![Sky-rocketing food prices continue to impact elderly Australians Sky-rocketing food prices continue to impact elderly Australians](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/zFAiTDuEg3GdzaaJJ3MGNK/60d1e444-82e9-44e0-82f4-94b0c9d9c434.jpg/r0_305_4431_2954_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Inflation continues to put financial pressure on older Australians particularly those surviving solely on an age pension, with food support agencies reporting thousands of vulnerable people going without meals.
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So the March half-yearly indexed pension increase will be keenly awaited by many ... but will it be enough?
September's increase of $38.90 per fortnight including supplements (about 4 per cent) went some way to ameliorate the rapid increase in living costs, but as is always the case, was retrospective, meaning older Australians had been already paying the higher costs.
And inflation has marched on since September leaving consumers, particularly those on restrictive fixed budgets to tighten their belts still more.
Indexed pension increases are based on either the CPI or the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index and weighted against the Male Total Average Weekly Earnings.
Paul Versteege from Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association calculates March indexation will produce a fortnightly increase of just short of $38 for singles and $58 for couples on full rate pensions based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from July 1 to December 31, 2022.
However, he warned, that by the time these pension increases take effect, pensioners will have been covering cost-of-living increases for almost nine months out of their"'old" pension.
"In times of high inflation this is particularly unfair for those pensioners without any other source of income than the pension," he said.
His organisation wrote to the federal government asking for this anomaly to be addressed, but Mr Versteege said judging by the answer from the Social Services Minister, there was no appetite for addressing it.
A letter from the office of Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth rejected the idea of a prospective indexation system.
"Due to the complexity of the economic environment, accurately projecting movement in CPI and wages in difficult," it said.
"If we had a system of prospective indexation we would need to either claw back or top-up payment rates when forecasts were too low.
"This would be disruptive to recipients and could lead to confusion about how the indexation process operates."
By the time these pension increases take effect, pensioners will have been covering cost-of-living increases for almost nine months out of their 'old' pension. In times of high inflation this is particularly unfair for those pensioners without any other source of income than the pension.
- Paul Versteege CPSA
Dire situation
Ian Henschke from National Seniors Australia said the rising cost of living had only exacerbated an already dire situation.
"For pensioners barely having enough to cover the necessities, including housing, the amount is important but so too is frequency."
National Seniors is calling for payments to be indexed every three months.
"Waiting for an increase when living costs have been high for six months is playing catch up the hard way," he said.
National Seniors is also calling for a two-year trial for pensioners who want to work more.
"We need a New Zealand style system that eliminates Centrelink reporting and requires pensioners to pay an agreed rate of income tax," Mr Henschke said. "We suggest 32.5 cents in the dollar. It's simple, fair and will help solve the workplace shortage."
Age pension shrinking
Joe Montero, president of Fair Go for Pensioners which is campaigning for a review of the age pension system and a different method of calculating increases, said the age pension has been shrinking in real terms.
"There is not enough to live in a decent home and have the basic necessities for a standard of living in line with Australian community standards," he said. "In fact, the standard of living is going downwards, in the face of the rising cost of living."
The group wants to see the single age pension increased to $1200 per fortnight in the next budget. "There is also a need for a fair and just mechanism that will keep on maintaining it there. The present system does not do this, and it is being manipulatively used to do the opposite," he said.
We need a New Zealand style system that eliminates Centrelink reporting and requires pensioners to pay an agreed rate of income tax. We suggest 32.5 cents in the dollar. It's simple, fair and will help solve the workplace shortage.
- Ian Henschke National Seniors
In the September to December 2022 quarter food and non alcoholic beverages went up 0 .9 per cent, alcohol and tobacco 1.2 per cent, clothing 2.16 per cent, housing 1.9 per cent, health 0.8 per cent, transport 1.7 per cent and recreation 5.4 per cent.
Hunger games not funny
The Foodbank Hunger Report 2022 revealed alarming details surrounding the food insecurity crisis the country is facing.
More than two million households in Australia ran out of food in the last year due to limited finances, sometimes skipping meals or going whole days without eating.
The rising cost of living was the most common reason given, with food and groceries prices confirmed as the top cause of households struggling followed closely by energy and housing costs.
Research showed more than half of food insecure households had someone in paid work and a third of households with mortgages had experienced food insecurity.