Grey Power June 2016

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32 national Greypower mAGAZINE » june 2016 Super Gold Card I have just finished reading the Grey Power Magazine and as usual it is so informative. Once again in it I have read and also heard a lot of talk about our Super Gold Card costs to Government and Councils. I have NOT yet read of the misuse and abuse costs incurred from our Gold Card which I feel could be significant. I know, and I am sure many others know, of folk who use the Gold Card when they are NOT entitled to do so (ie deceased relatives family members, friends, stolen cards and more) on public transport and discounting. We very fortunate folk here in Auckland can use our cards to go on a day’s outing to Waiheke Island on the ferries which normally cost $36 return. Buses and trains cost us ADVERTISING just $5. PROOF So who do they think reimburses these companies? It’s the tax payer at the end of the day. Invercargill people have living together is: Only CUSTOMER TASMAN read VILLAGE and responded by the personal PUBLISHINGcosts 17/09/14 of each buying my bags. person can be claimed i.e. DESIGNER Unknown With winter coming I’m doctors’ SECTION visits, FEATURES prescriptions, PROOFED 11/09/2014 hoping 1:34:47 for more p.m. sales to chiropodists. SIZE 12.9X18.5BUT AD ID 6290172AA help people with the ever- combined FAX household expenses i.e. lawn-mowing, increasing rising heating PLEASE APPROVE THIS AD AS SOON and AS cooking POSSIBLE. costs. NOTE THAT gardening, ANY ALTERATIONS heating can Solution! MUST BE FINALISEDThanks BY OURto MATERIAL those who DEADLINE. only be claimed by ONE Make it mandatory bought and thanks to your SPOUSE or PARTNER. If for all holders of the Gold Card to go to an Automobile Assn (with rate or rent and power bill for verifica- magazine for helping me get the word out there. Regards Tish North a spouse is deceased that was claiming the latter expenses, THEN, the surviving spouse needs to see tion) and get your photo taken for FREE to be put on their Gold Card. You only have to do this once as renewal cards come out with your photo on automatically. Another benefit is using the card as a form of ID as not all older folk have driver licences or passports and they are not really suitable for the over 18 ID card. (Tongue in cheek) Talk to any bus driver and they are aware of this ‘cheating’ but there is nothing they can to stop it. Nickie Frye Auckland Great response I have had a tremendous response to my heylo bag article in the March National Greypower Magazine. From the far North to MSD allowance In respect of the letter outlining aspects of Disability Allowance in the last issue. I reply advising as I understand it. MSD has this extra payment allowance [added to Superannuation] upon one’s doctor signing a form agreeing that: Due to a person’s non-ability to garden or mow lawns, and they require medical prescriptions and continuous doctor/chiropractic visits, plus requirement to keep warm due to slow mobility, and finally, requiring a medical alarm due to propensity for falls, heart or other critical medical conditions. The payment[s] can be paid to spouses and partners living together under one roof, or a single person. The exception for couples SALES REP KDEVENISH PUBLICATION CAMBRIDGE EDITION Affordable Retirement Living in a quality home offers you you a warm,comfortable a comfortable home own home in ahome beautiful in a rural beautiful Waikato setting rural IS NOW • Own your own Waikato home (Freehold settingUnitTitle) UNDERWAY SPACIOUS • Monthly • Own charges your own are only home $170 (Freehold Unit Title) BRAND Sites NEW priced HOMES from • Contribution when exiting the village capped • Monthly at 5% charges are only $170 also available $144,000 for • The • The capital capital gain isgain yoursis yours purchase • Rural outlook, yet close to the Enquiries Welcomee For town more centre information call 07 889 1933 Tasman Village, 2 Seales Road, Morrinsville Email: office@tasmanvillage.co.nz | Website: www.tasmanvillage.co.nz TASMANTasman VILLAGE Village, is a non-profit 2 Seales making Road, Morrinsville organisation 6290172AA Tasman Village Morrinsville For more information call 07 889 1933 owned by its residents Sections priced from $80,000 FINALto build your DEVELOPMENT Email: office@tasmanvillage.co.nz | Website: www.tasmanvillage.co.nz TASMAN VILLAGE is a non-profit organisation owned by its residents. ax Media makes every effort to create advertisements to meet your specific needs. Please note in some instances we may be unable to supply additional proofs due to complexity of the request or deadline constraints. © This advertisement has been created as a service of Fairfax Media. It cannot be reproduced without permission. If you wish to use this material elsewhere, please contact your advertising consultant. Charges will apply. 50484 his/her doctor to verify if those expenses can now be claimed by him/her. [medical criteria dependent]. So the former letter writer in March issue hasn’t been informed correctly, or not investigated the situation with MSD. Graeme Ekins. Palmerston North Shower flow Your March number featured an article on saving electricity. I am concerned, as one of the very few Kiwi academics working in energy conservation this past four decades, at some inadequate information in that article. To measure a shower flow, a 2-L plastic icecream box is normal. There is no need to run a further 8 L for this test. The idea that a shower flow up around 9 L/min constitutes conservation of electricity (and water) is misleading. In developing my solar water-heating inventions, I became closely involved in this issue. A flow as low as 2 L/min is quite adequate, if through a nozzle designed for low flows. I have no commercial connection with the Feltonmix, perfected by a Kiwi firm a quarter-century ago, when it was also one of the cheapest shower mixers, and there may for all I know be other mixers just as good; but anyhow 2 L/min from a Feltonmix is fine. Of course that must be partly a subjective opinion, but it is based on years of personal research and is much more reasonable than condoning any flow near 9 L/min. To constrict the flow by inserting a restrictor is for some shower-heads feasible, but there is no general ‘9 L/min or less’ model as imagined by your article - if only because the flow depends not only on the constriction in that added device but also of course on the water pressure. Insertion may well take much more than the promised 10 min., especially if the first restrictor tried turns out to be unsatisfactory. And anyhow a big old showerhead, if you land by luck on a restricted flow in the region 2 - 3 L, may well then emit a mere ‘thick dribble’ rather than the many small streams from nozzles designed in the first place for low flows. Grey householders deserve advice from experienced researchers. Robert Mann University of Auckland Something wrong I have to say there is something sadly wrong with the policies of Grey Power. I read with disgust about the snub delivered to our Advocacy team on page 30 of the March edition of the quarterly. It is my belief the Advocacy meetings display an appalling amount of subservience. I also believe the continuing insistence on remaining ‘apolitical’ is completely wrong. Who among our membership are apolitical? I’m sure I am NOT! The general tenor of the magazine demonstrates a covert political bias. Grey Power needs to take a different stance entirely. In the March quarterly, on page 30 at the bottom of the first column was a headline, ‘INTENDED MEETINGS THAT DID NOT OCCUR’. Why didn’t they occur? Because ‘Dad’s Army’ is NOT considered of sufficient importance, has to be the only answer. Instead of the bland acceptance in the Advocacy report, there should have been outspoken complaint about the cavalier treatment OUR delegation received at the hands of OUR self-proclaimed SERVANT, the politicians, very few of whom can lay claim to OUR combined depths of experience and knowledge. This topic should have occupied front page treatment on the quarterly instead of being hidden away on page 30. The apolitical nonsense means a variety of things, ‘politically neutral’ without political attitudes, content or bias’ (Collins). Does this view represent Grey Power membership as a whole? I have found VERY few of our members to be without a political opinion one way or another. It means by the ‘apolitical’ stance we are in agreement with the million or so deluded individuals who failed to exercise their democratic right to cast their votes in the last two or more general elections. Thus, opening the door to further poor governance. During the course of my life I have found is absolutely NOTHING to be gained by allowing yourself to become a DOOR- MAT. If we as a body continue to accept this substandard treatment without comment it can only get worse! There has been muted comment about changes due to take effect on July 1, 2016 to our Gold Card travel concessions. Has there been a single word in the Quarterly? NO. This, like the snub delivered to our Advocacy team should have received front page treatment in bold print in the quarterly. Again, the quarterly has shown it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on and a complete insult to our combined intelligence. The numerous pages wasted on inconclusive advocacy reports, and advertisements for travel to exotic locations around the world, seem to appeal only to a very minimal percentage of our combined membership, the majority of whom seems to be wholly concerned with ways of supporting themselves and meeting their financial commitments, given the present levels of the NZS. I have had occasion to voice my displeasure at put downs of one of our members, by editor, Mike and vice president Tom, V P. Tom replied with what amounted to more abuse. The matter was put by letter to retiring president Terry. He replied and explained that due to difficulties with his health he had referred by letter to VP Tom for reply. The first letter was dated November 29, 2015. In the absence of reply it was followed up by my further letter dated February 20, 2016. This like the previous letter seems also to have been ignored. I have been a fully paid up member of Upper Hutt association for a good number of years and have no other option to take this treatment as a personal insult. If this is an example of how Grey Power cares for its members then I’m sorry to say it has to have another think coming. It also goes some way to explaining why Grey Power represents less than 10 percent of the total retired population. The recent presidential election was a case in point. Overnight we heard that Tom O’Connor had been anointed with the presidency. By whom? Is it some secret process to which rank and file members are excluded? We are the ones who have to bear the brunt of doubtful provisions being ‘handed’ down from on high, most times without input from the membership. Isn’t it high time the electoral process was opened to the entire Continued on page 33
national Greypower mAGAZINE » june 2016 33 From page 32 membership? After all we are the ones who have contact in many ways with the overall organisation and who experience the number of the inexplicable decisions being taken on our combined behalf. It was good enough a few years back for an earlier president, Ron Reid (sic) to organise meetings around the country to raise support from the rank and file to petition parliament against the proposal to sell OUR power stations. We were considered good enough on that occasion. Why not every occasion? I am still bemused that the petition was actually allowed to proceed given the very obvious pro Government bias demonstrated by our ‘apolitical’ magazine! There have been one or two half-hearted attempts at membership drives that I can remember. To what end? To quote our Maori friends When asked what is most important? Their reply has always been: “It’s people, people, people”. That is a lesson that MUST be taken on board by the ENTIRE Grey Power organisation! I have no doubt this missive will be cast into the bin ‘headed up – another unfriendly diatribe’! Editor’s note: Almost, but not quite, Peter. Let’s see what our members think. Peter Grove Lower Hutt Simple and effective Thanks to this year’s GP Federation AGM in Christchurch, Grey Power emerges as a leader in simple and effective policy proposals for widening prosperity and economic security. This refers not only to securing (better?) NZ Super preservation for future generations from age 65 through a permanent NZ Super Fund, and to “resurrecting” the $1000.- Kiwi Saver kick-start to all, who for whatever reason have not received it yet, including newborn babies and seniors older than 65 - but also to the proposal of widening the taxation revenue base by introducing a Financial Transactions Tax - FTT ! The latter is crucially helpfull for raising our national and personal wealth ownership increasing savings rate through resumed NZ Super Fund and Kiwi Saver kick-start contributions, and should not replace any income tax or GST at least for the start, not before the increased wealth ownership creation is delivering noticeably higher incomes. Is not the FTT practically just a modernized and more efficient variety of the “stamp duty” widely in use before WW2 ? At 0.1 percent it would be only $1000.- on a $1million capital transaction, and it would not apply to anything subject to GST. Jens Meder, Auckland Prime Minister John Key says... Budget invests in a growing economy Last month, the National-led Government delivered its eighth budget. It’s a forwardlooking Budget that invests in a growing economy and areas that make a difference to people’s lives. New Zealand’s economy is performing well, and the Government’s books are in good shape. Budget 2016 invests in New Zealand’s future to ensure our strong economic growth continues to help strengthen communities. It provides significant new funding for health, innovation, and infrastructure, and to help the most vulnerable New Zealanders live better lives. It also includes an extra $41 million for the SuperGold card scheme. As many people know all too well, our health is our biggest asset. That’s why delivering better health services remains this Government’s number one funding priority. We’re putting an extra $2.2 billion into health over the next four years, bringing next year’s investment in health to a record $16.1 billion. But it’s not about money, it’s about results. Around 3000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year, and Budget 2016 provides $39 million to start the roll-out of a national bowel screening programme to help reduce that number. The roll out will start with Hutt Valley and Wairarapa DHBs and this will be followed by a progressive roll-out across the country. Once fully implemented the programme will screen around 700,000 people aged 60-74 every two years. As New Zealanders live longer, access to elective surgery is more important than ever. That’s why we’re investing an extra $96 million to deliver 4000 more elective surgeries a year so New Zealanders can live free from pain. Access to elective surgery makes a real difference to patients and their families and is a priority for the Government. Budget 2016 also delivers more money for Pharmac, bringing its total budget next year to a record $850 million. Pharmac is independent but it says this extra funding will allow look at funding new treatments for advanced melanoma, Hepatitis C, and brain tumours. The Government is also committed to preventing Prime Minister John Key and reducing crime, and almost $300 million extra for police in Budget 2016 demonstrates this. Total crime Your first step to hearing better is FREE, at Bay Audiology. Continued on page 42 Book your free hearing check today. The friendly team at your local Bay Audiology Clinic make it easy to enjoy hearing healthstarting with a free hearing check. It doesnt take long and we’re ready to see you now! Why wait to enjoy healthy hearing at work, with family and friends? over 90 clinics nationwide Free Hearing check only available to people aged 18 years and over Book your FREE hearing check now on 0800 800 864
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Grey Power June 2016

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