Pensioners under pressure

BY ALEX MCDONALD AND EMMA KEMP
Sydney pensioner Jim Brislen can no longer afford to buy a decent steak.
“I used to love a steak, a t-bone,” said the 72 year-old, whose greatest culinary luxury these days is mince and a few chops.
Inner-city pensioners are being hit hard by rising food and rental costs. And like many of his contemporaries, Jim Brislen has had to make sacrifices.
He said he barely scrapes by on the $273 weekly allowance.
‘Every week, once you’ve paid your rent and bought your food it’s gone,’ he says.
Mr Brislen was exposed to asbestos while working as a rigger on Garden Island. He has been on an invalid pension for almost 12 years and now rarely leaves his Ultimo apartment.
“I used to sit here and watch cars go over the bridge, now there are units in the way.”
Federal opposition leader Dr Brendan Nelson has led the Coalition’s push for an extra $30 a week for pensioners, but Jim Brislen doubts that amount of money would do much to improve his standard of living.
“Rent will go up and food will go up,” he says. “It’s tough, especially when your electricity bill comes in. The last one was for $105.”
But Jim is better off than some city seniors. For Zhu Pei Juan, 51, money is so tight that she walks from Newtown to the Harris Street Community Centre in Ultimo because she can’t afford the bus fare. Mrs Zhu ‘ who lives with her husband and son ‘ lost her job when the jewellery factory where she was working closed. She isn’t eligible for any government assistance because her husband is earning just over $35,000 a year. Worse still, she can’t find another job because her English isn’t up to scratch.
‘I’ve been working here for 17 years, but now I’m unemployed and it’s very hard to find a job given my age and skills,’ she says. ‘I have a long way to go before I will be old enough to receive the pension.’
Incredibly, Mrs Zhu says her family would be better off financially if her husband stopped working. Then, they could both claim Centrelink benefits ‘ but the family is too proud for that.
‘My husband can’t support the three of us on that salary, and Centrelink can’t help me because my husband has an income. I feel so trapped.’
Although Prime Minster Kevin Rudd and seven of his ministers have admitted they could not survive on the age pension, the rate is not likely to increase for at least another year. This is despite an 83-page cabinet study released last week showing that rent assistance payments to seniors have now been overtaken by inflation.
Max Wilson, 73, of Woolloomooloo has seen how steeper city rents have impoverished older residents.
‘I know some people up at Darlinghurst, and they had to go because the rent kept going up faster than the pension was,’ he said.
The State Government Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC) did increase its funding for South East Sydney in the past 12 months to $21.2 million. Much of that money goes towards the Federal/State funded Home and Community Care Program.
“There are also specific initiatives to improve access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and people living in remote or isolated areas,” a DADHC spokesman said.
But language barriers inevitably lead to suffering and isolation for many of Australia’s elderly, something Mrs Zhu can relate to.
‘I feel so trapped because I am now in the age bracket where nobody can help me, quite a lot of us fall in that gap,’ she said. ‘Centrelink won’t even assist me in learning English because my husband has an income.’
The Harris Community Centre provides free meals for its members, but the majority of them say they are too ashamed to ask for food.
Of all the age pensioners interviewed by The City News, Max Wilson was the best off. He owns his Woolloomooloo apartment and claims a second benefit through the Royal Australian Navy.
Despite his own relative comfort, Mr Wilson has seen how tough it is for his non-home owning friends.
He believes rental assistance should vary depending on which zone you live in.
“Rental assistance only helps people [living] out in the sticks,” he said.
“For a pensioner living in the inner city, their rental assistance doesn’t help them much. People in this area really need more than those who live in north western NSW where the rent is much cheaper.’