SYD for 18,000bt +? taxes

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I regularly buy 3 month open tickets with Royal Brunei for 17,000 to Brisbane through my travel agent in BKK. They have just started flying into Sydney too not sure about the price.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where??? Name and address and phone number please!

Thank you.

[strawberry]

The pollies and the beaurocrats pensions are not affected by this new ruling. In their pensions which are superannuated are hi enough to dissalow them from a part pension. In Australia the pension is not guaranteed as it is in the UK. That is providing you have payed your taxes.

I'm entitled to a part pension but they won't pay me because I'm living over here but I payed my taxes since 1952.

There was a time that you could work up to your retirement age apply the next day then get on a plane to live in another country.

It is very difficult to get center link to spell out the rules until one actually applies for a pension, then they laugh and say no not entittled.

I automatically thought that as I had payed my taxes since the early 50's that automatically entitled me to an old age pension. That would have been so if I had lived in the country for the previous 10 years.

The problem is that when you are dealing with these people one doesn't know the questions to ask them. When I question them I was told come back to Australia to apply, so I did and was told ''not entitled'' and also told ''your not even born in Australia''

The system is very uneven and I think pretty dishonest.

If you have any mates over here who are retired beaurocrats HIT THEM VERY HARD POUR PETROL OVER THEIR PRIVATES AND LIGHT

Love to you all Joe

[rexall]

Mon 6 Dec 04, 11:16 a.m.

Hi Guys,

Well it would seem that you are answering my original question that started this thread, albeit very slowly and piecemeal! And I guess the problem is that when dealing with bureaucracy, any bureaucracy, the information is always gong to tend to be ambiguous and conditional and often crazy making.

What a load of crap! It is understandable that the gov would not want to continue paying a pension to a corpse . . . but to inflict a hardship and a financial burden on an entire class of people who on a limited income to (maybe) prevent some fraud is terrible. They ought to be ashamed of themselves!

Aloha,

Rex

[astral]

The UK has similar nasty rules.

Brits can say goodbye to any cost of living raises in the pension, if they retire in Thailand.

[lambous]

Roaming wont cut it as Centrelink cross reference with Australian immigration records. They always check if you've been in the country or not. I know from my own experience with getting youth allowance while in Thailand. If you buy return tickets from Bangkok instead of Australia it will cost you around 16,000 - 18,000 Baht return + taxes (East Coast) rather than 25,000.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pray..... tell me, where in BKK can you get a rtn ticket to SYD for 18,000bt +? taxes

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I regularly buy 3 month open tickets with Royal Brunei for 17,000 to Brisbane through my travel agent in BKK. They have just started flying into Sydney too not sure about the price.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where??? Name and address and phone number please!

Thank you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No Problem Talk to Aoy or Tan and tell em Costa sent ya. They're great down there.

Mario Travel

501/2 petchburi Rd

Rajthevi

02-690-5071

[cojones]

The UK has similar nasty rules.

Brits can say goodbye to any cost of living raises in the pension, if they retire in Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

****************

its to do with indirect taxes , retirees in the UK pay VAT on petrol and whatever they purchase so i guess they get the index linked rises too .

and the cold weather payments etc

[samran]

Jesus H Christ people!!!

Googled 'centrelink payments overseas' and you get the site you need

Centrelink - overseas payments FAQ's

Hopefully it will be more useful than this thread!!!

[udon]

The info posted here was good, it still looks like I'll have to work until I croak......

Bob, thanks for posting.

[Boon Mee]

The info posted here was good, it still looks like I'll have to work until I croak......

Bob, thanks for posting.

Don't we all...

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I don't think it applies to someone living in a Country which has a reciprical agreement with Oz, but....... I could be wrong.

If an Oz pensioner was in the UK he/she should be ok.

Strewth.... 25,000bt a quarter in airfares, just to answer the bloody phone.

but....... if you gave them an Oz mobile number with "roaming" they wouldn't know where you were, would they?  A 55 55

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The international ring tone would indicate to the caller that you are not in Australia

[udon]

The international ring tone would indicate to the caller that you are not in Australia

Bloody party pooper!

It's the cross referencing with Aus Immi, that has us by the short & curlies...