WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The government is changing the pension asset test.
OUR VERDICT
False. The government has no policy to change the pension.
AAP FACTCHECK - Australian pensioners aren't facing changes to their entitlements, despite false claims doing the rounds via a chain-mail message on social media.
The Australian government has not announced any planned changes to pension entitlements or asset tests, and pension experts are unaware of any changes.
The chain mail-style message has been spreading online in different formats for at least 10 years, and in early 2025 is being shared again in a Facebook post.
"All Senators in Australian Government! So, claiming a pension is an 'embarrassing admission of poverty'?" the message in the post reads.
" ... The Politicians in power are changing the Pension Assets Test for everyone in Australia except themselves. This will negatively affect everyone who thought they had enough to retire on. It will also affect disability pensions, widow pensions and more."
It goes on to assert that politicians vote to give themselves a pay rise and have access to a privileged healthcare system separate from the rest of the population.
"The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so our politicians should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work," it continues.
"If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, then it will only take three or so days for most Australians to receive the message."
AAP FactCheck found older versions of very similar text with the words slightly altered or mentioning a different country.
A 2013 post references the US government, while a 2016 version directs the message to politicians in India.
In a 2020 post referencing Canada, the text is attributed to American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett, while the Australian version could be connected to comments made by former Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm in 2017.
The pension asset test in Australia has been in place since 1985 and determines how much welfare a pensioner receives based on their assets, homeownership, investments and relationship status.
Raf Chomik, a senior research fellow at the University of New South Wales, said he was unaware of any changes.
Asset thresholds, which are different for renters, homeowners, singles and couples, increase automatically in line with inflation, he explained.
The Department of Social Services reviews these thresholds throughout each year.
As capital assets typically grow in value faster than inflation, Mr Chomik said this indexation contributes to some people moving off the full and part pension.
"These are set-and-forget policies that take effect over decades rather than something we would consider as policy reforms," he said.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth confirmed that the claim was inaccurate.
"We're not changing the pension assets test, and we will always safeguard the pension," she told AAP FactCheck.
University of Melbourne economics expert Roger Wilkins said the last major change in 2017 increased the free area, the amount of assets above which pensions are reduced, making more retirees eligible for the full pension. But it also raised the "taper rate" from $1.50 to $3 per $1000 in assets over the free area.
"The change in the taper rate meant that many people previously on a part-pension saw their part-pension reduced or eliminated," Professor Wilkins told AAP FactCheck.
The post also incorrectly claims that politicians vote for their own pay rises, but these are actually set by the independently-run Remuneration Tribunal.
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