This week the federal Labor government announced a reduction in pension deeming rates from March 20 this year.
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This reduction will result in an increase in the number of retired persons eligible for a part pension and in the amount paid to pensioners with financial investments.
Deeming rates are used to determine who is eligible for a pension and how much pensioners receive under means testing rules.
The lower deeming rate will decrease from 3 per cent to 2.5 per cent for financial investments up to $45,400 for single pensioners or $75,600 for a couple.
The upper deeming rate for balances over these limits will also decrease from 4.5 per cent to 4 per cent.
These reductions will benefit more than 28,700 pensioners in the Bendigo electorate by better reflecting the returns they receive from their financial investments, providing part-rate pensioners with an average pension increase of $6.80 per fortnight.
Labor’s historic pension reforms have already delivered increases of $172 per fortnight for singles and $182 per fortnight for couples due to its new indexation system, taking some of the financial pressure off pensioners.
Lisa Chesters,
Labor candidate for Bendigo