Eden-Monaro seniors and carers receive Budget bonuses

19/6/2007 At least 17,400 senior Australians and carers in Eden-Monaro will start receiving their Federal Budget bonuses this week.

The Federal Member for Eden-Monaro, Gary Nairn, said that the Howard Government is delivering on its commitment to provide one-off non-taxable bonus payments to eligible carers and senior Australians at a total cost of about $1.7 billion.

“The one-off payments will allow more than two million senior Australians and carers nationally to directly benefit from the Howard Government’s record budget surplus and continued strong economic management,” Mr Nairn said.

“These benefits do not occur by accident. They are a direct result of the Howard Government’s strong economic and budget management, something that would be at risk under Labor.
“Labor delivered budget deficits in 9 out of 13 years when it was last in office. The last five Labor budgets were at least $10 billion in deficit.

“Benefits like these bonuses provided to senior Australians and carers would not have been possible if we had not cleared Labor’s $96 billion debt and restored the budget to surplus.
“Payments will be made from Wednesday, 20th June and be completed by Friday, 29th June.”

Payments include:
o Carer Payment recipients receive $1,000.
o Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Carer Service Pension recipients receive $1,000.
o Carer Allowance recipients who also receive Wife Pension or the DVA Partner Service Pension will also receive $1,000.
o Carer Allowance recipients receive $600 for each eligible care receiver.
o Senior Australians in receipt of Utilities Allowance receive $500
o Senior Australians eligible for the Senior Concessions Allowance receive $500.

A small number of Commonwealth Seniors Health Card customers will receive their payments by cheque, as they have not provided bank account details to Centrelink.
“Carers and senior Australians play an important role in our society and it is appropriate that they share the benefit of strong economic management through these one-off payments,” Mr Nairn said.