Eligible pensioners receive the following products free of charge:
- Registration Costs
- Licences
- Driving tests
- Riding skills test
- Heavy Vehicle Competency Based
- Assessment (CBA) log book and guide
- Replacement learner driver log book
- Photo Cards (Carers and Seniors Card holders also receive a Photo Card free of charge).
they have all the freebies..
"They"? Wow. Try this with any other minority group and see how far you get.
Personally I'd rather be able to go to work every day than be on the DSP and save a few $$ here and there so please don't play that "they" game and lump everyone on a pension into some sort of 'evil guy ripping off tax payers' category.
"They"? Wow. Try this with any other minority group and see how far you get.
lol
A NSW Driver's Licence? Good idea, SA drivers can't merge.
Add QLD drivers to the list
My local golf range is still open…
Rego should be extended the same amount of time the lockdown is in place for those on a healthcare card, seeing as many have now joined that queue. Unfair to have to waste months of rego if we can't go anywhere besides up the road to the supermarket
Nothing stopping you cancelling your rego. I did. Don't need 2 cars when we're all working from home
Re-registering a vehicle can be very expensive - far more so than 6 months of rego!
Yeah I don't think you know much about registration.
How about you cancel your rego and tell me what it's like to re_register after 3 months
Don't give the so-and-sos at the pits a chance.
I let a Moke get out of rego once. The s#*ts at the pits took 20 mins and finally came up with "insufficient padding on the roll bar" and "letters and numbers on the side of the vehicle 2mm too small" (a mini moke is a commercial vehicle and needs tare, gym egg on the side)
It cost me another trip to the pits, another permit and a huge amount of angst. Never again.
NSW residents are free to leave their homes for essentials activities. That includes driving there.
C'mon VIC, follow suit
VIC already do 50% off both rego & TAC premium for pensioners which probably works out about the same.
don't think there's any licence concession though.
I would support abolishing all of these and increasing the fuel tax. It is unfair that someone who owns a car they don’t use much has to pay the same as someone commuting 3 hours a day.
And EVs? If you can afford an EV; you don't need to contribute to road costs?
Interesting, they are few in number so keeping the old system for them only would be fair. Alternatively, they have smart on-board computers. Charge them per hour they use the car.
Road user charges based on an odometer reading. That's how diesel cars in New Zealand are taxed. They don't pay fuel taxes at the pump for diesel because untaxed diesel is used heavily for off-road agriculture over there, and it's easier to impose the road user charges than it is to institute a fuel rebate for diesel like we have here.
I don’t like it because someone who sits in city traffic for hours would be charged a lot less than country drivers. City drivers cost the most as the infrastructure is more expensive,
Wot. A decent chunk of the costs of registration go to insurance, not roads..
And we pay 42.3c/L on fuel to tax, so the person driving 3 hours a day DOES pay more to support the roads..
People who drive more cost insurance more than people who drive less. They pay more fuel tax, but if you divide registration costs by fewer hours driving compared to more hours driving, the registration cost per hour for driving is lower. Therefore, registration costs are not distributed in line with usage, they should be.
I said I would remove these fees and increase fuel taxes proportionally. This is not about increasing government revenue.
That's a very general statement. People who drive more are generally more experienced as a result, and on average less likely to have an accident. It's why P platers are the highest risk.
It really depends on where those 3 hours you're driving pass through. We know that metropolitan areas have higher CTP and insurance charges because there are more opportunities for accidents.
Punch different postcodes into an insurance quote website and you'll be surprised. It's not uncommon for someone living in a rural area to pay a third of what someone in a metropolitan area would pay (and yes, people DO illegally register their cars at a false address to take advantage of this).
@mubd1234: Actually, country roads are over-represented when it comes to car crashes. And at night, especially, because you have no street lights, all sorts of wildlife, etc. I'm surprised insurance isn't higher for people in rural areas.
Fuel tax is already too damn high. What is it with you guys and your extra taxes? Are you running for PM or something?
Isn't that a contradiction? If you were running for PM, you would decrease taxes :)
Fuel tax is a federal tax - Feds never share equally - wouldn't work. Biggest cost in a Vic rego is the TAC levy - they'd have to find another tax ("say what about a registration tax?"). Second reason is a lot of marginals are full of "aspriational" voters in the outer suburbs - pollies are NOT going to make thier commutes unworkibly expensive at the boon of the inner cities, esp when the equasion on offer isn't inner city = more density and outer = less.
What about someone in the outer suburbs who has to drive 5 minutes to the train station, works from home, etc. Someone in the inner cities is less likely to have a car because of being in walking distance or good public transport.
I really hate this 'aspirational' type who move into cheap McMansions in the outer suburbs and then curse the politicians when the infrastructure is inadequate…rather than cursing themselves for not having done due diligence and researched the proposed infrastructure for the suburb before buying. I once saw someone pissing and moaning about how a park and ride station on the South-West Rail Link in Sydney (near new housing developments) was always full and residents were getting ticketed for illegally parking in no parking zones.
To that, I was like - 'you seriously moved into this development thinking that the 250 space car park at the station was going to service 10,000 residents? Or that the M5 would be butter smooth on your 35km journey into work at 7am? You chose to move 50km away from the CBD and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars on your property purchase plainly because it's less convenient. Suck it in, princess.'
(oh, and don't get me started on the wastefulness, unnecessary expense and atrocious amenity of park and ride stations - better off not building one at all!)
Be careful what you wish for…
Singapore has heaps of toll gates to manage traffic.
That’s probably what it will come down to when you want to tax road usage.
Likely they won’t remove existing fees and taxes because why kill the golden goose?
Great idea. Pay as you go. A +1 from me. But the question is, How much do you increase it ?
Pensioners don't drive much anyway. What a load of shitakè.
"Pensioners" includes wealthy retirees as well as people only recieving a pension as a source of income.
The "ideal" situation is claiming $1 of pension so that you receive the benefits such as this along with a few hundred grand income.
Ok Robert Kiyosaki
Literal millionaires draw the pension, because their houses are not included in the assets test.
Whereas they make people with 11K of savings have to wait 13 weeks before drawing jobseeker allowance (temporarily suspended to avoid anarchy). I wonder how well that works at 13x average weekly capital city rent?
@Charity: That's how it once was - system changed years ago for new pensioners. Now it's more complex.
There are different types of Pension.
For example on Disability Pension, you can only stay out of Australia for 6 weeks in every 52 weeks.
Aged pensioners - in general if holidaying overseas it's ok, but not if you live permanently overseas.
@gringo: I agree. I’ve never understood why they treat people on Jobseeker the worst when that includes people who were working and want want to work.
Absolute misleading BS
People can't receive a Pension with a few hundred grand income.
If you can show how - we all want that! I'll be first in the queue at Centrelink when the time comes.
And how do your Pensioners earn a few hundred grand income??
That's hard for those with more than full time employment, but retirees…
It would require up to millions in high yielding investments - which would mean they would fail the Income Test to qualify for a Pension!
Just check out the pension rates for someone with a few hundred grand income.
There would be NO PENSION!!
The maximum annual income before the Pension completely cuts out is
Single less than $53,627
Couple less than $82,035
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/age-pension/income-and-as…
On a fortnightly single (max $860.60) / couple pension (max $648.70 each), the pension is reduced by 50 cents for each dollar over $174 / $308 income per fortnight.
So a few hundred grand income ($7692+ per fortnight) would reduce that pension to $0!
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/topics/inco…
Try one of the many pension rate calculators online & input such a ludicrous income to see if anyone would receive a pension.
Pity your biases don't allow any semblance of supportable facts in your faulty arguments!
You do this frequently in comments. Just do a search before pushing your uninformed propaganda!
A pensioner includes anyone that has a pensioner card. Someone that is 18 years old can legally be a pensioner.
This is great, how old do you have to be a pensioner?
57.5
16 if you have a baby and no baby daddy/mummy
I have a pension card at 25 because of physical disability.
An eligible pensioner is anyone who holds or receives one of the following:
A current Pensioner Concession Card (PCC), issued by the Department of Human Services-Centrelink or the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA), showing a NSW address
A DVA Gold Card endorsed 'TPI' (Totally & Permanently Incapacitated)
A DVA Gold Card endorsed 'EDA' (Extreme Disablement Adjustment)
A letter or statement/determination from the Department of Veterans' Affairs, stating that you receive a disability pension of 70 per cent or higher, or an Intermediate or Extreme Disablement Adjustment Pension, or you have been assessed under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, at 50 or more impairment points
A DVA Gold Card endorsed 'War Widow'
A DVA Gold Card endorsed 'War Widower'.
Interstate-issued pensioner concession cards are not acceptable for claiming a concession in NSW.
Your eligibility for the concession will be validated electronically.
Thanks, wasn't able to load the site.
I'm looking at buying my first car and have a PCC from centrelink.
This is going to save me a lot!
One thing I would add is that if you are eligible for these discounts in more than one way because you have a DVA veterans card, always use the Centrelink card to apply for the entitlement and avoid the dramas.
c'mon victoria, if you're going to help, out of all people, landlords then help people on DSP too.
they're helping landlords???
Cutting land tax and giving 2k to eligible landlords
To be eligible, commercial landlords must provide rent relief that equates to a minimum of three months' rent and freeze outgoings to small businesses that have suffered at least a 30 per cent reduction in turnover due to COVID-19.
Oh, the 2k to pay for the tenant's rent.
What a spin you put to it lol.
They did it AFTER NSW.
NSW are doing both.
Aren't we lucky? *squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I'm positive that this is nothing new. How is it a deal? It's more of just a reminder of the standard policy.
Am I the only one that thinks it's a bit ludicrous that we're incentivising one of the higher risk groups of drivers to drive? They already get $2.50 public transport a day, they should absolutely be paying if they want to drive.
First, statistics show they are not a higher risk group… quite the opposite.
https://www.roadsafety.gov.au/performance/road-deaths-age-gr…
But people who keep spouting this populist A Current Affair type nonsense will also one day be too old to drive. Funny thing will be that by the time that view is more widely accepted and politically expedient to act on, youll be one of the first generations to be impacted by it. Be careful what you wish for.
Public transport in much of the country is woeful to non existent.
I'm curious to know the how these statistics would compare to the number of drivers in each age group on the road.
Comparing the data on general population found at https://profile.id.com.au/australia/five-year-age-groups, it would seem that people aged 75+ are over 30% more likely to die on the road vs people in the 40-64 age group. I'm also assuming a lot of the people in that age group also no longer drive so the percentage would most likely be higher.
Id think like with covid, theres an age of organs aspect to the mortality of aged peoples. An aged pensioner is more likely to die in an accident whether its their fault or not. A simple fall can change their life, frail and age go hand in hand.
Thats a terrible site though, poor grammar for people who should be university educated.
But it reiterates another point I made about the age group that will be impacted by all this pensioners cant drive safely rubbish, and that is they are between 40 and 64 now. And it will only get stricter as generations go on… if people still drive and cars arent fully autonomous.
This kind of thing wont impact current pensioners, hasnt for the past 20 or so years Ive been hearing it. But like with P platers about the same time ago, it could come back and bite them again in 20 more years.
Thing is, "most of the population" are not in "much of the country".
Most people live within 60-100km of one of Australia's capital cities.
At least 30% live outside metro areas… and about 10% of those live in small towns. Both of those are significant numbers still. 10% is 2.5 million people. 30 is 7.5 million.
I can tell you 10 years ago the rail trip from 100km nth of Brisbane to Brisbane was over $20, half for concession. Transport up here is OKish if youre young, but far from good, and woeful if older and less energetic and or fit. Still have to walk kms at times to the bus, and then between destination and whatever its closest stop is, its often not necessarily even remotely close to where say your doctor or whatever might be. And they arent cheap in the first place.
Am I the only one that thinks it's a bit ludicrous that we're incentivising one of the higher risk groups of drivers to drive?
Yes, it's just you.
Your "us and them" mentality does nothing to support your argument. Get your head out of your arse and realise that not every old person lives in the city like you where you take public transport for granted.
I've read previously on Ozbargain that you could have a relative eligible for the Pensioner concession to register your vehicle under their name to avoid paying registration. From a legal standpoint, would this be legal?
Only one car per person not two.
No worries if your parent/grandparent no longer drives (or has never driven in their life like my grandma)
yes. the pensioner or anyone is not even required to have a license to own a car.
Registration Costs
Licences has been free for years for pension card holders …you just have to pay for green slip and car insurance
Yup everyone is acting like this is some new change in legislation or something.
The irony here is most don't drive nor have a full license, yet can access this under their availabille options.
It is just me or does NSW seem to get these little perks quite often.What about the rest of Oz, in particular sleepy Adelaide :(
Dude, they pay a lot anyway. I think the portion discounted here is maybe $80. And have to jump through hoops every year for rego, and extra hoops every X amount of years.
House prices are insane in Sydney at least.
Are you referring to NSW in general paying a lot more than other states, or just pensioners, because I'm pretty sure pensioners in other states would feel the pinch too.
Most states offer discounts to pensioners of similar amounts. Their rego fees are maybe $80. Their CTP is closer to $800, depends on many factors from what I can tell. Age, points, history, age of car, car or 4wd, garaged location… I just tried filling out a form for a quote, detailed to say the least.
Qld for example offer pensioner discount on rego, not sure of amount. But they offer rates concessions, electricity etc, and a few more. SA, does too. I would think most states will
Looks like the Huawei logo!
For all the pensioners who lost their jobs due to the pandemic… oh wait. Nothing for the actually unemployed.
jobseeker…
I know this is a NSW deal, but oh man I just paid my QLD Rego 2 days ago.
Wonder if QLD will follow suit? I barely drive anyways and with BS sky rocketing costs for this I may consider getting an eBike or something as I dont use the Road no where near as much as normal working people as being on a Pension is limiting.
"Heavy Vehicle Competency Based"
Cool, my Grandpa can swap his wheelie walker with a big rig. Plenty of room for the catheter bag.
I don't know if I should start a new post, but some pensioners are entitled to a fortnightly allowance (or pension, if you will) from Centrelink.
Yeah I should make a post about every single entitlement that any welfare recipient has always had access to… people will just assume it is some recently mandated change in the legislation
$6.50 medications from pharmacies if you have a health care card!!!
Why just old people?
Not just for old people, could also be for people who are on Disability Support Pension, Either From Physical, Mental & other illnesses…
Not all DVA card holders are old…We still send young men and women off to fight and die for us and they still keep coming back broken physically and mentally.
Just told my dad, he said he already doesnt pay for a licence or rego due to being a pensioner?
Note the OzB tag at the top, "long running".
When i called for the Driving Test (Learner test) i was told that there is still a fee to pay… even though i quoted the website, so unless if for some odd reason L's don't count… seems that tests do have fee's.
Some pensioners should hang their licences with Prince Philip, change the car for mobility scooter.
accidents in areas with really high aged Pensioner drivers. the P driver drove the car from apartment exit full speed straight smashed into a visitor SUV parked on street parking. Poor owner had to call a tow and the P car got written off, front wheel suspension was not roadworthy for the SUV. no pedestrians on foot path and people in that car, lucky.
danger for people in their area, and the car insurance went up the next year in the area. unlucky people paying.
Some maybe but accidents happen…
But over 65s, and even over 75s (in fact even both groups combined in some years), are still by far the safest group(s) of drivers on the road, at least for causing deaths. I dont have numbers for simple fender benders… It just doesnt fit the need to blame an easy target.
https://www.roadsafety.gov.au/performance/road-deaths-age-gr…
Why the hell are pensioners getting all this? They already get paid.
Also, should be for everyone.
Plus people should get free batteries too.
It is slightly odd considering they are one of the demographics least affected by the lack of work. Maybe they have reasons though.
For the millionth time, this is not some new change made in response to the current covid19 situation. It has always been free for pensioners! And anyone who is on a pension has always been well aware of that. So there is zero point to this even being posted on a bargain site lol.
It's a covid 19 bargain harthagan
![[NSW] Free NSW Driver's Licence & Car Registration for Pensioners](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/88/533188.jpg?h=b00d51b8)
Should be for everyone in Australia. Since you know we CAN'T go for a drive!