Seniors

A question to the Government on the roll out of the Regional Seniors Travel Card.

Jo Haylen MP, Shadow Minister for Seniors and Cost of Living, has made an official complaint to the NSW Electoral Commission about the Nationals’ Regional Seniors Travel Card rort.

An expansion of the eligibility criteria of the $250 Regional Seniors Travel Card has failed to include seniors who receive a carer’s payment or disability support pension. 

In what appears to be another major issue with the card, only seniors in receipt of the Aged Pension are able to apply, leaving some of the neediest and most vulnerable seniors in regional communities without access to the $250 scheme.

The Nationals have delayed the card, excluded whole communities, underfunded the card by $135 million and now veterans are being turned away when they try to apply. It’s just not good enough.

We know that the contribution seniors make to our community is too often overlooked or undervalued, and the failure of Ms Berejiklian to appoint a permanent Minister sends a terrible message. 

A question to the Government about how seniors have been supported in bushfire affected communities.

A question to the Government about the trial of the Regional Seniors Travel Card.

Labor is warning that the Nationals are disadvantaging seniors in rural and regional NSW already hit by drought and fires, after delaying the Regional Seniors Travel Card until February.

Shadow Minister for Seniors, Jo Haylen MP and State Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin MP today met with seniors outraged by the Nationals failure to budget for 60 per cent of seniors living in regional NSW, who could miss out on the $250 Regional Seniors Travel Card due to poor budget planning by the Nationals.