Senior Australians ‘overlooked’ in budget

May 8th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Senior Australians aged 70 and older have missed out in Tuesday’s budget, a lobby group says.

National Seniors chief executive Michael O’Neill said the elderly was the one group overlooked in the federal government’s $3.6 billion package to spread the benefits of the mining boom.

“We’re somewhat surprised that hasn’t been extended particularly to older Australians in the 70 to 75 age group and beyond – they’ve never had the benefits of superannuation or of the baby boomer experience,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“Those folk who continue to do it hard will live with a window of gloom for the next 12 months or more.”

But he applauded the federal government’s planned reforms for aged care and initiatives to entice employers to recruit older Australians, saying they had been areas of great concern for many years.

While the government should be commended for reforming the aged-care sector, Council on the Ageing (COTA) chief executive Ian Yates said there was still a way to go.

“The government hasn’t gone as far as it should have as far as what the Productivity Commission recommended, but they’ve made an important first step and we’ll be pushing in further budgets for them to go the whole way,” he said.

COTA will also be asking the government for more when it comes to its Silver Service employment program.

That involves $26 million over four years in intensive support for those aged over 55 in certain industries and sectors.

“Not enough,” Mr Yates said.

“If it works the way we think it will, we’ll be pressing for it to be raised to at least $100 million in the next budget.”