29 September 2009
The Age
by Yuko Narushima

THE states and territories have vowed to press ahead with plans to charge pensioners in public housing an extra $7.50 a week rent from September next year - despite strong objections from the Rudd Government.

The extra charge will amount to a quarter of the $30-a-week increase in the single age pension announced in the May federal budget. At the time, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd demanded that the states make the increase exempt from public housing rent calculations.

But all states and territories have now lined up with NSW in saying they will impose rent rises after a 12-month grace period until September 20.

A spokesman for acting Victorian Housing Minister Peter Batchelor said rents for pensioners would remain pegged at or below 25 per cent of income after the increase.

''The modest rental income we charge is used to help create more affordable housing for pensioners and other needy families,'' the spokesman said.

Federal Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said pension increases should be passed on in full. ''We want it going into their purses and wallets, not gobbled up by rent,'' she said. ''It is totally unacceptable that the states are only allowing the full value of the pension rise to go for a year.''

Michael O'Neill, chief executive of National Seniors Australia, said the move by the states amounted to a cash grab that would deny pensioners basic nutrition, as they spent proportionally more of their income on food.

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