Grey Power September 2019

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4 NZ GREYPOWER MAGAZINE » SEPTEMBER 2019 PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Winter is well and truly upon us and it seems to have rained continuously for the last several weeks. I hope you are all looking after yourselves - and avoiding the normal winter coughs and colds. FROM MAC WELCH NATIONAL PRESIDENT GREY POWER NZ FEDERATION INC. The main topic of conversation over the weeks since the AGM has been around Kiwibank’s decision to withdraw cheques at very short notice. New Kiwibank CEO, Steve Jurkovich is adamant that this decision is irreversible, and this was reinforced at a meeting Roy Reid and I attended at Kiwibank’s Auckland headquarters on Tuesday, July 16. The meeting was arranged between Kiwibank/FINZ and several of the major charities in New Zealand, to discuss the impact that Kiwibank’s decision to discontinue cheques, will have on these organisations. Among those charities and organisations attending were the following: Eldernet, Forest & Bird, Arthritis Organisation, Leprosy Mission, Heart Foundation, St John, SPCA, Age Concern and Grey Power. Roy and I were about to leave the hotel for the airport after attending meetings in Auckland, including the GPE. Board meeting, when we received a call from Eleanor Bodger of Eldernet informing us the meeting was to begin within the hour. We made what turned out to be a worthwhile decision to attend. We were surprised at the impact the Kiwibank decision is going to have on the charity sector. The majority of their donations come to them by way of cheque. The charities explained in the meeting that, although they had attempted to get regular donors to donate by methods other than cheque, the donors expressed a reluctance to do so. Several suggestions were expressed about why this is so, although no one could provide any definitive answers. In short, all the participants Mac Welch, Grey Power national president. of the meeting apart from Kiwibank expressed the opinion that this decision would have a severe impact on their bottom line. They also expressed the view that the lead time given by Kiwibank was ridiculously too short and said there should have been at least two years’ advance warning given, a point of view which Grey Power agrees with. Kiwibank attendees at the meeting reiterated that the decision was irreversible and quoted that the cost of continuing to provide a cheque service would be un-sustainable. When I enquired what this cost, Kiwibank staff declined to disclose the figure. The impact of this decision on Grey Power and Associations will also be severe. As near as I can ascertain through discussions with Associations, between 30-40 percent of Association annual subscriptions are paid by way of cheque. Many of our elderly members do not and will not use telephone or internet banking. This will leave many associations and the aforementioned charities in the position of having to transfer at least part (if not all) their business to one of the big four Australian Banks. The dates and location of next year’s Annual General Meeting have been confirmed. The AGM will be held at the Commodore Hotel in Christchurch. The dates it will be held are Monday, 27, Tuesday 28, Wednesday 29 of July, 2020. More details will be sent to associations before Christmas 2019. I was recently advised of an association that is intending to make chang- Steve Jurkovich, Kiwibank CEO. es to its Constitution without any reference to Grey Power Board. Associations need to be reminded of their Contract of Observance, which they have all signed as a condition of membership of the Federation and the right to use the Grey Power name. An association cannot make any changes to its Constitution without having those changes first approved by the Grey Power Board, keeping in mind that Association Constitutions cannot be contradictory to Grey Power Federation Constitution. Once the Association membership at a properly constituted meeting as per their Association Rules, has approved the changes and they have been forwarded to, and approved by Grey Power Board, they can then be forwarded to Incorporated Societies to be registered. But not before. The continuing turnover of association officers and committees means that many associations are unaware of their responsibilities and commitment under their membership of Grey Power Federation. All new association officers should familiarise themselves with the Federation Constitution and the bylaws governing the Federation. Copies of these documents are available on request from Federation office. Finally, I urge all members to pay particular attention to Kevin Gardener’s report in this issue (page 49) on the meeting he and Mate Marinovich attended titled “Upcoming Cannabis Referendum Report.” It is obvious from the inter-action we have had with the Drug Foundation and the events that took place at this meeting that the Drug Foundation are strongly in favour of legalising recreational Cannabis. This contravenes Grey Power policy. Double dipping anomalies From page 1 the likely effects of this policy change states that its benefits are cost savings of $13.05 million in 2020/21, $90.86 million by 2023/24 and $237.57 million by 2030/31. But despite the reasons given for changes such as streamlining of the superannuation process, less risk that people will be dissuaded from working, saving or investing up to the NZS eligibility age, and the cultural change which means nowadays both partners in most households are in paid work, for the women who will be affected the future looks bleak - especially because the lead-in time is so short. The NQP benefit will cease from 1 July next year even though a 2017 document released by Treasury recommended a lead in-time of five years, as did the Retirement Commissioner. That is regardless of the fact that affected people will have virtually no time to prepare for the change. The document referred to above blithely points out these women can find their way into the workforce, they can apply for a work seeker or some other benefit at a lower rate than the NQP benefit or they can hope that their partners will share their income with them. But wasn’t one of the main reasons for the policy change to treat partners as individuals so they didn’t have to rely on the benevolence of a partner? Personal experience and much research has taught me that workplace ageist attitudes make it almost impossible for older people to find suitable employment. And for the government benefit scenario, loss of self-respect and dignity is likely because Work and Income can force older people to undergo frequent job search activities such as funding (out of a very low income) the cost of travelling to seek inappropriate or non-existent older persons’ work opportunities. As it happens, since the NQP policy announcement - which has been kept very quiet by the government - some very upset people have contacted me. …for the women who will be affected the future looks bleak - especially because the lead-in time is so short. Jean* was in tears as she explained that she and her husband had been planning carefully for their retirement for many years and the NQP benefit was to be part of this because work outside the home was not really a possibility for her when her husband retired. She tells me “that N… is an extremely competitive job market and due to my age, lack of any university qualifications and now… family constraints [she provides care for her grandson so her daughter, a solo Mum, can work to provide for herself and her son] I have found the job market impossible… My husband has been a manual worker since he left school … and his body will not allow him to work past 65… Lack of public consultation… and a mere 12 months’ notice for such a drastic change … is hardly what you would expect from a well-being budget.” Jim* was very upset because he and several friends had worked most of their lives in hard manual jobs and he said that: “We are counting the days until we turn 65 years old and can receive the pension; our bodies are knackered, but now we find out that our wives who are several years younger than us can’t get the non-qualified partner benefit and so we will have to stay working until they turn 65. We can’t live on a single pension and we thought we only had a year or so to work. Now that’s all changed.” When he applied for NZS recently Bill* was very shocked to discover that from next year the NQP benefit would be unavailable: He asked: “Has Grey Power dropped the ball or ignored the 50-65s? I have just applied for my National Super. To my surprise I was told that the ‘non-qualified partner’ provision would no longer be available from 2020. “As my wife is 10 years younger than me, we had intended to work a few more years and retire together. This now means my wife works till she’s 65 and I’m 75 or we live on a single pension and our modest savings. “The Work and Income web site makes no mention of this, I have seen nothing from Grey Power about this change to the rules. I cannot understand how Grey Power has not picked this up and challenged the government.” Several of Grey Power’s relevant national advisory groups have researched this issue and after discussion at the recent Federation Board meeting we decided to recommend to the Wellington decision-makers that the lead-in time be extended to five years instead of implementing the change next year. The 50 Plus advisory group has also suggested that its NQP submission include: • Its policy to advocate for the provision of training for Work and Income case managers to address the specific needs of older work seekers • Working with other agencies to rescind the 2007 amendments to the Social Security Act 1964, which added work test sanctions for those 60 years and over. (*names have been changes for privacy reasons.)
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Grey Power September 2019

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