Clive Palmer wrong on asylum seekers being paid more than pensioners

Updated

Clive Palmer says asylum seekers are paid more by the Government than pensioners.

"Our senior citizens are paid less than newly arrived asylum seekers," the Palmer United Party founder said at his campaign launch on Sunday.

"We must change this as soon as possible.

"As a first step, Palmer United will increase the old age pension by 20 per cent. This will amount to an estimated $150 extra a fortnight."

The single rate of the age pension is currently $733.70 a fortnight.

That can be reduced based on the assets and other income in individual cases, but it is the maximum rate of benefit that can be paid to a single aged pensioner.

The claim: Clive Palmer says senior citizens in Australia are paid less than newly arrived asylum seekers.

Clive Palmer says senior citizens in Australia are paid less than newly arrived asylum seekers. The verdict: Mr Palmer is wrong, and his explanation for the claim does not stack up.

Asylum seekers who are waiting for their claims to be processed and meet criteria set by the Department of Immigration are paid an allowance that is administered through a program run by the Red Cross called the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme.

That allowance is paid at 89 per cent of Centrelink's Special Benefit payment, which is equivalent to Newstart or Youth Allowance.

The maximum rate of Newstart for a single person under 60 who is not a carer and has no dependents is $497 a fortnight. The maximum Newstart payment, specifically for carers, is $683.50 a fortnight.

A single asylum seeker eligible for the assistance scheme would receive $442.33 a fortnight, 89 per cent of the single rate of Newstart.

That is almost $300 a fortnight less than the age pension.

Figures don't stack up

ABC Fact Check asked Mr Palmer's spokesman to explain the claim. No response has been received.

But Mr Palmer told Lateline on August 27 that he meant the overall cost of processing and supporting asylum seekers was more expensive than the pension.

"We spend $6 billion needlessly on asylum seekers in this country on that problem," he said.

"If you add that to the allowances that they're paid divided by the number of asylum seekers you'll see the amount of Commonwealth expenditure going out on asylum seekers far exceeds the amount per pensioner that is paid to pensioners."

The Federal Government's Department of Community Services says the cost of the age pension for financial year 2012-13 was an estimated $36.6 billion.

That's over $30 billion more than Mr Palmer's figure for the cost of asylum seekers.

In the May budget, the Department of Immigration said the humanitarian program it administers would cost over $490 million in the four years to 2016-17.

The Federal Government's economic statement published on August 2 estimated that offshore processing of asylum seekers would rise by $1.3 billion over the four years to 2016-17.

The statement did not update other aspects of the humanitarian program administered by the Department of Immigration.

ABC Fact Check asked the Department of Immigration to provide the total cost of Australia's humanitarian program.

A spokesman for the department said there was no single figure available, and that other agencies including Medicare and Centrelink would provide some services to asylum seekers, making it difficult to quantify.

While it is difficult to assess Mr Palmer's figure of $6 billion, he said on Lateline it was in addition to the allowances paid to asylum seekers.

It must therefore include the cost of running detention centres and other expenses such as repatriating people whose claims for asylum are rejected.

ABC Fact Check considers that in comparing Government support to asylum seekers with Government support to pensioners, it is inappropriate to include costs which cannot be described providing benefits to asylum seekers.

The verdict

Mr Palmer is wrong to say senior citizens are paid less than asylum seekers, and his explanation for the claim does not stack up.

Sources

Editor's note: This fact check has been updated.

Topics: immigration, federal-government, federal-elections, clive-palmer, aged-care, minor-parties, australia

First posted