PM rules out pension boost this year

(AAP) Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he couldn't live on the aged pension but has defied growing pressure to increase it before next year.

Mr Rudd has joined Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan in
saying they couldn't live on the $546.80 a fortnight single pension rate.
"I agree with both Wayne and Julia that it would be almost impossible to continue to
live on the current single aged pension," Mr Rudd said.
"Living on the single aged pension is very, very tough, which is why we are
committed to its reform."
Mr Rudd said the federal government would not consider any increases until its
review of pensions and carers payments is finalised in February.
His comments followed a federal Labor MP saying pensioners need immediate help.
"I think we probably have to give special attention to that group of people who are
really feeling the pinch right now," Queensland first-termer Brett Raguse told ABC
Radio.
Speaking later alongside the prime minister, Mr Raguse said he had not called for an
immediate extra payment for pensioners and backed the review process.
"My comment was that people are feeling the pinch. Every member in this country
knows that they are feeling the pinch and we are doing something about it as a
government," he told reporters.
National Seniors Australia chief executive Michael O'Neil said pensioners were
becoming increasingly frustrated with the government's approach.
"Mr Rudd has acknowledged that he wouldn't be able to live on the single aged
pension, in the same way that his deputy and the treasurer have said," Mr O'Neil
told AAP.
"All they are doing is staring down older Australians, they are ignoring their
plight and causing them to have to put up with it, in a way they could not
themselves.
"If they were forced to live on the amount they might have a better idea."
The federal opposition wants the government to provide pensioners with a one-off
bonus payment to help make ends meet before the end of the year.
Mr O'Neil endorsed the call, provided the payments amounted to a $30-a-week increase.
"There needs to be some short-term relief, and that needs to be focused on the
single aged pension, the group which are the most vulnerable.
"Older Australians are just looking for a fair go and a treatment that is
appropriate given their age and what they have contributed to the country.
"At the moment, pensioners are being forced to lose their dignity."
The Australian Greens also want a $30-a-week increase and say the government can
afford it.
"It is cruel to recognise that pensioners are in circumstances that ministers
couldn't live in and for ministers to then say the pensioners can wait another nine
months," Greens leader Bob Brown said.
The single aged pension will increase to about $560 a fortnight when it is adjusted
for inflation on September 20.
Any further increases are likely to be costed in the 2009-10 budget, and come into
effect next July.



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