parent visa entitlement

[Guest dean berridge]

Hi All, Can anybody tell me of what entitlements that are available to a parent who has permanent residency. It mentions pensions after 10 years? Does this cancel the Uk pension they are already getting? Any advise would be grateful as mother-in-law is sitting on the fence and is very unsure.

[Hayshake]

My understanding is that unless some work is undertaken in order to earn an Australian pension, then no pension is payable from the Australian Government.

 

Ex pats from the UK have to make do with their English pension at the rate applicable when they move to Australia, which is frozen at that rate for the rest of their lives. It also depends on the exchange rate, which at the moment is very poor.

 

A Bill is to hopefully come before Parliament again shortly which will attempt to get pensions paid the same as the UK without penalty, but as this has been turned down by the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice previously I do not hold out much hope of the situation changing.

 

Final comment - A bond of A$14000 has to be paid into Centrelink for 10 years as security that demands are not made on the Australian system for support.

[Alan Collett]

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/age_eligible.htm

 

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/age_residence.htm

 

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/age_iat.htm

 

The entitlement to the Age Pension in Australia is discussed at these links.

 

Note that it is means tested and subject to a 10 year residency requirement.

 

Best regards.

[Gollywobbler]

My understanding is that unless some work is undertaken in order to earn an Australian pension, then no pension is payable from the Australian Government.

 

Ex pats from the UK have to make do with their English pension at the rate applicable when they move to Australia, which is frozen at that rate for the rest of their lives. It also depends on the exchange rate, which at the moment is very poor.

 

A Bill is to hopefully come before Parliament again shortly which will attempt to get pensions paid the same as the UK without penalty, but as this has been turned down by the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice previously I do not hold out much hope of the situation changing.

 

Final comment - A bond of A$14000 has to be paid into Centrelink for 10 years as security that demands are not made on the Australian system for support.

 

Hi Hayshake

 

A Bill is to hopefully come before Parliament again shortly which will attempt to get pensions paid the same as the UK without penalty, but as this has been turned down by the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice previously I do not hold out much hope of the situation changing.

Do you know anything more about this, please? Is it a backbencher's bill? Does it have George Osborne's support, do you know?

 

At rhe time when the question was rumbling its way though the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, Nick Clegg was hoping to do well in the General Election 2010. He crept up to the various assocations representing the British Pensioners who are adversely affected, including my mother, you and about half a million others, of whom about 250,000 are believed to be in Australia. At the time, Calamity Clegg swore that the Lib_Dems would be right behind the affected Pensioners and would ensure that they were not made to endure this disadvantage in the future and blah blah.

 

My local MP is Chris Huhne, who is said to be a close buddy of Clegg's. Huhne is far too grand to go around door stepping his constituents but he has a most industrious local lieutenant called Keith House.

 

Keith House turned up on my doorstep before the General Election, grinning obsequiously from ear to ear, hoping to win my vote, I assume. By then the ECHR had made its final ruling - which was against the affected Pensioners, as you know.

 

I told Keith House that Huhne might get my vote if I had an absolute ASSURANCE that he would make it his personal business to fight on behalf of the people like my mother. So what were Clegg and Huhne doing about that and what did they intend to do about it after the Election?

 

Keith House admitted that he had never even heard of the issue before. He gave me Chris Huhne's official e-mail address and assured me that his boss would definitely reply and blah blah. I didn't bother to e-mail the man because if he and Clegg were genuinely doing anything about it, surely the Press would have said something by now?

 

I have not heard another word about the issue since the ECHR ruling so I assumed that Clegg had quietly dropped it, but since his recent drubbing in the local elections, has he found some backbone from somewhere and is he now pursuing this matter again, do you know?

 

Many thanks

 

Gill

[Hayshake]

Hi Gill,

Yes it is an Early Day Motion numbered (EDM) 1895 and was bought to my attention by BERIA who are the association of Pensioners in Australia. They were asking for us to write to our MP's asking them to support the motion when it arises shortly. (I am not aware of the exact date).

I wrote to my MP Geoffrey Clifton Brown asking for his support only to receive a response that he was not prepared to support it due to the fact (and I quote)

 

"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently rejected an appeal by expatriate pensioners and ruled that the Government was not obliged to pay annual inflation linked state pension increases to expatriates. The Government has said that it continues to take it's obligations under the terms of the European convention on Human Rights seriously and is satisfied that it is complying and therefore has no plans to make any changes to the current arrangements. Given the ECHR ruling and the very poor state of the nations finances, I do not think it would be appropriate for the Government to commit to change the rules at this time and it is for these reasons I will not be adding my signature to EDM 1895"

 

I guess I know somebody who will not get my vote at the next election.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Gill,

Yes it is an Early Day Motion numbered (EDM) 1895 and was bought to my attention by BERIA who are the association of Pensioners in Australia. They were asking for us to write to our MP's asking them to support the motion when it arises shortly. (I am not aware of the exact date).

I wrote to my MP Geoffrey Clifton Brown asking for his support only to receive a response that he was not prepared to support it due to the fact (and I quote)

 

"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently rejected an appeal by expatriate pensioners and ruled that the Government was not obliged to pay annual inflation linked state pension increases to expatriates. The Government has said that it continues to take it's obligations under the terms of the European convention on Human Rights seriously and is satisfied that it is complying and therefore has no plans to make any changes to the current arrangements. Given the ECHR ruling and the very poor state of the nations finances, I do not think it would be appropriate for the Government to commit to change the rules at this time and it is for these reasons I will not be adding my signature to EDM 1895"

 

I guess I know somebody who will not get my vote at the next election.

 

Hi Hayshake

 

I see from Wiki that Mr Clifton-Brown is a Tory MP, so I'm not surprised that he is doing what he has been told to do by the Whips.

 

Chris Huhne is a Lib-Dem and is the Minister for Energy and Climate Change or whatever his Department is called. He's senior in the Cabinet, I believe.

 

Mr C-B's claims about times being hard are nonsense. The Daily Telegraph investigated the money bags very carefully in early 2010. There is STACKS of money in the National Insurance pot and the Government has admitted that providing full pensions parity would easily be affordable.

 

EDM 1895 is below:

 

http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-11/1895

 

I've been following Bill Esterson quite closely lately. I've been supporting HM Coastguards in their efforts to prevent the Government from halving the number of operational Coastguards. Bill Esterson has taken up the cudgels on behalf of HMCG and since I've watched all the debates about that on Parliament TV, during all of which Bill Esterson spoke eloquently, I think he's pretty good.

 

I've not seen any of the other supporters when they've been on their feet in the House or in Westminster Hall.

 

Right now, Chris Huhne is in it up to his neck. His ex-wife has got it in for him and there is a scandal going on about whether she took the Points on her own driving licence for a speeding offence that was allegedly committed by him. (If I were his ex-wife, I'd have it in for him too. He's been a prize bar steward to her.)

 

Apparently if it is shown that Huhne acted dishonestly about the speeding thing, he'll be kicked out of the Cabinet and his career will be toast. He doesn't seem to bother about any of the issues that his constituents raise with him - he's too busy with his private life and his new girlfriend, I suspect.

 

Cheers

 

Gill