Self-funded retirees get household assistance from today

From today more than 281,000 self-funded retirees across Australia will start receiving household assistance to help make ends meet, ahead of the introduction of the carbon price on 1 July.

Self-funded retirees who hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card and receive the Seniors Supplement will receive a payment of $250 for singles or $190 for each member of an eligible couple. These payments will be paid directly into the bank accounts of self-funded retirees.

In addition, they will also receive their quarterly Seniors Supplement from today, to help with paying regular bills such as power, rates, phone and car registration.

And from June next year the Gillard Government will provide ongoing household assistance to help self-funded retirees make ends meet – an extra $338 for singles and $510 extra for couples combined.

We are delivering extra payments to eligible self-funded retirees to help them make ends meet. This is the same assistance as pensioners have received in the last few weeks.

Last month about 9,000 self-funded retirees received a letter from Centrelink reminding them to update their bank account details to ensure they receive their new payment. Most of these people updated their details. There are 1,200 self-funded retirees still to contact Centrelink. I encourage people to call Centrelink on 132 300 to update their details. These people will receive their household assistance once they’ve provided their bank account information.

So far the Government has delivered about $1.4 billion in household assistance to help millions of families, pensioners, veterans and students make ends meet.

While this Labor Government is delivering extra payments, Tony Abbott and the Liberals are planning to claw back money from self-funded retirees, pensioners and families.

The Member for Sturt, Christopher Pyne, confirmed this only last week.

Only Labor will deliver for hard working Australian families, pensioners and self-funded retirees, because we understand how tough it can be to make ends meet.

Self-funded retirees receiving household assistance from today: