Social Security Payments for the Unemployed, the Sick and those in Special Circumstances, 1942 to 2003

Social Policy Section

Social Security Payments for the Unemployed, the Sick and those in Special Circumstances, 1942 to 2006

Dale Daniels- Social Policy Section

Last updated 5 July 2006

This Chronology is issued electronically. It will be kept up-to-date online. The date of the latest update is noted clearly above.

All enquiries: Dale Daniels, Research Specialist.

The Social Policy Group of Information and Research Services has produced for many years chronologies dealing with the history of Social Security Payments. Until recently they were in the form of four papers with the following titles:

Social Security Payments: 1 - Children, 1912 to 1995

Social Security Payments: 2 - The Unemployed, the Sick and those in Special Circumstances, 1945 to 1995

Social Security Payments: 3 - Sole Parents and Widowed People, 1942 to 1995

Social Security Payments for the Aged, 1909 to 1998

This electronic document is part of a new series updated annually. The other electronic chronologies in the series are:

Social Security Payments for People Caring for Children, 1912 to 2006

Social Security Payments for the Aged, People with Disabilities and Carers 1909 to 2006

Payments for sole parents are included in the document dealing with payments for people caring for children and those for widowed people are included in this document.

The Department of Social Security (DSS) makes, or has made in the past, a number of payments for able bodied work force aged people. This paper traces the history of each of these payments from their introduction to the present day.

A brief history is provided to put the various payments into a broader context. A series of chronologies setting out the changes over time to each of the major payments treated follows. This paper is not a definitive treatment of the history of social security in Australia. It is a reference tool for those needing to locate specific changes quickly and place them in their chronological context.

The date from which measures take effect has been used to date changes. This means that certain measures which may have taken effect under one Government may have actually been legislated for under the previous Government. Where changes have been recently announced but not passed into law by the Parliament, they are placed according to the expected date of effect. Many changes that appear at the time of updating to be of minor importance and small administrative modifications to payments have not been included.

Rates of payment are generally not given in the text, but can be found in the tables. In the text, imperial currency is used until 1966 and decimal currency is used after that date. In the tables decimal currency is used throughout.

Note on Sources and further reading

In addition to the Commonwealth Budget Papers and Social Security legislation, the following publications have been used in the preparation of this paper:

T. Carney and P. Hanks, Social security in Australia. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1994.

Department of Social Security, Annual report, various years.

Department of Social Security, 'Developments in social security: a compendium of legislative changes since 1908', Research and Statistics Branch Research Paper no. 20, AGPS, Canberra, 1983.

T. H. Kewley, Social security in Australia 190072, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1973.

T. H. Kewley, Australian social security today: major developments from 1900 to 1978, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1980.

List of Acronyms

AB	Additional Benefit for Children
AFP	Additional Family Payment
ALP	Australian Labor Party
AP	Additional Pension for Children
BA	Bereavement Allowance
BFP	Basic Family Payment
CA	Child's Allowance
CDA	Child Disability Allowance
CE	Child Endowment
CES	Commonwealth Employment Service
CPI	Consumer Price Index
DOP	Double Orphan's Pension
DSS	Department of Social Security
FA	Family Allowance
FAS	Family Allowance Supplement
FIS	Family Income Supplement
HCA	Handicapped Child's Allowance
HCCA	Home Child Care Allowance
JSA	Job Search Allowance
LCP	Liberal PartyCountry Party Coalition
LNCP	Liberal PartyNational Country Party Coalition (Liberal PartyNational Party Coalition from October 1982)
MA	Maternity Allowance
MAA	Mature Age Allowance
MAPA	Mature Age Partner Allowance
NatCP	NationalistCountry Party Coalition
MGA	Mother's/Guardian's Allowance
NSA	Newstart Allowance
PA	Partner Allowance
PgA	Parenting Allowance
PRS	Parliamentary Research Service
RA	Rent Assistance
RAA	Remote Area Allowance
SA	Sickness Allowance
SB	Sickness Benefit
SpB	Special Benefit
SMB	Supporting Mother's Benefit
SPP	Sole Parent Pension
UB	Unemployment Benefit
UAPCP	United Australia PartyCountry Party Coalition
WA	Widow Allowance
Wpa	Widow's Pension Class A
WPb	Widow's Pension Class B
WPc	Widow's Pension Class C
WPA	Widowed Person Allowance

A Brief History

The Context for the Introduction of Benefits

Prior to the depression of the 1930s the only assistance for unemployed people was provided by charitable bodies, with assistance from state governments, consisting of food relief funded at ministerial discretion. Government public works programs were the other main source of help for the unemployed. The shortcomings of these measures became apparent during the Depression. They were poorly administered, unable to cope with the numbers involved, destructive of the dignity of those needing assistance and extremely parsimonious.

The Depression experience ensured a favourable reception when in 1943 the Curtin Government announced its decision to introduce unemployment, sickness and special benefits. Contributory unemployment insurance schemes had been developed in the UK in the 1920s and in the USA in the late 1930s. In Australia the insurance approach was rejected in favour of a flat rate payment available to all the unemployed.

Legislation was passed in 1944 and the benefits came into operation in July 1945. Sickness benefits were an entirely new form of assistance, never having been offered by the States. Private provision through friendly societies had been the main means of providing for temporary incapacity.

The Introduction of Widow Pensions

Income support for widows and some sole parents was introduced in 1942 by the Curtin Government. Curtin had included a commitment to introduce pensions for widows in his 1940 election campaign policy speech. This form of income support had been included in most proposals from all sides of politics to expand the Commonwealth's involvement in income support since age and invalid pensions were introduced in 1909 and 1910 respectively. Unlike widow pensions introduced in the UK in 1925 and the USA in 1939, the Australian widow pension was not a contributory insurance-based payment and was therefore available to all widows who qualified under the means test. The structure of the new payment was drawn from the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Social Security which had been asked in 1941 by the Menzies Government to inquire into widow pensions. Consequently the legislation received bipartisan support.

From the beginning the name of the payment was misleading. It was designed to assist women who had lost a partner and could not be expected to engage in employment due to child care responsibilities or age. Not all women in this category were eligible. De facto widows, deserted wives, divorced women and women whose husbands were in institutions for the insane were included but single mothers, wives of prisoners, women deserted by de facto husbands and women who had deserted their husband or agreed to separate were excluded. These exclusions reflected the influence on legislators of contemporary moral standards as did the requirement that pensioners be of 'good character' and 'deserving of a pension'. An indication of the public attitude to such assistance can be found in the protests from some conservative women's groups about the provision of assistance to de facto widows. Such assistance was condemned as encouraging adultery and undermining the institution of marriage.

Three types of Widow Pension were introduced in 1942. Widows with children were given a class A pension while they had a dependent child. Those without children were given a class B pension until retirement age if they were aged 50 years or older. Those without children and not old enough for a class B pension were given a class C pension for 26 weeks immediately after the death of their husband.

Early Responses to Unemployment Growth

The scheme as originally implemented was designed for a labour market where full-time employment for a mainly male work-force was the norm, only short periods of unemployment needed to be catered for and benefit levels could be kept low so as to avoid disincentives to work. Until the 1970s few changes were needed to the original legislation. The great increase in the number of beneficiaries and the duration of their receipt of benefits that occurred during the following decades resulted in considerable development of the legislation.

Initially the benefit system was modified in various ways without its basic form being changed in any fundamental way. Under the Fraser Government the emphasis was on tightening eligibility requirements to prevent abuses and increase work incentives. Waiting periods before a benefit could be paid were introduced for school leavers and the voluntarily unemployed in 1976. Proof of identity procedures were tightened in 1977. The type and location of employment that unemployed people could be expected to accept was greatly extended in 1979. This policy direction continued under the Hawke Government.

The Active Employment Strategy

New directions for reform were placed firmly on the agenda in the mid1980s by the Social Security Review conducted by Professor Cass. For the unemployed the main area of change involved the development of the work test which had applied from the introduction of the benefit into an activity test. First introduced for the young unemployed when Job Search Allowance was introduced in 1988, it was extended to all unemployment beneficiaries when Job Search and Newstart Allowances were introduced in 1991. The new approach involved greater obligations on the beneficiary to participate in programs to improve 'job readiness' and subsidised employment programs.

Sickness Benefit was also reformed in 1991 with the introduction of Sickness Allowance. Duration on a benefit was restricted in most cases to one year with provision for extension of duration in limited circumstances.

Payments for those under 21 years of age were reformed during this period. Rates of payment were aligned with education-related income support. Parental income and assets were taken into account for the youngest beneficiaries. Payments designed to assist homeless young people were introduced.

The End of Widow Pensions

The Hawke Government commenced a complete recasting of widow and sole parent payments in 1987 with the phasing out of Widow Pension class B. Changing perceptions about the role of women and increases in the workforce participation of older women were beginning to make the payment redundant. A phasing out period of 15 years was provided for in the expectation that this would prevent any adverse consequences for older widows. However the employment situation of older women deteriorated during the recession of the early 1990s. This prompted the announcement in 1994 of a Widow Allowance for women widowed after the age of 50 years with little workforce experience as a means of reducing the impact of the phasing out of Widow Pension class B.

Also in 1989 the remaining Widow Pension, class C, was renamed Widowed Person Allowance and eligibility was extended to widowers as well as widows both de jure and de facto. In 1994 this new payment was renamed Bereavement Allowance.

The demise of the various widow pensions marked the end of a transition from payments for 'respectable' widows with a few categories of less reputable sole parents hidden under the umbrella term widow pension, to payments based on the objective fact recent death of a partner.

Working Nation

The 1994 white paper entitled Working Nation announced further reforms to benefits for the unemployed as part of a larger package of measures to assist the long-term unemployed. These changes were designed to reduce disincentives to seek employment imposed by the income test upon both beneficiaries and their spouses and to provide direct assistance for spouses of beneficiaries who were not in the labour force.

The White Paper included a further change to youth payments with the introduction of the Youth Training Allowance from January 1995. This change involved the transfer of income support for all under-18 year olds to the Department of Employment, Education and Training. The aim was closer integration of unemployment and education-related income support for young people.

Mutual Obligation

In 1997 the 'Work for the Dole' scheme was introduced as the first part of a broader 'Mutual Obligation' approach to the structure of income support and support programs for unemployed people. Mutual Obligation was based on a concept that welfare assistance provided to the unemployed of working age should involve some return responsibilities for the recipient. Initially aimed at young unemployed the concept was gradually extended to most unemployed people and also to those receiving payments because of their responsibilities for caring for children. More detail on Mutual Obligation and the Work for the Dole Scheme is available in the Mutual Obligation/Work for the Dole e-brief.

Youth Allowance

In 1998 income support for young people was reformed with the introduction of a single payment for full-time students and unemployed young people. Parental support requirements were strengthened, rates of payment standardised for all young people and disincentives to study addressed.

Welfare to Work Reforms

In 2006 parents with school age children and people with disabilities who could do part-time work were paid Newstart Allowance or Youth Allowance with reduced participation requirements. They would formerly have been paid Parenting Payment or Disability Support Pension. These changes were designed to achieve greater workforce involvement for these groups.

Table 1: Numbers of Recipients of Payments for the Unemployed, the Sick and those in Special Circumstances, from 1943

(000s)

At 30 June	Unemployment benefits (a)	Sickness benefits (b)	Special benefits	Other Special Circumstances benefits (c)
1943	-	-	-	22 188
1944	-	-	-	26 113
1945	-	-	-	28 880
1946	6 873	6 920	196	28 890
1947	6 208	9 483	456	26 053
1948	1 838	9 940	949	25 299
1949	1 151	12 000	5 059	25 371
1950	1 226	12 941	5 244	25 148
1951	604	7 044	921	24 254
1952	8 060	6 378	1 148	27 395
1953	25 914	8 135	1 985	23 064
1954	6 083	7 802	1 852	22 642
1955	2 679	7 905	2 045	22 878
1956	7 003	7 244	1 947	23 436
1957	18 071	6 845	1 971	24 768
1958	29 418	8 001	2 149	25 958
1959	27 528	8 473	2 264	27 410
1960	16 541	8 569	2 258	28 682
1961	54 254	8 536	2 356	30 945
1962	46 324	10 270	2 391	32 252
1963	38 188	10 876	2 468	33 216
1964	18 129	10 776	2 577	34 753
1965	12 656	10 187	2 423	35 685
1966	19 482	10 004	2 310	36 810
1967	24 002	9 949	2 136	38 364
1968	21 275	9 370	2 665	39 170
1969	15 910	8 185	4 187	39 859
1970	13 043	8 813	3 804	42 857
1971	19 411	10 516	4 185	43 253
1972	38 647	13 382	4 163	42 973
1973	37 317	18 520	4 312	47 845
1974	30 837	21 862	5 099	51 226
1975	157 948	24 544	5 330	54 274
1976	183 338	30 533	7 300	58 482
1977	243 884	32 065	8 757	63 426
1978	282 174	34 548	11 779	67 564
1979	312 924	33 340	13 744	72 064
1980	310 004	40 191	21 121	75 040
1981	330 834	48 875	19 500	77 824
1982	535 499	50 350	16 659	79 291
1983	619 882	62 668	20 525	80 345
1984	581 720	62 501	18 141	81 869
1985	559 237	62 030	18 582	81 637
1986	568 716	64 136	18 136	81 443
1987	553 653	70 232	19 706	82 244
1988	478 049	75 189	22 592	86 802
1989	389 794	79 017	24 291	83 642
1990	419 785	79 851	27 581	78 947
1991	676 705	72 647	30 102	74 439
1992	851 831	43 641	35 042	69 408
1993	913 770	45 226	28 503	64 716
1994	878 278	45 848	25 542	335 255
1995	822 570	47 050	20 440	334 570
1996	853 262	34 518	18 885	189 434
1997	831 954	15 633	14 700	167 281
1998	820 562	16 285	10 236	171 267
1999	739 525	11 181	11 808	165 562
2000	672 319	10 733	10 971	170 751
2001	703 406	10 942	12 495	169 546
2002	674 829	9 522	13 091	188 911
2003	633 629	8 927	12 228	190 139
2004	602 736	8 900	11 216	171 095
2005	568 474	8 400	9 408	139 178
2006	549 491	not yet available	not yet available	119 000

Notes:

(a) From 1992 Job Search Allowance and Newstart Allowance, from 1995 Job Search Allowance, Newstart Allowance and Youth Training Allowance, from 1997 Newstart Allowance, from 1999 Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (other than full-time students)

(b) From 1992 Sickness Allowance

(c) From 1942 Widow Pension Class B, from 1942 to 1989 Widow Pension Class C, from 1989 to 1994 Widowed Person's Allowance, from 1995 Bereavement Allowance, from 1995 Widow Allowance, from 1994 Partner Allowance, from 1994 Mature Age Allowance and from 1994 to 1995 Mature Age Partner Allowance.

Widow Pension class B from 1942

Commencement Date	Details	Government at Commencement
Original Enabling Legislation Widows' Pensions Act 1942 (No 19 of 1942)
1942	From June, as part of a broader scheme of widows' pensions, Widows' Pension class B (WPb) was paid to widows without dependent children who were 50 years of age and over. The term 'widow' included de facto widows who had been living with the deceased spouse for at least three years prior to his death and had been maintained by him. Eligibility was also given to deserted de jure wives who had been deserted for at least six months, divorced women who had not remarried and women whose husbands were in hospitals for the insane. Claimants were required to be resident in Australia and to have resided in Australia continuously for a period of five years immediately prior to their application. Aliens and the indigenous people of Australia, Africa, the Pacific and New Zealand were excluded from eligibility. This exclusion did not apply to Aboriginal people who were exempt from state laws 'relating to the control of Aboriginal natives' or who lived in a state where such exemptions did not exist and who were eligible on the grounds of 'character, intelligence and development'. The rates of payment which have applied since 1942 are set out in Table 2 . A means test was applied to WPb. Property above the value of 400 pounds excluded a widow from eligibility. Changes in the allowable property value since 1942 are set out in Table 3 . Homes, furniture and personal effects were excluded from the calculation of this property value. Possession of property above the value of 50 pounds resulted in the reduction of the annual rate of pension by one pound for every ten pounds in excess of 50 pounds. The pension payable was also reduced by an amount equivalent to any income in excess of 32 pounds ten shillings per annum. Changes in this permissible income level since 1942 are set out in Table 3 . WPb was paid four-weekly in arrears and the rate was subject to quarterly adjustment according to movements in the retail price index. For the history of means testing see Means Testing. From July WPb was exempted from income tax.	Curtin, ALP
1944	From April quarterly adjustment of rates was abolished.
1947	WPb was paid fortnightly. Women whose husbands were imprisoned for six months or more and were over 50 years of age were eligible for a class D pension. The class D pension was essentially the same as a class B pension for this group of women. New recipients of a War Widow's Pension were no longer eligible for WPb. Those already receiving both pensions were subject to transitional arrangements.	Chifley, ALP
1950	From August a Pensioner Medical Service providing free general practitioner services and medicines was introduced.	Menzies, LCP
1952	From September the residence requirement was reduced to one year where the couple were living permanently in Australia at the time of death.
1956	WPb was made payable to widows who were at least 45 years of age and had lost eligibility for a Widows' Pension class A (WPa) because their youngest child was no longer under 16 years of age.
1958	From October Supplementary Assistance of 10 shillings per week became available to widows paying rent.
1960	From February most restrictions on the eligibility of Aboriginal people were removed. Widow Pension class D was abolished and recipients aged 50 years and over made eligible to receive WPb.
1964	From October telephone rental concessions, reducing annual rental costs by one third, were introduced for pensioners.
1966	From September the remaining provisions preventing Aboriginals living a nomadic lifestyle from receiving a pension were repealed. Pensions became payable to aliens.	Holt, LCP
1968	From September the residency requirement for eligibility for WPb was removed where the widow and her husband had been permanent residents at the time of the death of the husband. A vocational training scheme for WPb pensioners was introduced.	Gorton, LCP
1969	Women widowed outside of Australia became eligible for pension on returning to Australia if they had lived in Australia for 10 years continuously at any time.
1971	From April rates of pension were increased, but the full increase was restricted to full rate pensioners. Those receiving a pension within 50 cents of the full rate were allowed only half of the increase and all others received no increase. From October rates increased again on the same basis as in April, with the difference that the half increase went to those receiving pension within $1.00 of the full rate.	McMahon, LCP
1972	From April rates of pension increased and those who had received less than the full increases in 1971 were given increases to bring them into line with those who had received increases.
1973	From July WPb paid to women of age pension age was made taxable.	Whitlam, ALP
1974	From October the vocational training scheme for widows was incorporated into the National Employment and Training system (NEAT). From November women who were widowed while overseas were given eligibility for WPb on their return to Australia provided they had continuously resided in Australia for at least 10 years at any time.
1975	From July the Pensioner Medical Service was superseded by eligibility for a range of medical services under Medibank. From October WPb was not paid to a widow living with a man as his wife though not legally married to him.
1976	From July WPb was subject to income tax. From November automatic six-monthly rate increases in May and November, in line with movements in the consumer price index, were introduced for the basic pension rate.	Fraser, LNCP
1978	From November automatic rate increases were made annually in November.
1980	From May automatic rate increases were once again made six-monthly in May and November.
1986	From December rate increases took place in December and June rather than November and May as had previously been the case.	Hawke, ALP
1987	From January dual eligibility for pensions and for Commonwealth education payments was ended. Pensioners studying full-time were eligible for an educational supplement of $15 per week. New grants of WPb were restricted to two groups of women. The first group was those women with children who were aged 45 years and over at 1 July 1987, who received or subsequently received SPB or WPa. The second group was those women aged 50 years and over at 1 July 1987 who were or subsequently became widows. This change would ensure that WPb would be phased out over the subsequent 15 years. From November an earnings credit system was introduced. Pensioners could save up unused portions of the income test free area to a limit of $1000. When income exceeded the free area the credit was reduced until totally depleted. The normal income test then applied again.
1988	From January fringe benefit entitlement could be retained for three months after income exceeded the income test limit by no more than 25 per cent.
1989	From November the timing of indexation of the rate of SPP was brought forward in several stages to March and September. (This process was completed in September 1990.)
1991	From January WPb recipients were required to supply their tax file number.
1992	From January the AUSTUDY supplement of $60 per fortnight for pensioners studying full-time was extended to those studying part time. From July telephone allowance of $51.80 per household per year replaced the telephone rental voucher scheme.	Keating, ALP
1993	From January an education entry payment of $200 was introduced for WPb recipients who qualified for the education supplement. From April eligibility for fringe benefits was extended to all part-rate pensioners.
1996	From July WPb recipients were able to receive an advance payment of their allowance of from $250 to $1000 in certain situations. Their allowance was reduced over the subsequent six to 12 months to allow repayment of the advance payment.	Howard, Lib - NP
1997	From January advance payments were restricted to amounts of up to $500 and limited to one each twelve months. No new grants of WPb were made after 20 March. Recipients of WPb were to be transferred to Age Pension automatically on reaching age pension age provided they and their partners had been Australian residents at the time that the WPb recipient was widowed.
2000	From July the rate of pension was increased as part of a package of measures to compensate for the impact of the introduction of the GST. A pension supplement equivalent to 4 per cent of the maximum rate at July 2000 was paid to all pensioners. Indexation provisions were adjusted so that half of this 4 per cent increase would effectively be an advance on whatever rate increase occurred in March 2001. The increased rate was provided as a supplement so that it would not be included when the pension rate was adjusted in line with the benchmark of 25 per cent of MTAWE. This ensured that the maximum rate of pension plus the supplement would always be somewhat more than 25 per cent of MTAWE.

Widow Pension class C, 1942 to 1989, Widowed Person Allowance, 1989 to 1995, Bereavement Allowance from 1995

Commencement Date	Details	Government at Commencement
Original Enabling Legislation Widows' Pensions Act 1942 (No 19 of 1942)
1942	From June, as part of a broader scheme of widow pensions, a temporary allowance of one pound five shillings per week was available to widows under 50 years of age during the first 26 weeks after the death of their husbands. De jure widows and de facto widows who had lived with the deceased man for three years were eligible. Claimants were required to be resident in Australia and to have resided in Australia continuously for a period of five years immediately prior to their application. Aliens and the indigenous people of Australia, Africa, the Pacific and New Zealand were excluded from eligibility. This exclusion did not apply to Aboriginal people who were exempt from state laws 'relating to the control of Aboriginal natives' or who lived in a state where such exemptions did not exist and who were eligible on the grounds of 'character, intelligence and development'. Rate changes over the years are set out in Table 2 . A test of hardship was applied. Liquid assets above 50 pounds (after the payment of funeral expenses) disqualified a widow from receiving the allowance. The allowance was paid four-weekly in arrears and the rate was subject to quarterly adjustment according to movements in the retail price index. For the history of means testing see Means Testing. From July the temporary allowance was exempted from income tax.	Curtin, ALP
1944	From April quarterly adjustment of rates was abolished.
1947	From July Temporary Allowance was now termed Widows' Pension class C (WPc). WPc was paid fortnightly.	Chifley, ALP
1950	From August a Pensioner Medical Service scheme provided free general practitioner services and medicines.	Menzies, LCP
1952	From September WPc recipients who were pregnant to their deceased husbands were made eligible for WPc until they gave birth. The residence requirement was reduced to one year where the couple were living permanently in Australia at the time of the death of the husband.
1958	From October Supplementary Assistance of 10 shillings per week became available to widows paying rent.
1960	From February most restrictions on the eligibility of Aboriginal people were removed.
1968	From February the residency requirement was removed where a widow and her husband had been permanent residents at the time of death.	Gorton, LCP
1969	From September women widowed outside Australia became eligible for pension on returning to Australia if they had lived in Australia for 10 years continuously at any time.
1975	From October WPc was not paid to a widow living with a man as his wife though not legally married to him.	Whitlam, ALP
1976	From July WPc was subject to income tax. From October automatic six-monthly rate increases, in line with movements in the CPI, were introduced.	Fraser, LNCP
1978	From November automatic rate increases were made annually.
1980	From May automatic rate increases were once again made six-monthly.
1986	From December rate increases took place in December and June rather than November and May as had previously been the case.	Hawke, ALP
1989	From March WPc was replaced by Widowed Person's Allowance (WPA). Widowed people, both male and female, were eligible for the allowance for the 14 weeks after the date of the death of their spouse. Widows who were pregnant at the time of the death of their spouse could receive the allowance until the birth. De jure and de facto marriages were treated equally. No other pension, benefit or allowance could be paid concurrently and the pension assets and income tests applied.
1993	From April eligibility for fringe benefits was extended to all part-rate pensioners.	Keating, ALP
1995	From January refugees were not required to live in Australia for a set period to qualify for the pension. Widowed Person's Allowance was renamed Bereavement Allowance (BA).
2000	From July the rate of pension was increased as part of a package of measures to compensate for the impact of the introduction of the GST. A pension supplement equivalent to 4 per cent of the maximum rate at July 2000 was paid to all pensioners. Indexation provisions were adjusted so that half of this 4 per cent increase would effectively be an advance on whatever rate increase occurred in March 2001. The increased rate was provided as a supplement so that it would not be included when the pension rate was adjusted in line with the benchmark of 25 per cent of MTAWE. This ensured that the maximum rate of pension plus the supplement would always be somewhat more than 25 per cent of MTAWE.	Howard, Lib-NP

Table 2: Wee kly Rates of Pension for Widows, from 1942

($ per week)

Date of effect	Rate
27.07.42	2.50
17.11.42	2.55
09.02.43	2.60
04.05.43	2.65
21.09.43	2.70
16.10.45	(a)2.70
08.07.47	(b)3.20
25.10.48	(c)3.70
07.11.50	(d)4.20
06.11.51	5.00
07.10.52	5.50
05.11.53	5.75
01.11.55	6.75
29.10.57	7.50
13.10.59	8.25
11.10.60	8.75
10.10.61	9.25
08.10.63	10.25
06.10.64	10.75
04.10.66	11.75
01.10.68	12.50
30.09.69	13.25
29.09.70	13.75
13.04.71	14.25
12.10.71	15.25
25.04.72	16.00
10.10.72	17.25
05.12.72	21.50
09.10.73	23.00
26.03.74	26.00
13.08.74	31.00
06.05.75	36.00
13.11.75	38.75
13.05.76	41.25
11.11.76	43.50
12.05.77	47.10
10.11.77	49.30
11.05.78	51.45
09.11.78	53.20
08.11.79	57.90
08.05.80	61.05
06.11.80	64.10
07.05.81	66.65
05.11.81	69.70
06.05.82	74.15
04.11.82	77.25
05.05.83	82.35
03.11.83	85.90
03.05.84	89.40
01.11.84	91.90
02.05.85	94.30
14.11.85	97.90
01.05.86	102.10
25.12.86	106.20
25.06.87	112.15
24.12.87	116.10
23.06.88	120.05
22.12.88	124.25
22.06.89	129.20
23.11.89	133.60
26.04.90	141.20
27.09.90	145.85
28.03.91	150.80
26.03.92	153.05
28.01.93	156.05
19.09.93	158.10
20.03.94	159.05
20.09.94	160.70
20.03.95	163.05
20.09.95	335.90
20.03.96	342.60
20.09.96	346.40
20.03.97	347.80
20.03.98	354.60
20.09.98	357.30
20.03.99	361.40
20.09.99	366.50
20.03.00	372.00
20.07.00	386.90
20.09.00	394.10
20.03.01	402.00
20.09.01	410.50
20.03.02	421.80
20.09.02	429.40
20.03.03	440.30
20.09.03	452.80
20.03.04	464.20
20.09.04	470.70
20.03.05	476.30
20.09.05	488.90
20.03.06	499.70

Notes:
(a) $3.25 for class C
(b) $3.75 for class C and $3.20 for class D
(c) $4.25 for class C and $3.70 for class D
(d) $4.75 for class C and $4.20 for class D

Chronologies are written for Members of Parliament, being located on the Internet they can be read by members of the public, however some linked items are available to Members of Parliament only, due to copyright reasons.