Give dying Australians their superannuation now - Change the law to be more compassionate
Give dying Australians their superannuation now - Change the law to be more compassionate
The issue
Australians who are dying should not have to wait to get their own money. Terminally ill people can't access their superannuation unless they meet strict criteria. The superannuation industry supports more compassionate access rules for the terminally ill but so far politicians have refused to change the law.
Terminally ill Australians are being denied access to their superannuation due to a strict ’12 month’ life expectancy rule. Specialists are often reluctant to sign off until they can’t be proven wrong by which time people are often too unwell to benefit from their own money.
Others with slightly more than 12 months to live are often forced to continue working to meet financial commitments at a time when they should be focusing on tidying their affairs and spending quality time with loved ones. My husband and the father of our gorgeous 7 year old is one of these people stuck in limbo.
Superannuation is supposed to be for your retirement. If you are not going to make it to retirement your own money should be returned to you as soon as possible.
The woman in this link was forced to sell her home to spend quality time with her family. http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/dying-mum-cancer-super-superannuation-hesta/1932416/
The current "compassionate grounds" to access super are a joke. Terminal patients can apply to access funds if their bank is about to foreclose on their mortgage, or to pay for medical treatments. To face the indignity of a bank threatening to foreclose on your loan while your own money is locked up in superannuation is just wrong. And having to apply for help to pay medical bills when you have sufficient (but locked up) funds adds insult to injury.
For many families sitting out the waiting period to access illness benefits/salary continuance (3 - 4 months) is not possible. No income for that length of time would be impossible for many families whose savings are often already severely depleted by expensive medical treatments.
In August 2012 Bill Shorten MP promised a review into superannuation, including a proposal to grant earlier access for terminal patients. Despite this promise nothing happened. Changes to Superannuation legislation were made in 2013 but not to the access rules.
We need your help to ensure terminal patients are able to access their superannuation easily and as soon as possible after their terminal diagnosis, not when they only have a certain amount of time left.
Placing pressure on doctors to give a time frame is unrealistic. Time frames are subjective, based on averages and don't account for individual circumstances. On a recent Insight episode Dr Belinda Kiely of the Macarthur Cancer Centre stated, "As doctors we cannot say exactly how long someone is going to live, we don't have that power, we're not gods." Professor Allan Spigelman of St Vincents and Mater Hospital in Sydney backed up that statement saying '..there is a huge variability and there is no one-size fits all." A terminal diagnosis is less problematic as once the medical profession can offer no further treatment it becomes a fact. Predicting how long a person will survive is not fact but opinion. Access to one's superannuation should be based on fact, not opinion and averages - which often don't relate to real people. http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/transcript/587/Knowing-You-re-Dying
Please take a stand for what is right and decent by signing and sharing this petition with as many people as you can. Twitter and Facebook are a great way to get this out to the community. A short link to use is http://chn.ge/1feeEg4 This disgraceful situation needs to be rectified so that no more families have to stress about money at an already stressful time.
You can also write to PM Tony Abbott or Arthur Sinodinis the minister responsible for superannuation (senator.sinodinos@aph.gov.au), your local MP and Senate representatives. I've written to every politician I can think of but the more letters they get the more seriously they will take this issue. Below is a sample letter you may like to use. Contacts for all MPs and Senators can be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=EZ5 Thanks and best wishes to you and your loved ones. Collene
The issue
Australians who are dying should not have to wait to get their own money. Terminally ill people can't access their superannuation unless they meet strict criteria. The superannuation industry supports more compassionate access rules for the terminally ill but so far politicians have refused to change the law.
Terminally ill Australians are being denied access to their superannuation due to a strict ’12 month’ life expectancy rule. Specialists are often reluctant to sign off until they can’t be proven wrong by which time people are often too unwell to benefit from their own money.
Others with slightly more than 12 months to live are often forced to continue working to meet financial commitments at a time when they should be focusing on tidying their affairs and spending quality time with loved ones. My husband and the father of our gorgeous 7 year old is one of these people stuck in limbo.
Superannuation is supposed to be for your retirement. If you are not going to make it to retirement your own money should be returned to you as soon as possible.
The woman in this link was forced to sell her home to spend quality time with her family. http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/dying-mum-cancer-super-superannuation-hesta/1932416/
The current "compassionate grounds" to access super are a joke. Terminal patients can apply to access funds if their bank is about to foreclose on their mortgage, or to pay for medical treatments. To face the indignity of a bank threatening to foreclose on your loan while your own money is locked up in superannuation is just wrong. And having to apply for help to pay medical bills when you have sufficient (but locked up) funds adds insult to injury.
For many families sitting out the waiting period to access illness benefits/salary continuance (3 - 4 months) is not possible. No income for that length of time would be impossible for many families whose savings are often already severely depleted by expensive medical treatments.
In August 2012 Bill Shorten MP promised a review into superannuation, including a proposal to grant earlier access for terminal patients. Despite this promise nothing happened. Changes to Superannuation legislation were made in 2013 but not to the access rules.
We need your help to ensure terminal patients are able to access their superannuation easily and as soon as possible after their terminal diagnosis, not when they only have a certain amount of time left.
Placing pressure on doctors to give a time frame is unrealistic. Time frames are subjective, based on averages and don't account for individual circumstances. On a recent Insight episode Dr Belinda Kiely of the Macarthur Cancer Centre stated, "As doctors we cannot say exactly how long someone is going to live, we don't have that power, we're not gods." Professor Allan Spigelman of St Vincents and Mater Hospital in Sydney backed up that statement saying '..there is a huge variability and there is no one-size fits all." A terminal diagnosis is less problematic as once the medical profession can offer no further treatment it becomes a fact. Predicting how long a person will survive is not fact but opinion. Access to one's superannuation should be based on fact, not opinion and averages - which often don't relate to real people. http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/transcript/587/Knowing-You-re-Dying
Please take a stand for what is right and decent by signing and sharing this petition with as many people as you can. Twitter and Facebook are a great way to get this out to the community. A short link to use is http://chn.ge/1feeEg4 This disgraceful situation needs to be rectified so that no more families have to stress about money at an already stressful time.
You can also write to PM Tony Abbott or Arthur Sinodinis the minister responsible for superannuation (senator.sinodinos@aph.gov.au), your local MP and Senate representatives. I've written to every politician I can think of but the more letters they get the more seriously they will take this issue. Below is a sample letter you may like to use. Contacts for all MPs and Senators can be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=EZ5 Thanks and best wishes to you and your loved ones. Collene
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Petition created on 12 September 2013