A new analysis of 209 different concessions for retirees provided by state and territory governments has crowned Western Australia as the overall champion for looking after its pensioners and self-funded retirees.
The analysis, by financial planning and retirement specialist Later Life Advice, found concessions can vary dramatically between states and effectively deliver seniors tax-free payments of up to $3000 annually.
Senior card benefits per state
Later Life Advice founder Brendan Ryan (pictured) said WA had the best mixture of concessions and was “particularly generous to self-funded retirees holding a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card or a WA Seniors Card”.
Eligibility for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card is much less restrictive than the age pension assets and income tests. It is available for seniors over the age of 67 and has no assets test, while its current maximum income threshold is $101,105 for singles and $161,768 for couples combined.
“While most states restrict primary cost-of-living concessions strictly to pensioners, Western Australia stands out nationally because it extends high-value energy, water, and council rates rebates to self-funded retirees,” Brendan said.
These included a $342.85 annual energy assistance payment, up to $600 a year of water rebates, and up to $750 of council rate rebates annually, while people who held the WA Seniors Card – without an age pension or CSHC – still received a 25 per cent water rebate and free off-peak public transport, he said.
“By linking these major concessions to non-pension cards, WA has effectively eliminated the steep benefits cliff that self-funded retirees face in other parts of Australia,” he said.
Do you qualify for concession?
The second-best state for seniors concessions is Queensland, followed by NSW.
In the bottom half of the rankings were the ACT, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Victoria.
“States like Victoria and Tasmania treat concessions strictly as welfare safety nets, restricted to pensioners, whereas higher-ranked states treat them as general seniors benefits,” Brendan said.
Experts say that seniors should understand the three-layered support system of pensioner concession cards, the CSHC and state and territory seniors cards.
How to get utility discounts
Brendan said people should remember to manually link their seniors cards to utility accounts.
“Concessions are never applied automatically,” he said.
“You must actively contact your electricity, gas, water, and local council providers to register your card details and customer reference number.”
Retirees should understand the strict work limits around seniors cards in some states “that will cancel your card if exceeded”, he said.
“However, the CSHC has no work hours test”
“As long as your total income – wages plus deemed super – stays under the CSHC threshold, you can work full-time and still receive major CSHC-linked concessions like the energy and water rebates in WA or the energy rebate in NSW.”
He added seniors concessions acted as “a vital shock absorber against essential service price rises” such as water, electricity and public transport, which consistently outpaced the inflation indexing of the age pension.
“They function exactly like a tax-free payment of $2000 to $3000 – for a single that’s about 10 per cent of the maximum age pension rate, and more if safety nets like Medicare and the PBS are taken into account,” he said.