Australian Pensioner Wins The Right To Claim His Pension In Se Asia (Including Thailand)

[BookMan]

Reduced down to six weeks as of 01/01/2013, detail below

Disability Support Pension (DSP)

If you leave Australia to live in another country you will not be able to receive the Disability Support Pension (DSP) in the other country, unless you:

• are terminally ill and are leaving Australia permanently to be with or near a family member, or to return to your country of origin, or
  
• left Australia prior to 1 July 2004, and at the time of leaving you were told that you could be paid indefinitely, and you have not returned to Australia to live since that time, or
  
• have been assessed in Australia prior to the departure as having a permanent, severe impairment and no future work capacity. Assessment involves a review of your DSP qualification and a Job Capacity Assessment.
  

In these situations, you can keep your DSP payments for the whole time you’re outside Australia. However, the amount that you get may change.

When you leave Australia temporarily, you can usually get your DSP payments for up to six weeks while you're away.

Interesting stuff.

It shows that some disability pensioners will be able to live OS while being on a pension. This point in particular:

have been assessed in Australia prior to the departure as having a permanent, severe impairment and no future work capacity. Assessment involves a review of your DSP qualification and a Job Capacity Assessment.

[Pink Mist]

the last part will be the hardest, the job capacity assessment and that will be left to centrelink staff to make a decision, I wouldnt hold my breath

[IrishIvan]

It's very difficult to get the Disability Pension in Australia,just recently a man with kidney failure took the dept of social security to Court and lost.

This man the OP talks about was under the "old" system,now its very difficult to get .

They rate you on a 20 points medical scale AND if they think you can work at least 4 hours a week then you have to.

As i said i know of cases where a man had 1/ Kidney Failure ,applied for Disability pension,refused by centrelink/social security,took it to the Tribunal and lost.

They said it can be treated".,so in other words he can work at least part time.

Case number 2 was a guy who had Szpherinea and was in a mental hospital but they refused him because he was being treated,yes they said,take your meds and you will be ok,so when he took his meds he was under the 20 point impairment scale,so he lost in Court and now has to look for a job.

So please dont think getting Disability pension is easy,you have to have 20 points impairment AND then they still assess if you can work up to 3 to 20 hours a week.There are many many cases even 1 guy who had 2 knees missing who couldnt get it.

I recently,last year had a friend called back from Cambodia,aussie guy ,who had been living there on a disability pension,they called him back to be "assessed" for his condition,they sent him to a private contractor job service who some 21yo girl assessed him as can work 4 hours a week and so he had to live in australia until he could try to get it full time again.

i know of another case where this guy got refused Disability pension and he had Psychiatric,diabetes,hypertensipn,muscular problems and ASThma too but still they refused him,took it to court and LOST

aND I KNOW another case where this lady from Queensland in Australia had psych problems and back problem,centrelink/dss refused her disability pension so she took it to court and lost,they said you can work at least 8 hours a week.and keep taking your meds and you will be under the 20 points impairment scale.

So dont think its easy to get .

This is what happens when so many people start rorting the system. The disability pension has been rorted for years and now there is pressure on the govt to reduce welfare spending as tax receipts dwindle.

As a result stricter rules are brought in and those who have genuine need maybe excluded where in the past they would have qualified.

When the mining boom fades away and all the baby boomers start applying for pensions things are going to get really messy because there just wont be the money there to fund so many people on welfare.

All the people on the

OAP now are baby boomers. They were told by the powers that be to work hard, put a little extra in your super and pay off your house. It turns out this is bad advice. So the people making the decisions should be responsible, that happens to be the education system and this is controlled by governments Who cares if they want to chill out on some tropical island somewhere?? They paid their dues in my book, leave them alone. Do you want them all huddling under bridges around fires so we can drive past them every day and say, look at these bludgers? We are paying for their plonk, dot give them a housing commission house or any money they will just piss it up against the wall, blah blah.Some of the living conditions that pensioners have to endure in Australia is below the poverty line. Let them have some dignity

Edited January 6, 2013 by IrishIvan

[IrishIvan]

Its all about sharing the wealth and if the person who is mentioned in the OPs original article is aborigional then he is a traditional land owner and is probably entiltled to a house in his own country.

Come on mate. It has been discussed that there is zero evidence of of him being aboriginal at this stage. I know you want to keep this thread going, but really, clutching at straws now IrishIvan

Your enjoying this topic more than me!!!!

[IrishIvan]

What this guy should do is go overseas

and then come back as a 'boat person'

once he got thru the redtape he' be home & hosed .......right ?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect App

Your there flying an Air New Zealand logo, a bit rich coming from a Kiwi there. Can the last person leaving New Zealand to get a job in Australia turn out the lights please? They all save up their dough and take it back there. They should just become an 8th state of Australia and be done with it. If any country is going broke its New Zealand. In response to the OP he already is 'home and hosed' did you miss the part about him being eligible to retain his pension and kick back where ever he wants?

[Pink Mist]

dont forget the OAP pension age is increasing, I now dont qualify untill I am 65.5 years old, why didnt I become a politician?

[BookMan]

All the people on the

OAP now are baby boomers. They were told by the powers that be to work hard, put a little extra in your super and pay off your house. It turns out this is bad advice. So the people making the decisions should be responsible, that happens to be the education system and this is controlled by governments Who cares if they want to chill out on some tropical island somewhere?? They paid their dues in my book, leave them alone. Do you want them all huddling under bridges around fires so we can drive past them every day and say, look at these bludgers? We are paying for their plonk, dot give them a housing commission house or any money they will just piss it up against the wall, blah blah.Some of the living conditions that pensioners have to endure in Australia is below the poverty line. Let them have some dignity

Say what? The baby boomer should be the ones who have benefited most from property prices having bought at giveaway prices only to see their assets increase beyond anything they could have imagined. In fact, having bought property so low they should all have paid off their houses and increased their saving and retirement wealth significantly before they retired.

If they want to spend their years on tropical islands more power to them I say just enjoy on their own dime.

[BookMan]

Your enjoying this topic more than me!!!!

I am enjoying the discussion but it was still a straw clutcher

[Pink Mist]

sometimes retirement isn't your choice bookman, I would happily work untill retirement age and save my bickies but I dont have that option and dont reckon I am an orphan there

[IrishIvan]

All the people on the

OAP now are baby boomers. They were told by the powers that be to work hard, put a little extra in your super and pay off your house. It turns out this is bad advice. So the people making the decisions should be responsible, that happens to be the education system and this is controlled by governments Who cares if they want to chill out on some tropical island somewhere?? They paid their dues in my book, leave them alone. Do you want them all huddling under bridges around fires so we can drive past them every day and say, look at these bludgers? We are paying for their plonk, dot give them a housing commission house or any money they will just piss it up against the wall, blah blah.Some of the living conditions that pensioners have to endure in Australia is below the poverty line. Let them have some dignity

Say what? The baby boomer should be the ones who have benefited most from property prices having bought at giveaway prices only to see their assets increase beyond anything they could have imagined. In fact, having bought property so low they should all have paid off their houses and increased their saving and retirement wealth significantly before they retired.

If they want to spend their years on tropical islands more power to them I say just enjoy on their own dime.

All the people on the

OAP now are baby boomers. They were told by the powers that be to work hard, put a little extra in your super and pay off your house. It turns out this is bad advice. So the people making the decisions should be responsible, that happens to be the education system and this is controlled by governments Who cares if they want to chill out on some tropical island somewhere?? They paid their dues in my book, leave them alone. Do you want them all huddling under bridges around fires so we can drive past them every day and say, look at these bludgers? We are paying for their plonk, dot give them a housing commission house or any money they will just piss it up against the wall, blah blah.Some of the living conditions that pensioners have to endure in Australia is below the poverty line. Let them have some dignity

Say what? The baby boomer should be the ones who have benefited most from property prices having bought at giveaway prices only to see their assets increase beyond anything they could have imagined. In fact, having bought property so low they should all have paid off their houses and increased their saving and retirement wealth significantly before they retired.

If they want to spend their years on tropical islands more power to them I say just enjoy on their own dime.

So how come all the people in my family reaching retirement age now are having to go on pensions?

[BookMan]

sometimes retirement isn't your choice bookman, I would happily work untill retirement age and save my bickies but I dont have that option and dont reckon I am an orphan there

A fair point regarding being able to work or not being able to work. if you are debilitated in some way it does lesson your ability to be ability to earn and save

[simple1]

So how come all the people in my family reaching retirement age now are having to go on pensions?

You tell us their circumstance, otherwise it's pure guesswork

[BookMan]

So how come all the people in my family reaching retirement age now are having to go on pensions?

That is a question you will have to answer yourself as they are your family. How could I answer without knowing them?

[Pink Mist]

In my case I have worked around rotating electrical machines most of my life and the pacemaker has made me redundant in that field.

I could move into another field with retraining but who is gonna employ me, I still have mobility problems.

Now here is the kicker, I go onto newstart when I get back but dont have to report because I am unemployable, so they are saying I could work but am unable to, go figure lol.

Now saving money on newstart, ok, macklin says she could live on it and gillard avoided the question so at the moment here I sit in thailand surviving on super but it wont last forever

ps

the money I had accumulated with house investments was lost on a couple of ex wives

Edited January 6, 2013 by bronco

[Konini]

Some very unpleasant views being offered here.

On another note, last year Medicare found out we spend most of the year overseas. Long story, but we weren't worried, we lodge tax returns and pay the Medicare levy when necessary. Wrong. We were really surprised to find out that we're not entitled to it, I think 60 days then you have to prove that you are resident again, which could be hard. We have our mail go to a friends' house, so we have bank statements, tax returns, insurance etc but they also wanted house deeds or a lease, letter from employer, utility bill in our name. Even my GP was shocked at it; her sister is working in Vietnam and they had no idea she wasn't eligible

Make sure they don't find out if you are relying on Medicare as a last resort. We've even been paying our private health insurance so we could be in and out of the country as quickly as possible if the need arose. They have to same rules. Apparently we a 'apply' for an exemption to the Medicare levy, but 'it's not guaranteed'.

The chappie in question here with the pension would be in the same boat as us, except we're self-funded retirees and we still lodge tax returns (it benefits us to do so, but I was so annoyed at Medicare not recognising us as resident, even though the tax office does, that may change).

Edited January 6, 2013 by Konini

[Pink Mist]

it's funny you are always a resident when it comes to paying taxes, lets take Paul Hogan as an example.

60 days isn't right it's longer than that

I just googled and it's 5 years absence

Edited January 6, 2013 by bronco

[Chris Lawrence]

In this case I disagree with the ruling - why should a nomad, who has never worked or spent most of his time in Oz be given a pension?

But for the grace of God go you. The guy has a disability and if you have any idea on the pitfalls of this disability go and donate your time to helping people in similar conditions. Neeranam, not sure the world you live in but how would you feel if this man was your son?

Common symptoms include auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social or occupational dysfunction. Average life expectancy is 10-15 years less then a person without the disability and have a much higher suicide rate. There is usually a life long need for medication as well.

The other point is that he has been on the disability pension since 1984; therefore as I understand gets treated by the law at that time.

I know I wouldn't want to be surviving on the oz pension and have schizophrenia, in any country.

The Oz Govt wants to tighten up on welfare spending, but still falls short on apprehending tax cheats.

Its not a bad idea though as costs are cheaper in most se asian countries and that OZ's medical and social services are freed up.

Why penalise a person for taking initiative and using the system to survive as best they can?

[chopendoz]

Welfare payments in Australia are not based on legal entitlement, not need. The article suggests that he is an aboriginal which would allow him to recieve 'special' treatment from the welfare organisations who bend over backwards to help aboriginals. Very much a case of political correctness. Having been a recipient of a disability pension for 26 years it would seem that he is long term unemployable, enjoying his overseas travel at the Australian taxpayer's expense.I should also mention that the term 'poverty' as used in Australia, is altogether different to poverty in a Third World country. Australians have no idea what poverty means - possibly being without a moblie phone or iPod or car. Not being able to afford to buy beer perhaps. The problem is that most born & bred Australian have never known hardship, never known struggle, never known conflict (except for a few bikie gang wars and sending soldiers to fight overseas). Everyone has an income - even the homeless. As a consequence, Australians are smug, complacent and do not appreciate the good life they mostly do not deserve and haven't earned.

[thaibeachlovers]

All the people on the

OAP now are baby boomers. They were told by the powers that be to work hard, put a little extra in your super and pay off your house. It turns out this is bad advice. So the people making the decisions should be responsible, that happens to be the education system and this is controlled by governments Who cares if they want to chill out on some tropical island somewhere?? They paid their dues in my book, leave them alone. Do you want them all huddling under bridges around fires so we can drive past them every day and say, look at these bludgers? We are paying for their plonk, dot give them a housing commission house or any money they will just piss it up against the wall, blah blah.Some of the living conditions that pensioners have to endure in Australia is below the poverty line. Let them have some dignity

Say what? The baby boomer should be the ones who have benefited most from property prices having bought at giveaway prices only to see their assets increase beyond anything they could have imagined. In fact, having bought property so low they should all have paid off their houses and increased their saving and retirement wealth significantly before they retired.

If they want to spend their years on tropical islands more power to them I say just enjoy on their own dime.

Really! Aren't you forgetting that some people didn't buy a house, some did but lost it to the wife when they got divorced etc. Your being too inclusive by far. Life isn't that simple. My ex made a bundle from the property boom and moved to Oz. I wasn't that lucky.

[BookMan]

*edited (something odd happened there)

Edited January 6, 2013 by BookMan

[BookMan]

Really! Aren't you forgetting that some people didn't buy a house, some did but lost it to the wife when they got divorced etc. Your being too inclusive by far. Life isn't that simple. My ex made a bundle from the property boom and moved to Oz. I wasn't that lucky.

It was a generalisation, responding to a generalisation. It was not meant to include 100% of the population.

Edited January 6, 2013 by BookMan

[BookMan]

The article suggests that he is an aboriginal which would allow him to recieve 'special' treatment from the welfare organisations who bend over backwards to help aboriginals.

The article makes no such suggestion. This sentence is nonsense.

You make a few good points, besides that one.

Edited January 6, 2013 by BookMan

[simple1]

Welfare payments in Australia are not based on legal entitlement, not need. The article suggests that he is an aboriginal which would allow him to recieve 'special' treatment from the welfare organisations who bend over backwards to help aboriginals. Very much a case of political correctness. Having been a recipient of a disability pension for 26 years it would seem that he is long term unemployable, enjoying his overseas travel at the Australian taxpayer's expense.I should also mention that the term 'poverty' as used in Australia, is altogether different to poverty in a Third World country. Australians have no idea what poverty means - possibly being without a moblie phone or iPod or car. Not being able to afford to buy beer perhaps. The problem is that most born & bred Australian have never known hardship, never known struggle, never known conflict (except for a few bikie gang wars and sending soldiers to fight overseas). Everyone has an income - even the homeless. As a consequence, Australians are smug, complacent and do not appreciate the good life they mostly do not deserve and haven't earned.

Try living off Newstart or Aged Pension as your sole means of income & you will know there are people living in poverty in Australia. One time I lost my money due to a business failure & for three months, was unemployed & living off Newstart. It is a very unpleasant experience. Need dental treatment, tough luck 3 year waiting list. Needed an operation on my hand, 2 year waiting list. For sure not equivalent to the appalling poverty in some countries, but poverty all the same based on Australian economic demography.

[Mudcrab]

Question

how is it possible to move freely around SE Asia, presumably including Thailand, on a pension and still meet the visa requirement etc? I don't think the DSP would cover the Thai income requirements for the various visa mentioned frequently hetre.

[whybother]

Question

how is it possible to move freely around SE Asia, presumably including Thailand, on a pension and still meet the visa requirement etc? I don't think the DSP would cover the Thai income requirements for the various visa mentioned frequently hetre.

Tourist visas.

Sent from my HTC phone.

[Mudcrab]

Question

how is it possible to move freely around SE Asia, presumably including Thailand, on a pension and still meet the visa requirement etc? I don't think the DSP would cover the Thai income requirements for the various visa mentioned frequently hetre.

Tourist visas.

Sent from my HTC phone.

No need for return air tickets etc?

[Pink Mist]

doesnt have to be an air ticket

[samran]

Geez,

Imagine if it turned out this bloke was Aboriginal.

The sickening vitriol on this thread would go into bloody overdrive.

[Pink Mist]

well he has gone walkabout

[samran]

...Very legally by the sounds of it too!