Tis time for me to inject myself into the milsuper debate once more…

You’ll find me at http://www.qmig.net/milsuper

Copy of mass distributed email through the usual veteran’s forums encl

I’m hopeful that the Government will bite the bullet and extend an olive branch of an equivalent of age pension indexation to milsuper beneficiaries rather than allow this to become a burning political issue in the marginal seats (amongst others) campaign

It’s much the same issue that CPSU fought the Government with PSSAP and a pragmatic solution can only help the Government in the upcoming elections

Ciao

All

At the risk of identifying myself, it is timely to inject myself into the superannuation debate once more

I returned to Australia from deployment last week and what I thought were the usual tummy problems one has on deployment or the side effects of the usual medication one takes when one is deployed… turns out to be a terminal malignancy

I’m comfortable in a Defence hospital and will see out what little time I have left there…

The powers that be can swiftly identify me from this and no doubt will be aghast that I entered the debate – but I’d argue that a (previous) Minister of Defence endorses DFWA and the Chief of the Defence Force supports the work of the DFWA

In broad terms, my input has reflected much of the DFWA concerns and whilst perhaps could be deemed to be overtly political, I have clearly stated that I am apolitical and have merely striven to push viewers to enter the marginal seats campaign through DFWA

I’m also happy to admit that I have been in contact with DFWA for the life of my website and that the genesis of my website http://www.qmig.net/milsuper was what I consider to be a poor reply from the echelons of Defence…

You’ll know my focus has been on the proposed new military superannuation accumulation plan and I urge you not to drop the ball on this. Myself and others have grave fears that Dept of Finance will try and sneak this in with little or no consultation with the military or DFWA while many’s thoughts are focussed on the indexation issue

It’s subtle how the world works… but my thoughts are turning somewhat to the indexation issue particularly how this will affect my wife and children

Please remember there are a host of other problems with milsuper – from taxation issues to problems with DFRDB and many others and that you should be contacting DFWA to understand the breadth of the issues involved

The priority at the moment is the indexation issue – unless of course Dept of Finance seeks to ram through the proposed new military superannuation accumulation plan without adequate consultation with the military and DFWA – but perhaps not in the sense that this is a federal election year and there is much lost ground for the government to clawback without offending more large segments of the voting population

The federal election year and the marginal seats campaign makes the indexation issue winnable

It’s your last opportunity to make this happen and I take the view that there is only a final push needed

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that DFWA provides the vanguard with this issue. Historically they (DFWA) are best placed to further the issue. You may not be aware that at the last federal election, DFWA targeted 16 marginal seats of which 15 changed hands and one hung on by the slimmest of margins

I urge you to join DFWA and volunteer your time and effort to help with the final push. I urge you to write to your federals MPs to tell them the depth of feeling that exists in the service and ex-service community

You will be aware that many of the veteran forums are asking you to vote last for the sitting member and his “opposition” counterpart second-last, but this does not help the debate and can only return the current government to power

I need you to be a part of the broad DFWA campaign by joining and volunteering your time and effort

I honestly take the view that this year is a watershed year where the debate can be resolved once and for all through either political lobbying and the marginal seats campaign – I would point out that many other federal seats can be deemed marginal by virtue of their demographics ie DVA pensioners, retirees, serving members etc

Those of you that read the veteran forums will know the political parties fear our lobby potential, you’ll know that there is a mini revolt within the political parties and that many politicians are wavering towards us

I’d remind you that whilst there is a party allegiance – many politicians are moving to the view that their first allegiance is to safeguard their seat which means a shift to us coming first !

Politicians are well aware of the DFWA input into the marginal seats campaign at the last federal election and are well aware of the potential of DFWA to cause a political upset at the upcoming federal election – indeed there is some pressure to resolve issues now

Again – this year is a watershed year – milsuper is a bellwether issue that can herald the downfall of the government or push them to resolve the issues prior to an election

There’s little else for me to say – it’s really up to youse – but I urge that you board the bus at DFWA and drive all the way to the end of the line

For the past 27 years successive governments and six senate reviews have failed to do anything about the indexation of military superannuation schemes. Schemes that were taxed during compulsory contribution, and taxed when retrieved as a benefit. The schemes have always been indexed against the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which according to all analysts (including our own Bureau of Statistics), is “not an appropriate purchasing power or cost of living measure.” This was recognised by the government, and the politicians and aged pensions were adjusted to the CPI or the Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE), whichever was the greater. Politicians went one step further and factored in the salary of a back-bencher, so anytime they wanted an increase in their pension, they simply had to give the poor struggling back-benchers a pay rise.

To put this in context here is a graph of the indexation of old-aged pensions, politicians and military pensions over the last 20 years. The figure are even worse if you take the full life of the superannuation schemes into account.

Over that period of time the military pensions are only worth just under 50% of level of MP pensions, and around 40% below aged pensions. That places extreme hardship on the people that have dedicated their freedom, and even their lives for the security of our nation. The Australian lifestyle that we all enjoy, and now take for granted. The irony here is the people that worked the hardest for our freedom are being discriminated against, and receiving the least benefit.

During the last election Mr Howard and Mr Rudd both threw around the term “fair go” in the election campaign. What makes Mr Rudd different is the Labour Party wrote to the Defence Force Welfare Association in 2007 and expressed concern…

“Labor believes that defence superannuation is a vital factor in the nation’s ability to recruit and retain talented and capable people for the Australian Defence Force. It is also a key entitlement for ex-service personnel. … … … there is clearly much more to be done to address a range of longstanding issues in defence’s superannuation. Issues of great concern to the defence and ex-service community include indexation …”

That got him a lot of votes. Also Mr Rudd on 8th September, 2008 made this speech…

“…. the first responsibility of government is the security of the nation. And it follows therefore that government has a particular responsibility towards those who have worn the nation’s uniform. Because there is in my view no higher calling than to wear the uniform of Australia.”

What makes me feel really sick is when I see news footage of Mr Rudd giving our soldiers serving on the front-line in Afghanistan or Iraq a pat on the back for the great job they are doing, all the while knowing full well that he will not support them later in life. By any definition that is a betrayal of a trust, and hence treachery.

Every day that goes by ex-military pensions fall further behind the rest of the nation. If it is good enough for the Judges, Politicians and even the 3.3 million aged pensioners to use a salary based indexation method, then it should be good enough for 63,000 ex-military personnel.

Australia has built a fighting force that is the envy of many countries around the world, but soon the energies of the ex-military will again come together for another fight, not with guns or bullets, but using our own system of democracy. Should Mr Rudd fail to honour the trust we have shown him , then besides a High Court challenge over the taxing of our pensions, there will be another party that will contest the next federal election. I have to note that Senator Steve Fielding has joined other politicians in our fight, and his very accurate comments in the Senate on the 18 November 2009 are welcomed.

How about giving us a fair go Mr Rudd?

IN SUMMARY:
We welcome Mr Matthews’ acceptance, and the Government’s unqualified endorsement, of the longstanding fundamental premise that the purpose of indexation should be to maintain the purchasing power of military superannuation pensions.
But we are extremely disappointed by the Review’s superficial analysis of the available evidence and by the report’s lack of depth, which led to deeply flawed conclusions. The conclusions do not support the Review’s fundamental premise.

Today’s CPI or even the new post-Matthews PBLCI do not of themselves protect pension purchasing power. We are also disappointed by the Government’s endorsement of a demonstrably
flawed report.

As the response demonstrates, an indexation method including the CPI together with an outlays based living cost index such as the Pensioner Beneficiary Living Cost Index (PBLCI) and reference to a wages based index such as the MTAWE (effectively tied to movements in the CPI or PBLCI or MTAWE, whichever is the greatest) is fair, equitable and reasonable. This method would
help protect the purchasing power of military superannuation pensions as it does for today’s welfare pensions. We seek no more and no less than this for military superannuants.

Importantly, we do not seek a generous indexation method tied to today’s military salaries even though certain other Commonwealth superannuation pensions are very generously tied to today’s
parliamentary and judicial salaries.

We recognise that pension purchasing power protection comes at a cost. But the Government pays this cost for welfare pensioners and exceeds it significantly for certain other Commonwealth
superannuation pensioners. The Government cannot continue to discriminate against Australian Defence Force members, its former members, and their families, on grounds of cost.

We believe unequivocally that the Government has the strongest of grounds to:
• Review its endorsement of the Matthews Report,
• Request the Australian Government Actuary to generate long term liability and related figures upon which all parties can rely, and
• Concurrently and without further delay introduce a fair indexation method that maintains the purchasing power of all military superannuation pensions.

Noting that the Government is still considering the Review of Military Superannuation Arrangements, we look forward to early discussions with you or with the Government’s representative on the Government’s plans to protect the purchasing power of Australia’s military superannuation pensioners.

Here is the link to the Ministers Media Release
http://minister.dva.gov.au/media_releases/2009/sep/VA084.pdf