They continually change the goal posts for anything to do with the military and its pensions how many times have they changed msbs since it came in. I still think the DFRDB schem is the better one to be in but still dowent compare to the pollies one.
I reckoned this stinks as if I remember you pay tax while you pay your contributions and then pay tax on your discharge and still pay tax on the DFRDB. I have not had a tax return since I got out of the Air Force in 1991
I joined the Defence Force (RAAF) in 1956 under the then scheme named DFB or something similar. Those days we were promised all sorts of things, like a payout of x amount of times your contributions plus a pension on retirement etc.. Later on it became a flat rate contribution of 5.5 %. After several more confusing changes in legisltion I have no idea of what sort of scheme I finished up with. Now 74 yrs of age I receive a part age pension. The drawback with that is that for every $ I rec.in indexation of my Service pension the Lib Govt. reduces my age pension by 40cents in the $ of the increase. Like a dog chasing it's tail I'm getting nowhere fast. I brought that to the attention of our local Federal Member who's only comment was " It won't change in our time " Some comment !!
Makes a mockery of serving in the Military long term. We showed our commitment to defending our country and democracy, why can't support and commitment be a two way street.
A clear and concise petition. But don't let it rest there. Make sure your local member is aware as well. Perhaps hint that you might placard polling booths with "This candidate does not support a fair go for Servicemen and Servicewoman".
When I Joined the DFRB and started to contribute 5.5% of my Pay it was a self funded scheme, Most other funds stolen by the Whitlam Labor Government to balance the then budget. have been restored to the self funding status. Why isn't DFRBD given the same respect of other commonwealth super funds. Fifteen years ago it was estimated that Defence Force personnel were giving the Commonwealth Government over 180 million dollar loan each year because of the refusal to restore the funds (DFRBD & MSBS) to self-funding status.
Isn't it great to be aprt of a democracy where we are "supposed" tp be able to make choices which govern our lives. Not so if you are an ex-serviceman living on, or planning to live on DFRDB.
The thing the government of the day should take into consideration is...
A: We (members of the defence force) had no choice as to how our supernauation was to be funded.
B: The super was taxed as part of our gross income, taxed again on receipt of payouts, and now they want to tax it a third time.
I say come on to the government, consider the impact this will have on the people who rely on this superanuation to sustain their living.
I hope the same is happening to your, (the federal members of parliament) supernauation, as your scheme is supposed to be a mirror of the DFRDB scheme, or so we were told.
Not only this but, when commuting your DFRDB pension, you are advanced money based on life expectancy, once you pass that life expectancy your pension should be restored to the full amount as you will then have repaid your advance in full.
As a twenty year serving member I find that over the time in and after I got out in 1999 it does not matter who is in power they will shaft the ADF members when they can, and the bastards have the hide to say they care.
When my friend, who was in the Army, explained the situation - I made sure I read the petition, and I fully support the statements made and the intent of thr petition.
As President of the Kedron-Wavell Sub Branch RSL our members at the monthly meeting gave our permission to support this petition. All members and visitors present at the meeting agreed to this support
When we joined we had no option wether we paid into the DFRB, then changed to a newsystem ,theDFRDBscheme. When you siged up you had to pay. This new system is crap.
Does the Howard Government have a conscience? If so, why can't the Superannuation Act be amended to reflect what is in every other Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme in Australia, including that of Parliamentarians.
This is evidence of the long reaching effect that the whitlam administration has had on Austrailia and its citizens and the subsequent govts failure to rectify the these problems the barstards put in place. Whitlam the parasite is receiving his pension, free travel and other allowances at the citizen's expense. If we were not paying for superannuation and our PAYG payment summary comes from the Commonwealth Superannuation Administration what are we getting? I challange the Labour and Liberal "parties" to rectify this. After all the soldier had no say in the change. Whitlam not only stole the soldiers super fund he also stole from the tax payers as they had the pay the superannuation for the members when it should have been paid for by the original DFRB fund.
As a twenty year serving member I am amazed that my political representative would not support the people that put their life on the line for their country
You can be dammned sure the pollies wouldn't let this happen to themselves. We need to attract some mainstream media attention to force the pollies to squirm and thne fix the system.
Even after 40 years service in my case we still cannot get recognised by our government for our contribution. We git screwed then and things have not changed. I fully support this petition
Why are ex service personell getting the sharp end of the stick and not being given a fair go after having served our country for, in my case, 20 years when politicians who fail to serve their country or support the service men and women who have done so with pride.
