Australian Age Pension

[Wombat6]

Lat week I received an e-mail from Centrelink asking a number of questions. Maybe I am a suspicious type of person but the questions to me suggested that perhaps the Government were considering a change of rules in the future. I replied that I would be happy to respond but before doing so I asked a number of questions. ie. 1 Is there going to be a change of rules relating to payments to Australians receiving the Age pension overseas. 2.. Could they send a copy of the directive to perform the survey. 3 Could they provide the address of the Govt. Minister resposible for Centrelink. 4 Could they send me the address for the Shadow Minister responsible for centrelink and 5. I wanted to know the age of the guy sending the e-mail.

To date, I have not had a response from Centrelink although I did have a response from Tony Abbotts' office. What do you think.....am I being paranoid?? Has anyone else received a similar request??

Good morning xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I am writing to your in regards to your overseas stay in Thailand.

Can you please answer the questions below.

Do you intend to return to Australia and, if yes, when do you intend to

return?

Do you have immediate family in Australia?

Do you have immediate family in Thailand?

Do you have any business of financial interests in Australia?

Do you have any business of financial interests in Thailand?

Do you have any significant assets stored in Australia?

Do you have any significant assets stored in Thailand?

Do you consider yourself to be a resident of Australia or Thailand?

Regards

Scott.

Centrelink International Services

Team 7/WSE

Fax: +61 3 62 223 690

Phone: +61 3 6222 3455

email: [email protected]

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

[David006]

...all a bit suss eh? Gotta be a $ motive here for sure...and its unlikely it's for you benefit..

You know of course that Centrelink is "linked" with Immigrations' data base

I think I might be inclined to send an open letter to The Australian or..asking for an explanation. Is there still an Ombudsman?. that might be better?

[xen]

It does not sound good and it affects a lot of aussies who are in LOS or are planning to retire there. There hasn't been anything in the mainstream media here but that is mainly full of television shows, celebs, selected sports and sensationalism. With an election announced , both parties would be keeping quiet about this until they work out if there would be fallout due to it so i don't think we will here much more about it until after the elections.

It would be interesting if you could let us know Tony Abbotts's office's reaction to it..

[RCR]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I agree with what the other posters said: make it public by writing in the Australian newspapers.

I think the possibility of getting a truthful response from our politicians is zero, though.

It does look like they are investigating ways of making (tiny) savings by penalising expats. I wonder if they are only targetting the Thailand based expats who wouldn't get any sympathy from the general public. Or will they also penalise all those folk who return to the UK, Greece and Italy when they retire?

You'd be doing a service by keeping us informed on this issue. Thanks.

[Will27]

...all a bit suss eh? Gotta be a $ motive here for sure...and its unlikely it's for you benefit..

You know of course that Centrelink is "linked" with Immigrations' data base

I think I might be inclined to send an open letter to The Australian or..asking for an explanation. Is there still an Ombudsman?. that might be better?

What has this got to do with the Omdudsman?

I'd suggest there may be more to the email.

Did it say it was a complusory survry or provide

any details of why the information was required?

Even for a government department, the email

sounds odd.

Keep us posted.

Regards

Will

Edited July 23, 2010 by Will27

[Wombat6]

...all a bit suss eh? Gotta be a $ motive here for sure...and its unlikely it's for you benefit..

You know of course that Centrelink is "linked" with Immigrations' data base

I think I might be inclined to send an open letter to The Australian or..asking for an explanation. Is there still an Ombudsman?. that might be better?

What has this got to do with the Omdudsman?

I'd suggest there may be more to the email.

Did it say it was a complusory survry or provide

any details of why the information was required?

Even for a government department, the email

sounds odd.

Keep us posted.

Regards

Will

The context of the e-mail is above. There has not been any response to my reply e-mail to Centrelink....possibly beacause the Federal Election was announced just after receipt

[bonobo]

The subject of the original post is fine.  However, this is not a platform for any specific political party or point of view in Australia, and post in that vein have been deleted.

[ozzieovaseas]

The subject of the original post is fine. However, this is not a platform for any specific political party or point of view in Australia, and post in that vein have been deleted.

I have seen the issue raised in the Oz media quite often over the last few years. Usually the sensationalist 7pm programs pick up on it and (not suprisingly) paint a pretty poor picture of expats getting paid pensions and living (or more to point, spending the money) overseas.

Not sure of the details, but is there a requirement that you have to reside x amount of months in Australia each year?

I remember the 7pm show reporting something of the like and the general gist of their opinion seemed to suggest that expats were somehow abusing other taxpayers by doing this..but you know what these so called current affairs shows are like... absolute !#$%^'s

Not an issue for me now but definately something a few of us will be considering in the future.

Sadly i think because we are a somewhat limited group we will not have much say in it, seeing our voting powers are not all that great. Pollies probably assume we dont vote anyway so they will not give a flying fat rats about us or our issues. This is never more evident than when you consider the performance of Australian embassies everywhere.

I've noticed Americans on Thaivisa talking about how their governement is taking a tough line on their citizens abroad...creating hurdles for them living outside the US and dumping complicated tax laws on them.

I fear Australia will go the same way in the future as money gets tighter..Maybe its because we are somewhat out of their reach and they cant get their filthy little taxation mits on us as much as they would like

[Nignoy]

It seems Centrelink are trying to get at all retirees not just expats, just make sure you have all your ducks in a row, because when they start looking at ways to shave a few dollars off your pension, they have no scruples whether they are right or wrong,especially where assetts in australia are concerned,I have posted a few times about our tustles with centrelink,remember please!! the only bank accounts that Centrelink are not allowed to acess are mortgage accounts, to all other accounts centrelink has free access to remove funds if they deem you are in default in someway,just be careful where centrelink is concerned, they have too many staff making life changing decisions over subjects they no nothing about :jap:

[electau]

One should be very wary of answering questions concerning you assets in Thailand if you have any or your wife has also.

They will want to use the value of these assets to reduce your pension payment. I notice thay have not asked you to prove that you have assets in Thailand. That will be the next step if you answer "Yes" to any question.

Why target only those in Thailand? The document and the motive behind it should be questioned at the highest Ministerial level.

There would be also a number of legal questions to be answered. Australia could be seen as interfering in the affairs of a foreign country.

Remember when "same sex" relationships were recognised by Centrelink? This was done so as to reduce the pensions paid from a single to the partner rate. It was not done for moral reasons.

IMO all pensions should be paid at the single rate, irrespective of one relationships.

Australia claims it supports equality but not where pension payments are concerned.

One Centrelink form asks if you have sex with your partner, Yes/No, and then states on the form that they must ask this question.

　

　

[Will27]

One should be very wary of answering questions concerning you assets in Thailand if you have any or your wife has also.

They will want to use the value of these assets to reduce your pension payment. I notice thay have not asked you to prove that you have assets in Thailand. That will be the next step if you answer "Yes" to any question.

Why target only those in Thailand? The document and the motive behind it should be questioned at the highest Ministerial level.

There would be also a number of legal questions to be answered. Australia could be seen as interfering in the affairs of a foreign country.

Remember when "same sex" relationships were recognised by Centrelink? This was done so as to reduce the pensions paid from a single to the partner rate. It was not done for moral reasons.

IMO all pensions should be paid at the single rate, irrespective of one relationships.

Australia claims it supports equality but not where pension payments are concerned.

One Centrelink form asks if you have sex with your partner, Yes/No, and then states on the form that they must ask this question.

As stated before, I think we need to know a bit more about the type of email

the OP received. Was it a directive or just a non-compulsory survey? It sounds

to me like a survey, so don't answer if you don't want to.

How do you come to the conclusion that "they are only targetting Thailand"

The OP has asked several questions.

He can get the ministers responsible and their addresses from the Parliament

House website. If there were to be any changes to the pension, they wouldn't be

telling anyone as yet, especially with an election looming.

And lastly, what does the age of the Centrelink offcial have to do with anything?

Regards

Will

Edited July 26, 2010 by Will27

[electau]

Thailand and Australia are directly mentioned in the document.

Australia does not have any social security agreements with Thailand.

But it does seem to be worded as a survey but it does not state that it is.

If it was an official document it should have a form number eg ss123 at the top of the page.

[Old Croc]

The OP doesn't state if he is receiving the OA pension while living in Thailand. Presumably he is.

Failure to provide answers to a request from CL could possibly result in cancellation of benefits.

Probably reasonable to query why these questions are being asked, and if the answers would have an effect on future payments.

As Will states, the questions about the age of the case officer and addresses of Ministers are unlikely to be given any consideration in their action on your case.

Also, possible future policy changes are very unlikely to be announced to you first.

I've very recently moved to LOS and my partial disability pension is running down it's 13 week period before disappearing.

I'm a couple of years away from being eligible for a partial OAP. If a more reasonable policy towards retirees in Thailand isn't in effect by then I probably won't bother trying to jump through the hoops.

[wamberal]

Speaking as a self-funded retiree (living, and paying some tax, in Australia) it seems pretty obvious that Australian taxpayers are actually better off if Australian-funded pensioners are living in other countries - provided, that is, that their claims to a pension are legitimate under Australian law.

I do not understand why the Australian Government would want to discourage people from going to live elsewhere, which allows the Government to avoid the costs of providing medical, hospital, and other services to them as they age.

Edited July 26, 2010 by wamberal

[Wombat6]

One should be very wary of answering questions concerning you assets in Thailand if you have any or your wife has also.

They will want to use the value of these assets to reduce your pension payment. I notice thay have not asked you to prove that you have assets in Thailand. That will be the next step if you answer "Yes" to any question.

Why target only those in Thailand? The document and the motive behind it should be questioned at the highest Ministerial level.

There would be also a number of legal questions to be answered. Australia could be seen as interfering in the affairs of a foreign country.

Remember when "same sex" relationships were recognised by Centrelink? This was done so as to reduce the pensions paid from a single to the partner rate. It was not done for moral reasons.

IMO all pensions should be paid at the single rate, irrespective of one relationships.

Australia claims it supports equality but not where pension payments are concerned.

One Centrelink form asks if you have sex with your partner, Yes/No, and then states on the form that they must ask this question.

As stated before, I think we need to know a bit more about the type of email

the OP received. Was it a directive or just a non-compulsory survey? It sounds

to me like a survey, so don't answer if you don't want to.

How do you come to the conclusion that "they are only targetting Thailand"

The OP has asked several questions.

He can get the ministers responsible and their addresses from the Parliament

House website. If there were to be any changes to the pension, they wouldn't be

telling anyone as yet, especially with an election looming.

And lastly, what does the age of the Centrelink offcial have to do with anything?

Regards

Will

The age of the guy has nothing to do with anything, but i thought I would throw an irrellavant question into my reply to make him think that some of his questions to me were irrellavant. i know I can get the addresses of the Ministers involved and I have done just that. I was trynig to determine if this guy was doing this survey off his own bat because if not ,there would be no reason for him not to supply that info. So far, he hasn't replied. Perhaps he or his superiors have shelved pursuing answers until the Election is over

I haven't heard yet if anyone else has received a similar e-mail from Centrelink so perhaps this has been an individual targetting by an over zealous nobody in Centrelink trying to make a name for himself??

[Wombat6]

The OP doesn't state if he is receiving the OA pension while living in Thailand. Presumably he is.

Failure to provide answers to a request from CL could possibly result in cancellation of benefits.

Probably reasonable to query why these questions are being asked, and if the answers would have an effect on future payments.

As Will states, the questions about the age of the case officer and addresses of Ministers are unlikely to be given any consideration in their action on your case.

Also, possible future policy changes are very unlikely to be announced to you first.

I've very recently moved to LOS and my partial disability pension is running down it's 13 week period before disappearing.

I'm a couple of years away from being eligible for a partial OAP. If a more reasonable policy towards retirees in Thailand isn't in effect by then I probably won't bother trying to jump through the hoops.

I am on the Single Age Pension and have lived here in Thailand for 3 years. Last November or thereabouts, I filled in a survey in which I provided full details of my situation. I do not think the e-mail was any follow up from this survey as most of the questions asked in the e-mail were answered in that survey.

The current rules re Age Pension is that it can be paid anywhere in the world without any time limit of absence from Australia. I was born in Australia as were my parents and grand parents and worked and paid taxes for 48 years.

Some recent bonus payments given to aged pensioners in Australia were not paid to recipients living overseas because they weren't in Australia at the time of the bonus announcement......discrimination???? Aged Pensioners living overseas do not receive some of the benefits and subsidies etc. that aged pensioners in Australia receive and those of us living here in Thailand do not receive any medical/hospital support, bit that is not a bitch, we expect that situation when we choose to leave Australia

[chiangmaibruce]

I do not understand why the Australian Government would want to discourage people from going to live elsewhere, which allows the Government to avoid the costs of providing medical, hospital, and other services to them as they age.

I agree Wamberal. And I'd point out that the Family Assistance payment is also off-limits to those living overseas for all/part of the year. As far as I can see, if you are a citizen and paying tax in Australia (with returns up to date, etc) - and are compliant in all other regards - then I really don't see why people shouldn't be entitled to the same assistance that they would get if living in Australia 365 days year.

[helloworld1942]

They are on the hunt best advice has been given here previous , be very careful what you say

[Will27]

One should be very wary of answering questions concerning you assets in Thailand if you have any or your wife has also.

They will want to use the value of these assets to reduce your pension payment. I notice thay have not asked you to prove that you have assets in Thailand. That will be the next step if you answer "Yes" to any question.

Why target only those in Thailand? The document and the motive behind it should be questioned at the highest Ministerial level.

There would be also a number of legal questions to be answered. Australia could be seen as interfering in the affairs of a foreign country.

Remember when "same sex" relationships were recognised by Centrelink? This was done so as to reduce the pensions paid from a single to the partner rate. It was not done for moral reasons.

IMO all pensions should be paid at the single rate, irrespective of one relationships.

Australia claims it supports equality but not where pension payments are concerned.

One Centrelink form asks if you have sex with your partner, Yes/No, and then states on the form that they must ask this question.

As stated before, I think we need to know a bit more about the type of email

the OP received. Was it a directive or just a non-compulsory survey? It sounds

to me like a survey, so don't answer if you don't want to.

How do you come to the conclusion that "they are only targetting Thailand"

The OP has asked several questions.

He can get the ministers responsible and their addresses from the Parliament

House website. If there were to be any changes to the pension, they wouldn't be

telling anyone as yet, especially with an election looming.

And lastly, what does the age of the Centrelink offcial have to do with anything?

Regards

Will

The age of the guy has nothing to do with anything, but i thought I would throw an irrellavant question into my reply to make him think that some of his questions to me were irrellavant. i know I can get the addresses of the Ministers involved and I have done just that. I was trynig to determine if this guy was doing this survey off his own bat because if not ,there would be no reason for him not to supply that info. So far, he hasn't replied. Perhaps he or his superiors have shelved pursuing answers until the Election is over

I haven't heard yet if anyone else has received a similar e-mail from Centrelink so perhaps this has been an individual targetting by an over zealous nobody in Centrelink trying to make a name for himself??

From what you've said, it just sounds like it was an optional survey.

If that's the case, don't expect a reply. You either answer or don't.

I seriously doubt that a staff member would send out an email

with his name and contact details if it hadn't been approved.

Regards

Will

[BSJ]

Those as$ reamers in Crapberra make it hard enough now. From the web I have garnered some information that doesn't make me happy.

1/ Under the new system where everyone is to retire later I cannot claim the age pension till I turn 65.5

2/ In my last 10 years before claiming the age pension I have to spend 5 years of the 10 actually in Australia.

3/ Not clear on this one. I think I have to spend 2 years in Australia after receiving the age pensio.

4/ As a single person excluding my house I can only have Au$299k in investments before my age pension starts to cut out. Yet a married couple can have over Au$600k!

5/ If your on disability pension you can only spend 13 week O/S before your pension cuts out.

It annoys the hel1 out of me that all my working life I have had to pay whatever they want in tax....and now (coming years) I have to bend over, drop my pants and take it!

[RCR]

In the online Melbourne AGE today (27/7/10) - it looks like Kevin Rudd or his supporters are leaking nasties about Julia Gillard. Laurie Oakes the journalist reports that he has information that when Julia Gillard was Krudd's deputy....

"Ms Gillard reportedly questioned the $30 a week increase for single pensioners, billed as the biggest rise in a century since the pension was introduced.

Government sources quoted in the report said that while Ms Gillard was not opposed to the pension increase, she questioned the $14 billion cost on the grounds "elderly voters did not support Labor".....