Ahead of tomorrow's budget, which has been touted to be the most important in decades thanks to the current global economic crisis, seniors are making a plea for a $30-a-week increase to the single-aged pension.
The Rudd government has committed itself to "pension reform" in the budget whilst not giving any details away. Media across the country are pulling their hair out to wether the budget will be beneficial to seniors or not - but most are pointing that it will be negative for most Australians.
National Seniors Australia for the past year has been lobbying for an increase to the single pension from 59 to 66 per cent of the couple rate, in line with other OECD nations.
An increase was long overdue for single pensioners, association chief executive Michael O'Neill said. "Many are women who have been widowed and never had the opportunity to pay into superannuation to prepare for retirement," he said.
Many were also raising families and those in the workforce never received the same pay as their male equivalent.
"So the pension is all they have."
There were other crucial issues for seniors, including at what income level Australia's 750,000 self-funded retirees are considered "wealthy", making them ineligible for the Commonwealth seniors card.
The federal government needed to guarantee seniors were protected from sharp private health insurance premium rises caused by a means test on federal rebates, Mr O'Neil said.
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