Brendan Smith on Budget 2021 - praises measures, rejects pension rise
Brendan Smith spoke on 9 Dec 2020 about social protection measures in Budget 2021, praising local officials' response and welcoming increases to the living alone allowance and flexibility in the pandemic unemployment payment. He opposed raising the pension age and welcomed regulations allowing 65-year-olds to receive an early retirement allowance or pension without being required to sign on for job seekers benefit.
Praise for local officials
The speaker commended the minister and local officials for their response from mid-March, saying they ensured nobody was left without support after unexpected job losses due to the pandemic. He noted officials worked beyond normal hours, processed claims quickly and endured undue pressure to meet demand.
Support for Budget 2021 social protection measures
He welcomed measures giving effect to the social protection announcements in Budget 2021 and described it as the department's largest budget, driven in large part by pandemic costs. He also highlighted the importance of built-in flexibility in the pandemic unemployment payment in case restrictions affecting business and employment need to be reintroduced.
Opposition to raising the pension age
The speaker stated he was a firm believer that the pension age should not be increased, pointing to the heavy physical demands of trades, farming and other manual work that make later retirement unacceptable. He welcomed the bill's deferral of the proposed pension age increase due to commence next January.
Early retirement allowance for 65-year-olds
He praised the introduction of regulations allowing 65-year-olds who retire or are required to retire early to receive an early retirement allowance or pension at the same rate as job seekers benefit without needing to sign on, participate in activation measures, or be available and genuinely seeking work. He described the previous requirement for lifelong workers to sign on as wrong and welcomed the change.
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Thank you very much. Firstly, I want to compliment Minister Humphreys and some of the measures introduced in this important piece of legislation. As we all know, this gives effect to the social protection measures announced in Budget 2021. As Deputy EOD said, it is the largest budget in the history of the Department and in the history of this country. Unfortunately, a substantial amount of it is caused by the pandemic. But I have to say, going back to mid-March, I took the opportunity previously in the Chamber to compliment the officials at local level on the great response they gave and ensure that nobody was left without support when they lost their job so unexpectedly with the pandemic. Great credit is due to the officials at local level. And I know I had interaction with them, not just Monday to Friday, but over the weekends as well. And they tried to ensure that every claim was processed and dealt with in as quick a manner as possible. And I think we should all be conscious of that because they were under undue pressure as as well. And I know that there is flexibility regarding the pandemic unemployment payment. And that's very important that that flexibility built into the scheme, because unfortunately, it may be necessary to move the restrictions again, hopefully not to move the country up to a different restrictions level, which impacts on business and commerce and places of employment. Very importantly, this bill defers the proposed increase in the pension age next January. That's very very, very, very important. And I'm a firm believer that the pension age should not be increased. And we should bear in mind when setting pension age, oftentimes the huge demands on people in employment, be it in trades, on farms, and doing physical work, at times, that is very demanding on an individual. And it's not acceptable that a person in the late 60s would have to still go to work. I welcome the future. I welcome the future. I welcome the fact that there was an increase in the living alone allowance. And that's very important because the person living on their own, just dependent on a state pension, be it contributory or non-contributory, they are under pressure all the time to make ends meet. And it's very important that the living alone allowance is given that status. And hopefully it can be increased over the years to come as well. One other important thing is that this particular legislation also provides the regulations are being brought forward so that 65-year-olds who are required to or choose to retire early can receive an early retirement allowance or pension at the same rate as job seekers benefit without a requirement to sign on or partake in any activation measures or be available for and genuinely seeking work. I knew many people, and all of us as public representatives, would have known people who worked all their lives, came to pension to 65 years of age, had to give up their employment. And those people never before in their life had been in a social welfare office. It was absolutely wrong that those people had to go and sign on job seekers benefit. They had to leave their place of employment to no choice of their own. And I'm very glad that this particular regulation is being brought in to put an end to that. Thank you. Thank you, Alaskan Korla.
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