Dear All,
By way of introduction, and for those who don’t know me, my name is Peter Thornton and as an Ex-Military and Commonwealth Superannuant. I am seeking your IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE PLEASE to broadcast this message as widely as possible and to take part in the action as detailed below.
To explain, and if you are not aware; there has been a long term plight by a large number of Ex-Military and Commonwealth Retirees and Representative Bodies to seek justice in correcting the ongoing erosion of Government Retirement Pensions ( i.e. to correct the poor indexation mechanism of DFRB/DFRDB, MSBS, CSS and PSS Superannuation benefits). If you need some instant measure of how much Government Retirees have been shafted over the last 20 years or so (or will likely to be shafted into the future .... attention to all those who are yet to retire!) then the graph below will be a stark reminder and/or an instant reference to the injustice that has been perpetrated against Military and Commonwealth Superannuants ..... the erosion effectively forcing many onto welfare over time.
As a consequence, and to aid in this fight, 3 audience seats have been secured at the last minute for myself, John Coleman (Indexation Manager - SCOA) and Ian Scott (NSW State President - DFWA) in the upcoming ABC ‘Q and A’ program, this Monday evening, 15th of February, from 9:30-10:30pm. Here’s the link
Q&A | ABC TV .
The purpose of obtaining seats on this specific occasion is because Lindsay Tanner (Minister for Finance) and Barnaby Joyce (Shadow Minister for Finance) will be on the panel and they are directly responsible for the carriage of this matter. As a consequence, the 3 of us will have the same pre-prepared question ready to ask the two Ministers about the ongoing injustice of current indexation arrangements and what the Government/Opposition intends to do about it.
HOWEVER, we face a major uphill battle (without your specific and collective help) because the erosion of Military/C’wlth Superannuation Pensions is not in the media spot light at the moment ..... and because we will be overshadowed by approximately 220 other people in the audience who will be eager to ask questions about other current affairs issues such as the ceiling installation deaths, the Emissions Trading Scheme etc.
BUT .... we believe that if everybody rallies as soon as possible to create a constant barrage of information flows on the Q and A website ... i.e. through their blog, submission of online questions, uploading of video questions etc ..... then maybe .... just maybe ..... it might be enough to convince Program Staff that our issue is truly a nationwide affair that affects up to 600,000 people (not including extended family) ... and is therefore worthy of a question to be asked.
ACTION PLAN:
1. We ask that upon receipt of this email that you all IMMEDIATELY ON FORWARD it to your extended networks .... and in turn .... we ask that these subsequent contacts to do the same (even if they are not affected) so we can generate a multiplier effect in generating the numbers and action needed.
2. We ask if everybody could access the Q and A website here
Q&A | ABC TV and begin immediately to submit a barrage of questions in text, video, SMS and/or Twitter formats where possible. WE NEED TO TRY AND DROWN OUT ALL THE OTHER ISSUES/QUESTIONS IF WE CAN!!!!
3. We need everybody to be as active as possible on the night in question .... i.e. in blogging in your feelings before and particularly during the program ..... because .... we need you all to turn up the heat big time during the program so that Program Staff / Tony Jones will feel compelled to nominate one of us to ask the question.
DO YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION OR SOURCES OF INSPRIATION? ...... THEN PLEASE ACCESS THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES ......
SCOA: Superannuated Commonwealth Officers Association (Superannuated Commonwealth Officer’s Association)
http://www.dfwa.org.au/ (Defence Force Welfare Association ..... click on ‘WHAT’S NEW’ ..... )
I trust and hope you will all rally to this occasion .... and I apologise in advance if you have received this message in error or will receive it more than once in the next few days ... but under the circumstances ... I hope you will understand.
Kind regards
Peter Thornton
DFRDB (Ex-Army 1980-2001) & PSS Superannuant (C’wlth 2001 – 2007)
02 6296 7003
0406 1944 69