Seniors United Party of Australia (SUPA)
Apr. 29th, 2022 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
b_auspolSeniors United Party of Australia (SUPA)
Website: https://www.seniorsunitedparty.com.au/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeniorsUnitedOz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeniorsUnitedAustralia
The Seniors United Party of Australia was founded in 2015. As you can tell by their acronym (they must have been so pleased with themselves) it’s mainly focused on retirees, superannuation and retirement village legislation.
SUPA were deregistered but scraped back in after an appeal. The timing of this decision means that as far as I can tell they have not yet had to prove they meet the 1,500 member test – they were readmitted under the 500 member test. There’s every chance they might fail once registration decisions resume after the election.
Party Analysis
SUPA want a national inquiry into superannuation and retirement income. They want the removal of contribution caps, no taxation, no further changes to the scheme until after this inquiry, and the super guarantee lifted to 15% over the course of 10 years. They also want more support for mature age employment, protections from discrimination against mature age workers, and lower tax rates for mature age employees.
In terms of the Aged Pension, they want no more changes to the rules “as it effects the planning of those close to retirement”, the retirement age to not increase from 67, and a reversal of the Asset Test changes in 2016. They’re particularly unhappy about any suggestions family homes should be included in the Asset Test. (As someone under the age of 45, let me tell you I would love family homes in the Asset Test but I recognise why retirees do not).
The medical policies can be summed up as no copayments, include general dental on Medicare, reduce public hospital waiting lists, and National Strategies into Dementia and Elder Abuse (identifying them, supporting them, addressing issues).
In Aged Care they want RNs in nursing homes, mandatory minimum staffing levels, no privatisation of aged care accreditation, and a National Palliative Care Scheme. They would also like a national scheme for Retirement Villages, rather than state-based legislation, with more social and community housing available.
In policies not revolving around old people, SUPA feel that politicians are paid too much and have too many entitlements. They feel it is out of step with community expectations and want their payments pegged to multiples of average ordinary weekly earnings, along with only standard levels of superannuation. The whole policy has a feel of “how dare they have shinier benefits than the public”. Also abolish many ministries, secretaries and committees, as they’re just “perks for mates” giving more money and are a “huge disincentive for MP’s to remain ethical and work on behalf of their constituents”. Parliament should be streamlined to be more efficient!
SUPA would also like a Federal ICAC. It looks like every other federal ICAC policy. I wish they’d had the humour to make a “with dentures” joke.
SUPA also think there are too many immigrants. They want the establishment of a National Inquiry into what is a “sustainable” population for the country and to immediately reduce our immigration rate. They also want to reduce skilled migrant visas to keep jobs for Australians. And to have smaller states take more of the migrants into regional areas.
SUPA think we are spending too much money on defence, and call out submarine funding as particularly problematic. This policy does not appear to have been rewritten since the 2019 election, so I suspect they are even more incandescent about it now. There should be a Parliamentary Defence Procurement Oversight Committee (ahh but you just said remove committees?). However we should provide more support for veterans.
SUPA would like more lifelong learning and support for education for over 55s. Please provide more support. (No mention of whether they want to take on HECS debts for this).
They would also like more affordable internet and a public television channel just for seniors with senior-specific programming.
I have to say, for a party that thinks there are too many parliamentary committees, SUPA wants an awful lot of National Inquiries into things.
Is this party trying to kill me?
No. They’re trying to forestall their own deaths.
Is this party trying to harm me?
Well yes, in that several of their policies are antithetical to young people being able to get jobs and housing, but not really.
Conclusion:
Look, this is a party for people over retirement age who are concerned with issues entirely revolving around themselves. Also they’re racist (see the immigration policy). They would represent a certain cohort of the public who do deserve attention and representation, but they do not offer me anything.
Website: https://www.seniorsunitedparty.com.au/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeniorsUnitedOz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeniorsUnitedAustralia
The Seniors United Party of Australia was founded in 2015. As you can tell by their acronym (they must have been so pleased with themselves) it’s mainly focused on retirees, superannuation and retirement village legislation.
SUPA were deregistered but scraped back in after an appeal. The timing of this decision means that as far as I can tell they have not yet had to prove they meet the 1,500 member test – they were readmitted under the 500 member test. There’s every chance they might fail once registration decisions resume after the election.
Party Analysis
SUPA want a national inquiry into superannuation and retirement income. They want the removal of contribution caps, no taxation, no further changes to the scheme until after this inquiry, and the super guarantee lifted to 15% over the course of 10 years. They also want more support for mature age employment, protections from discrimination against mature age workers, and lower tax rates for mature age employees.
In terms of the Aged Pension, they want no more changes to the rules “as it effects the planning of those close to retirement”, the retirement age to not increase from 67, and a reversal of the Asset Test changes in 2016. They’re particularly unhappy about any suggestions family homes should be included in the Asset Test. (As someone under the age of 45, let me tell you I would love family homes in the Asset Test but I recognise why retirees do not).
The medical policies can be summed up as no copayments, include general dental on Medicare, reduce public hospital waiting lists, and National Strategies into Dementia and Elder Abuse (identifying them, supporting them, addressing issues).
In Aged Care they want RNs in nursing homes, mandatory minimum staffing levels, no privatisation of aged care accreditation, and a National Palliative Care Scheme. They would also like a national scheme for Retirement Villages, rather than state-based legislation, with more social and community housing available.
In policies not revolving around old people, SUPA feel that politicians are paid too much and have too many entitlements. They feel it is out of step with community expectations and want their payments pegged to multiples of average ordinary weekly earnings, along with only standard levels of superannuation. The whole policy has a feel of “how dare they have shinier benefits than the public”. Also abolish many ministries, secretaries and committees, as they’re just “perks for mates” giving more money and are a “huge disincentive for MP’s to remain ethical and work on behalf of their constituents”. Parliament should be streamlined to be more efficient!
SUPA would also like a Federal ICAC. It looks like every other federal ICAC policy. I wish they’d had the humour to make a “with dentures” joke.
SUPA also think there are too many immigrants. They want the establishment of a National Inquiry into what is a “sustainable” population for the country and to immediately reduce our immigration rate. They also want to reduce skilled migrant visas to keep jobs for Australians. And to have smaller states take more of the migrants into regional areas.
SUPA think we are spending too much money on defence, and call out submarine funding as particularly problematic. This policy does not appear to have been rewritten since the 2019 election, so I suspect they are even more incandescent about it now. There should be a Parliamentary Defence Procurement Oversight Committee (ahh but you just said remove committees?). However we should provide more support for veterans.
SUPA would like more lifelong learning and support for education for over 55s. Please provide more support. (No mention of whether they want to take on HECS debts for this).
They would also like more affordable internet and a public television channel just for seniors with senior-specific programming.
I have to say, for a party that thinks there are too many parliamentary committees, SUPA wants an awful lot of National Inquiries into things.
Is this party trying to kill me?
No. They’re trying to forestall their own deaths.
Is this party trying to harm me?
Well yes, in that several of their policies are antithetical to young people being able to get jobs and housing, but not really.
Conclusion:
Look, this is a party for people over retirement age who are concerned with issues entirely revolving around themselves. Also they’re racist (see the immigration policy). They would represent a certain cohort of the public who do deserve attention and representation, but they do not offer me anything.
