Allan Essery exposes our "Recalcitrant Labor Government" in their shoddy treatment regarding superannuation of ex-service personnel in comparison to that awarded to politicians.
This is part 1 of 3 and many will find the treatment of our ex-diggers a national shame. Watch out for parts 2 and 3.
Ex-servicemen and women on military superannuation pensions are in an acrimonious dispute with a recalcitrant Labor government that dishonestly claims that it can’t afford the equitable indexation of their contracted superannuation.
Ex-service superannuants are calling for their superannuation to be indexed at the same rate as the Aged welfare and other pensions because the present method of indexation leaves them out of pocket and does not keep pace with the cost of living.
After WWII the government of the day decided that Defence Forces personnel should be part of a superannuation scheme to prepare them for their retirement. The scheme was called the Defence Forces Retirement Benefit (DFRB), which was later changed to the Defence Forces Retirement and Death Benefit (DFRDB) into which members of the Australian Defence Forces would make compulsory contributions of 5.5% of their pre tax wages.
In 1972 the Jess Report recommended that military superannuation pensions be adjusted annually so that relativity with average weekly earning is maintained.
In 1997 the government abandoned the CPI as a method of indexing the Aged and welfare pensions because it no longer provided a means of keeping pace with the cost of living. The Aged and other welfare pensions were then effectively indexed by the CPI, the new Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost index (PBLCI) or the Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE) whichever was the greatest.
At the same time, Federal Parliamentarians were overjoyed to have their overly generous superannuation pensions indexed to the parliamentary salaries at any particular time, but what of the military superannuant that were deliberately left behind to be indexed only by the abandoned CPI?
What reprehensible treatment for those people who signed an open cheque to the government and the people of Australia for an amount up to and including “my life.”
The government claims that it can’t afford the indexation at the same rate as Aged pensioners, but hypocritical, self-serving Federal politicians who have never written an open cheque for the people of Australia or anyone else, were recently quite happy to accept wage rises, some in excess of $100,000 a year.
Between 1989 and 2009 Politicians superannuation had a cumulative increase of 140%. Aged pensions over the same period increased by 130% while the military superannuation pensioners run a poor last with increases totalling a lowly 70%.
Despite a 2007 pre-election promise to correct this inequity, the Labor government refused to listen even though in 2001 the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) had said, “…CPI is not a measure of the cost of living.” And no fewer than five parliamentary inquiries and reviews since 2001 recommended replacing the CPI with a fairer and more equitable method of indexation for military superannuation pensions.
Instead, the Labor government set up a new inquiry under Actuary (?) Trevor Mathews, and in 2008 the Mathews report was put into government hands. The government now had the excuse for which it was so desperately seeking, to justify not correcting the terrible inequity. And, so began the obfuscation and misrepresentation, along with careless handling of the truth and employment of the dark arts of accounting manipulation by the government.
Julia Gillard, in a recent TV programme, when asked about military superannuation said that the first year cost would be $1.6 billion and unaffordable. A gross misrepresentation of the truth and demonstrates how willing Gillard is to again mislead the Australian public.
Earlier this year Wayne Swan generously approved an increase to military superannuants. This increase saw some military superannuants receiving as much as 45 cents a week, upon which they have to pay tax. What an offensive insult to those people.
Alan is an ex-RAAF officer retired from active duty. He was a flight instructor and charter pilot. He also writes on matters political and is a staunch battler for ex-service superannuants. He is also rumoured to be a savvy fossicker for the yellow stuff.
Mr.Essery's comments and observations are spot on...I have no doubt that Gillard and crew, come near election time, may have a change of heart...but it will be way toooo late...Australia will have had enough of this grope in the dark government.
Tobes
Posted by: Terry Tobias | October 2, 2012 at 07:28 PM
Both military and parliamentary pensions need to be reformed to be more in line with what people in private industry receive. However, I agree with this indexation reform issue for existing military superannuation holders, and I don't believe it will get any traction with the major parties. I think a minor party like the Liberal Democratic Party should come out and take positions on these issues to attract attention to them. Two issues I'd recommend are:
- reducing parliamentary salaries and post-retirement perks. There is nothing wrong with a backbencher being on a base salary of, say, $145K and the Prime Minister being on say, $240K. Perks, travel and staff etc can be generous but only applicable while you are in office.
- Indexing military pensions for current recipients more in line with cost of living.
Posted by: John Mc | October 2, 2012 at 07:56 PM
If Change.Org can get 80,000 signatures in 72 hours over Jones - maybe Alan can start a petition on this subject. Apparently anybody can start one, and if Alan can give us a website where a petition is available to sign I will sign it, and sent it to EVERYBODY on my extensive email list. It's worth a try...
Posted by: bluebell | October 2, 2012 at 08:31 PM
BTW Alan - There's Facebook and Twitter as well. Social media might be the way to go on this matter, plus an email campaign.
Posted by: bluebell | October 2, 2012 at 08:32 PM