’78ers threaten political blockade

’78ers threaten political blockade

A senior gay couple who lost $420 in fortnightly Centrelink payments have called on others affected by the changes to take direct action against prominent Labor MPs.

-˜78ers, James Hunter, 56, and Mark Hewitt, 61, (not their real names), have vowed to organise sit-ins and blockades at the offices of Labor MPs in pink electorate areas to raise awareness of the affects the welfare changes are having on older gay and lesbian couples.

The couple, who have been together 32 years, said they wanted to do the right thing by declaring their relationship, but were uninformed about how much money they would lose. With Hunter earning $34,000 a year from a part-time job, Hewitt, a chronic asthmatic, had his New Start Payments reduced to $30 a week. Without any superannuation and only one major asset, their home, the couple say they are now considering hiding their relationship.

I remember the days in my 20s when I had to deny I was gay. I feel like I’ve just been shafted again and I’m back to where I was at 21, and it hurts so much. It’s gut wrenching, Hunter told Sydney Star Observer.

At this point I think my relationship is worth more than the amount of money they’re taking away from me, but I don’t know what’s going to happen in six months time. I don’t know how sick Mark is going to get, I don’t know if I’m going to get sick.

We decided to declare because Mark was under the impression that if I earned less than $750 a week his benefits wouldn’t be affected, but it’s $753 a fortnight. We were just shell-shocked, we didn’t realise what was going to happen and I’m finding from speaking to other people that it’s the same thing for them.

Mark was devastated when he came back from the Centrelink office. He’s also suffering a sense of shame, that he now has to come to me for support when I’m on such a low wage to begin with -” it’s affecting him, I’m worried about his health, I’m worried about my health.

Hunter said more should have been done to publicise how much couples could earn before their payments were affected.

The Welfare Rights Network petitioned the Rudd Government and Centrelink to better inform welfare recipients of potential changes, and made recommendations in February of this year that a letter be sent to all single recipients of Single Security and Family Assistance payments.

Centrelink rejected the suggestion in writing, stating, As the estimated percentage of customers affected is low, a mailout to all single customers would result in many customers receiving a letter that is not applicable to them. This would create a significant level of unnecessary customer concern and contact demand.

If a customer had genuinely not been exposed to the same-sex reforms information campaign, and had not been sent a letter with notification obligations, Centrelink can take that into consideration in deciding whether the customer would incur a debt.

Hunter said he and other affected couples are angry at the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, saying they sold out pensioners.

I feel like we are just the collateral damage and they don’t really care because it’s only a few of us, he said.

I cannot for the life of me see how the Lobby could not have fought for that more in advance. All they had to do was sit back for six months or a year and fight it … but I think for expediency they just buckled under.

Lobby co-convenor Emily Gray said the organisation did seek a grandfather clause in the legislation.
We argued for both grandfathering and phasing in of the social security changes from when the discussions started in 2006 and have continued until 2009, she said.

There simply was not the option of holding out for six months or more. The timing of the reforms was crucial. Had we held out for six months it is possible the reforms would not have happened.

Overall, discrimination against same-sex couples and their families was removed from 84 pieces of legislation. The GLRL understands the hardship with which some same-sex couples are now faced, but it would have been irresponsible to jeopardise full practical equality for same-sex couples and their families.

Hunter said it is time for older welfare recipients to speak up.

I’d like to encourage some direct action, like sit-ins perhaps at the offices of any of the big Labor ministers, to bring this to a head, he said.

The main thing is that we need to get people to know about this, so if people say they are interested in taking that route, and the feedback is good then I’ll start organising something.

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37 responses to “’78ers threaten political blockade”

  1. This morning I was telephoned from centrelink. They are checking linked bank accounts and addresses.
    I mentioned the fact that I had been an illegal citizen for the first 58 years of my life. endured police brutality and fear, and the best investments had not been unavailable because they were only for het married couples, and dying would be a problem because families can stop inheritances going to partners and all the rest of the crap we ancient ones have endured all our lives. “Oh you’re now equal,” he said brightly. You can have all that. I pointed out that it was a bit late at 68 to start superannuation. but he thinks that suddenly it’s all equal and not a bit unfair. I will deny a relationship and lie if I have to. When religions start paying tax on the thirty billion dollars they take in profit from their commercial enterprises [not charity] then I’ll reconsider where I stand.
    And as for raising the pension age to 67, Will members of parliament also have to wait till they’re 67 to get their golden handshakes? fuck no!

  2. Gregory, Im 38 if you must know. Ive worked hard all my working life and now I have the pleasure of working from home 3 days a week. Why? because I APPLIED myself and I dont live my life under lock and key under the influence of the Governments and have a “Poor Me” mentality. I would like for once in my life to have a decent Tax Return but thats not possible because Im constantly supporting a nation full of VICTIMS.

  3. “Couples are Couples” according to Centrelink.

    More like – “This couple can marry, and other couples can be picked on and made fun of and have NO right to marry”.

  4. Centrelink – “more like a link up to your bank to take your money”. I will kick start a campaign soon called: “No marriage Means No disclosure”, meaning until we have FULL EQUALITY under the law – that means marriage, not civil unions or “Jim Crow” laws, then we will not disclose our relationships.

    Kevin Rudd hates us gays anyway!

  5. Our gay community has been fighting for equal rights for so many years. Equal rights can benefit us and occassionally affect us. As long as the gay community is treated the same as the hetrosexual community, I think we have nothing to complain about.

  6. A question to Oliver, how old are you? did you actually read the artical? If you did this couple was not complaining about the change in the centerlink laws only the implimation of those changes and the complete lack of compassion shown by centerlink and the gay rights lobby. I hope you are thrown on the scrap heap at 61 and some twerp like you is giving you crap for somthing that more than likely is out of your control. Just rember what goes around comes around and in your case I hope it is soon.

  7. . . . .the same financial rules apply to str8 hetero couples . Sounds like marriage/relationships and centrelink never make good bedfellows whether your gay or str8.
    Many hetero couples dont declare their partnership or say theyre separated in order to gain more Centrelink benefits.
    Centrelink will never provide enough money to give a quality longterm financial help. Its just a few drops in a big bucket. It always has been this way. I wish there was more money to pass out at Centrelink but there probably never shall be.
    Commiserations alround.

  8. Let’s get real here! It’s difficult to find work if you are older, let alone older and dealing with even a minor disability. Shops that advertise for assistants are not going to hire some wheezing old bloke who can’t lift anything, they’re going to hire someone young and fit. It’s not like the young are fully employed already.

    These changes to Centrelink target pensioners: the men and women who are trying to scrape by in retirement. Disability is a factor of age, whether we like it or not. It is (to quote President Obama) “stupid” to talk of bludging: that’s 1970s rhetoric, dismissive and pointless.

    As for “couples”, I think labelling is not the problem. It’s what is done because of the label. It still comes down to this: how can a couple be acceptable in one situation and not in every situation?

  9. Mark, I agree with you totally! Ive never received free money from the Government. I am a chronic Asthmatic also. Should that set me back from getting a job? Absolutely not! Walk around the City and youll see shop windows advertising for staff despite being a Recession. Even a recession is no excuse to Bludge off the Government! For those that were living off welfare for years around the Oxford St area, come on Get with it! Stop giving Gays a bad name!!!

  10. ‘Couple’ this and ‘couple’ that! Why is it assumed that people who live together are ‘coupled’, whether they like it or not, as if they are not allowed to think of themselves in any way that does not kow-tow to this cultural, or whatever, definition? It is offensive to be unilaterally defined by other people.

  11. My advice is to go and get a job to make up for the $200/week in lost dole payments.

    Last time I checked, the minimum wage (for casuals) is $20/hour so one of them could work for 10 hours a week to make up the difference – hardly a huge imposition.

    People need to get over their welfare mentality and ask how they can help themselves rather than whine when they don’t get cash handouts from the government.

    Btw – I am also chronic asthmatic but I still manage to work full time.

  12. Equality for same sex pensioners is fine if we started from a level playing field. However this is clearly not the case as G&L people who are now pensioners have been discriminated against all their lives in financial and other ways compared to heterosexual couples. So the government opted to doubly disciminate againsat older G&Ls & the GLRL & the other lobbyist were party to this and didn’t even talk to the experts in the field (Welfare Rights) until Welfare Rights contacted GLRL when the Bill was tabled. Such arrogance & incompetence.

  13. Truly a case of the world owing you a living. Centrelink hands out money like candy. Some of these people need to just find work. Its not that hard.

  14. We are not the only ones that have had to fight for our rights over many years, women, aborigines, the disable etc. They did not always get what they wanted when they wanted it. They also had to fight little by little and in some cases still fighting for their rights and recognition in some areas. Lets be thankfull for what we get if thats what we want and the rest will follow as we continue to fight. We cant want something and then complain its not how we wanted it. Either way we want equality, or do WE?

  15. For Centrelink to reconise our relationships the government changed the 1991 social security act, now yes a number of couples have lost out, but due to the fact the social security act was changed to remove discrimination a number of couples do actually benefit from the act being changed. The way I see it is that it was going to happen sooner or later.

  16. People in the 78ers generation need justice, not an absolutist form of equality after decades of inequality.

    They were the generation that had their names printed in the paper for being arrested in the first march in 1978, while homosexuality was still illegal. They suffered loss of jobs, limited work opportunities, and even blackmail, for being gay.

    The loss of earnings that would have resulted from this would’ve had a direct impact on their ability to plan their retirement. Justice is what is needed.

  17. I think it is time that we started up a charity specifically catered to assist those people negatively affected by these changes. If those of us working can reap the benefits of “equality” then we should be able to help the people who have lost out because of Rudd’s definition of “equality”.

  18. btw- it turns out same sex defacto couples are STILL discriminated in Superannuation!!!!!! (private schemes- ie the bulk of the workforce!).
    This is beyond a joke- maybe the Centrelink couples can turn around & sue the government for superannation – the superfunds have virtually declared they have the right to “pocket” any gay money for themselves, even though it’s our money!
    This loophole needs to be highlighted, explained, then closed. It affects not only payouts, but also reversionary pensions after retirement where it really bits the most vulnerable, ripping them off of their own money if one partner dies & stopping the reversionary pension just cause they’re not a hetero couple, pocketing a bonanza of gay money into to coffers of the private super fund & leaving the surviving post-retiremnt parter with not one cent as the reversionary pension comes to a grinding halt just cause they’re a same sex couple.
    This s…tfight mess of superannuation is far from over.

  19. Um Hello! Im a chronic asthmatic and it hasnt prevented me from work. Theres many who have relied on Dole payments for many years and now that theyve cried for equal rights, thats what youve got! Equal Rights! Where do my Taxes go? Sigh!

  20. I agree with Michael. Why should we “do the right thing” when the Government doesn’t do the right thing by us? There’s no such thing as half-equality, yet that’s what’s on offer: we are equal to heterosexual couples when it comes to pensions but not when it comes to full recognition. Let’s keep pushing for that.

  21. Sorry to say, but after all the hoo har regarding equality, we will never be able to ensure that everyone is happy. Unless these individuals have a disability, then unfortunately they need to re-skill and get back into the workforce.

    When my Mum and my step-father got married, my Mum made sure that my step father stepped up to the plate and paid maintenance for his 3 children, then when the last one turned 18, he found out 2 of them were not his, but he didn’t complain.

    When my Mum and step dad had to move to Melbourne from Tassie, so my step dad could keep his job and my Mum wasn’t eligible for any sort of income support, the dealt with what was dished out to them.

    Yes they could have played the system, not got married and had an easy road in life, but come on people, we all have to do our bit and pull our weight in society.

    Yes we were discriminated against and still are in some circumstances, however if we don’t bite the bullet at certain junctures in progress of equality, we will never be.

  22. I wouldn’t normally stoop to replying on an attack on my character, however such an unwarranted attack by Mr McLean has prompted a rebuttal.

    At first I actually thought we were in agreement regarding the fact that these changes to the Law have just brought Gay couples into line with anyone else having to rely on Government assistance.

    Apparently Mr Mclean did not read my comments properly and somehow has mistaken me for a John Howard supporter, something I am most definitely not! Having said that, it is obvious that I am not much of a fan of Rudd’s either and have never admitted to be and I take exception to the premise that I am somehow associated with any religion, when in fact I’m an very much an Atheist!

    Mr McLean then asks if we remember Fred Nile? Remember him! I was one of the poor sods being trampled by The Mounted Police horses hooves during that old fool’s attempted “cleansing of The Cross” rally way back in the early ’90s. And one of the thousands standing outside State Parliament in the pouring rain during the attempt by him and members of the then Opposition Labor Party to block amendments to the The Anti-Discrimination Bill in the Upper House as drafted and pushed through the Lower House by the then State Attorney General Mr John Hannaford MLC – a Liberal!

    In fact as far as rights for The Gay movement on a state level, I would suggest that we have that particular individual to thank a lot more than anything since Neville Wran actually made it legal to be out and proud.

    Get our situation into perspective people! Its hardy likely that we will ever wield any true political power and the Nation does not revolve around the inner-city “Ghettos” in Sydney or Melbourne.

    Let’s just be thankful that we have what we have and accept the fact that the changes will come, but never to the extent that we would all hope for, whilst any our leading politicians take advice from any of the religions based on the old testament!

  23. Shaun McClean- I find it incredibly sad that so many GLBTs like yourself have swallowed the propaganda of the Christian Right on this issue.

    Traditionally gay men and lesbians could and did marry in many, many non-Christian societies and only stopped doing so as a result of those societies converting to Christianity or contact with homophobic European colonial powers that induced a cultural cringe.

    My submission to the Senate Inquiry concerns precisely this issue. I won’t post the whole thing here, but briefly-

    Religious denominations that marry gays today include- the Church of Norway, the Church of Sweden, the Unitarian Church, the Metropolitan Community Church, the Eucharistic Catholic Church, the Swedenborgian Church of North America, the Mennonite Church of the Netherlands, Wiccans, Pagans, the Quakers, the United Church in Canada, Reform Judaism, the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, and members of a range of New Age faiths.

    In Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) China in the kingdom of Fujian, gay men could marry each other, with the younger man moving into the older man’s household and given a title meaning “adoptive younger brother” within the family. Gay men lived openly and with little prejudice in China for thousands of years and there were many openly gay emperors of that country.

    Before white settlement, and for some time after it, throughout the entire continent of North America, Native American Indian societies recognised GLBTs as special people with a gender of their own who were allowed to perform roles in their communities that crossed heterosexual gender role taboos. These individuals were generally expected to take and wed partners of their own (biological) gender and were seen as married by their communities.

    In Europe, Roman writers record that among the Celtic tribes same sex marriage was common- and considering the Celts at the height of their dominion lived as far afield as Spain in the west, the Shetland Isles in the north, and the Ukraine and Anatolia in Turkey in the East, that custom must once have been very widespread indeed.

    Within the Roman Empire itself, same sex marriage existed as a legal, civil institution up until 342 AD when it was banned by the Christian emperors Constantius and Constans- heirs of Constantine the Great.

    According to an article published this year in Nigeria, despite draconian laws punishing male homosexuality, among the Igbo ethnic group, same sex marriages have been traditionally permitted among women- and such couples are even allowed to seek out a man to impregnate them so that they may raise children together. According to this author this custom is still widespread among the Igbo today! see- http://www.tribune.com.ng/19062009/opinion.html

    In comparison, while people often sought religious blessings for their marriages, the Christian marriage rite only came into existence in the 12th Century and remained the preserve of those wealthy elites who could afford a church wedding for many centuries after that.

    The only uniquely Christian rite is baptism and even that they share with the Mandaeans (followers of John the Baptist).

    Oh and if marriage is a religious only institution, then how come most of the married people I know are atheists?

  24. What more can we expect from the GLRL? Out of touch. A flawed consultation & policy process. Out-witted at every turn by wily bureaucrats & politicians. In short, amateur hour at the GLRL has been very damaging to the lives of many older G&Ls.
    Why would they be trusted with any further reforms given this level of competence?

  25. Come on people. Getting these changes at Centrelink is a massive jump to getting full equality and recognition.

    I feel sorry for the couple in the story but what do you and they think happen to the straight couples at Centrelink. What is happening to them is equality as far as payments go. Having the income of both people recognised to determine payments is what Centrelink does to all couples. At least we have the choice of declaring our relationship.

    Equality and recognition is a step by step process not a ram it down your throat process as is suggested by these comments. Remember we are the ones that want equality and quite frankly I will take it whereever we can get it.

    As far as slagging off Rudd because he goes to a church on Sunday, please just grow the F@#$ UP. Already the Labor Gov’t has done more for us than Howard and the Libs did in all their years and your pathetically veiled attempts of linking him to there being no Gay Marriage laws because he goes to church just shows how bigoted and stupid you are.

    Marriage in ceremonial terms has always been a religious one between a man, a woman and their god or gods. Whilst we continue to try and force churches and religions to let us walk down the aisle and be a part of their ceremony, we will never have recognition.

    If you believe in God and your religion/church doesn’t let you get married then change churches or even denominations to one that will.

    Support the proposal to make Marriage a religion only ceremony with no standing in law and have all couplings and relationships whether straight or gay recognised by the state.

    This way those still opposed have to come out and show to everyone that it isn’t Marriage and religion they are protecting, it is our right to be recognised that they are against.

    Remember Fred Nile? It was by getting him to show his true colours and his real hatred that finally made people see him for the bitter, evil, twisted old man that he is.

  26. What do people expect? They want equality, now they’ve got it as far as being equal to straight couples living in a de-facto relationship (the same applies for those married in “the Biblical” sense).
    I can only shake my head in wonder, obviously this couple don’t know any disabled or aged pensioners who have been in one form of a relationship or anther for most of their lives and have to struggle from day to day, just to keep food on the table!
    That’s what Rudd was after all the the time people, money, the little twerp is as bad if not worse than the last little twerp we had as a PM. As much as it pains me to say anything good about Howard, at least he had the decency to show his disdain of anything Gay, Rudd and his “photo ops” outside of Church every Sunday surely must indicate to anyone with half a brain that he is just as bigoted and even more of a hypocrite than his predecessor!
    Sometimes it just pays to be different.

  27. I do completely agree with the above post to one exception. We can’t just wait for the greens, because this is exactly what we did with labor and we can see the result of that. What we have to do is throw ALL our forces behind the national day of action for same sex marriage, there will be a march, etc. There is no reason that in such a place where we are fighting for FULL equality that the disgusting way the rudd government has demanded money before our equality should be firmly shouted and presented. Sit ins are very useful, but only when there is a force behind them. Link in with the NDA, and help build it to its max.

  28. This is exactly why Centrelink should have been the FINAL stage of equality. An equality which we are still FAR from achieving if the ALP has anything to do with it. Hopefully the Greens will gain more seats at the next federal election & gain the balance of power to bargain & suspend the Centrelink changes until at least 1 year after FULL equality in all areas is acheived.
    Instead of high-five-ing & celebrating Kevin07 over the de-facto reform, he should have been questioned, badgered & cornered into delivering full equality, and at the very least held accountable to delay Centrelink changes to ABSOLUTE last, one year after full civil marriage equality acheived.
    As it stands, those that DON’T want to be recognised have recieved the highest recognition possible in the form of a Federal Government Register at Centrelink!!!!!, whilst those that DO want to be recognised CAN’T- all they get is wishy washy “invisible” defacto “recognition”, with no suggestion of any Federal register (not that we’d want it) or even a hint of actual full equality.
    Until the Equality is fully sorted out, suspend the Centrelink register!