Start the Change

Many transactions in daily life require some form of photo identification (ID).  People without photo ID can face stress and humiliation, extra costs, and sometimes miss out on entitlements or things they need.

Some pensioners and seniors cannot afford Labor’s charges for a photo ID.

It’s estimated there are more than 300,000 people in NSW over the age of 60 who do not have a driver’s licence.[1] For those without a licence, a NSW Photo Card is essential photo identification, yet the NSW Government charges seniors $44 for this card.[2]

A NSW Liberals & Nationals Government will;

• - waive the cost of photo identification cards for Seniors Card and Pensioner Concession Card holders;

• - make the free ID card available also to older people with a disability support pension.

Every dollar counts to our older citizens, including pensioners and this practical measure will save eligible seniors and pensioners $44, as well as ensuring they have access to photo identification.

At some stage, everybody in our society needs photo ID and we will ensure that seniors on fixed incomes are not unfairly discriminated against gaining access to photo identification.

Funding this policy will amount to just a small amount of money coming off the State’s budget bottom line, but will be a welcome addition to the budget of many older people.

The decision to purchase a property in a retirement village can be a difficult one.

It is a decision that is made more complicated by the many differences between different villages’ sale contracts. Differences include areas such as management fees, ongoing fees, ownership and use of village assets, village policies on guests and visitors, departure fees and the process for the sale or transfer of a unit when the resident leaves.

There are standard contracts for the sale of a house, so why shouldn’t there be standard contracts for the sale of property in a retirement village?

In government the NSW Liberals & Nationals will:

• - develop standard contracts for retirement villages to use when selling property or occupation rights to consumers; and
• - establish a committee of experts to develop the standard contracts.

Under these reforms, consumers will be better able to compare and understand the differences in costs and conditions between villages before entering into a contract.

Operators will still be able to include special conditions on important or unique matters and to reflect their existing financial and operational practices.

The wide variety of contracts in use also adds complexity for village operators – tracking which residents are subject to which terms and conditions can be difficult.

The committee of experts will compromise representatives from key stakeholder groups including the Retirement Village Association, the Aged and Community Services Association of NSW & ACT, the Retirement Village Residents Association and the Law Society of NSW.

The model for this process has been used in the successful development of other key property standard contracts by the Law Society in consultation with groups such as the Real Estate Institute of NSW.

The NSW Liberals & Nationals are committed to putting people first by building a stronger retirement living sector for the benefit of residents and operators.

Community transport is vital for seniors, the ill, people with disability and people who live in isolated communities.

It provides non-emergency transport to members of the community who do not have access to transport. This includes assisting transport-isolated people to get to medical appointments, social and recreational activities, grocery shopping and access to social services.

Community Transport groups rely on over 3,500 volunteers to assist in various roles including volunteer drivers who use their own vehicles and bus assistants.[1]

In 2007-2008 Community Transport Groups carried in excess of 139,103 passengers on 2,262,150 trips, travelling nearly 29 million kilometres.[2]

Thirty per cent of these trips were health-related.[3]

Community transport groups estimate they refuse 90,000 requests for

transport to health services every year.[4]

The NSW Liberals & Nationals will make access to Community Transport a priority. In government we will:

• - Provide an additional $12 million to the Community Transport Program through the Ministry of Transport. This will extend services to thousands of transport-disadvantaged people.
• - Establish a “one stop shop” for Community Transport providers within the Ministry of Transport to improve communication, efficiency and reduce unnecessary administration costs.
• - Establish an appropriate driver accreditation framework to ensure Community Transport providers can enhance their services and ensure utmost safety of volunteers, employees and clients.

We will end Labor’s decade of neglect. The NSW Liberals & Nationals believe we owe it to those with disability, those in remote communities and our seniors the ability to get around.