Less than a week before changes to the pension assets test come into effect, the Turnbull government has accused Labor of running a scare campaign about their impact on older Australians.
Special Minister of State Scott Ryan said most pensioners would be better off after January 1, when the changes to the assets thresholds and doubling of the taper rate begin.
More National News Videos
- Video duration
- 00:56
Robo-call alert
Robo-call alert
The ACTU is behind the latest round of robo-calls, these ones featuring Leanne who urges people to call the PM about his plans to cut her father's pension.
Up Next
$360m cocaine drug bust in Sydney
- Video duration
- 00:35
- Video duration
- 00:35
$360m cocaine drug bust in Sydney
$360m cocaine drug bust in Sydney
Fifteen men have been charged after police busted an alleged drug ring on Christmas night. Vision: Seven News.
Up Next
Sydney gets ready for New Year's Eve
- Video duration
- 02:19
- Video duration
- 02:19
Sydney gets ready for New Year's Eve
Sydney gets ready for New Year's Eve
Fireworks teams across the country and putting the finishing touches on their pyrotechnic displays ahead of the biggest party of the year.
Up Next
Son pleads to father's hit-run driver
- Video duration
- 01:36
- Video duration
- 01:36
Son pleads to father's hit-run driver
Son pleads to father's hit-run driver
The son of a hit-run victim is pleading for his dad's killer to hand himself in after Zac Andreou was mowed down outside his Sydney home Wednesday night.
Up Next
Search for Tui scaled back
- Video duration
- 01:55
- Video duration
- 01:55
Search for Tui scaled back
Search for Tui scaled back
The mother of the teenager missing, feared drowned at Maroubra Beach in Sydney's east, says she will never get over the loss of her son.
Up Next
Police nab biggest cocaine bust
- Video duration
- 02:07
- Video duration
- 02:07
Police nab biggest cocaine bust
Police nab biggest cocaine bust
Police swoop netting the biggest cocaine bust in the nation's history with a street value of more than $360 million.
Up Next
Honey wars: AU vs NZ
- Video duration
- 01:42
- Video duration
- 01:42
Honey wars: AU vs NZ
Honey wars: AU vs NZ
Pavlova, Russell Crowe, rugby and now anti-bacterial honey are all on the growing list of rivalries between Australia and New Zealand.
Up Next
Life support switched off for nine-year-old
- Video duration
- 02:02
- Video duration
- 02:02
Life support switched off for ...
Life support switched off for nine-year-old
Family and friends of a nine-year-old boy who was killed by an alleged drunk driver have told the driver he is forgiven.
Robo-call alert
The ACTU is behind the latest round of robo-calls, these ones featuring Leanne who urges people to call the PM about his plans to cut her father's pension.
The threshold for a homeowning couple to receive a part pension will be lowered to $816,000, while single homeowners will see a reduced threshold of $542,000.
Full pension eligibility will include $250,000 in assets for single homeowners, compared with a new threshold of $375,000 for homeowning couples.
Designed to save the federal budget $2.4 billion over four years, the changes were first announced in the Abbott government's 2015 budget.
Labor originally said it would oppose the move, but it banked the savings in its costings before the July 2 federal election. Now the opposition says as many as 330,000 pensioners will be worse off.
"There's a dishonest scare campaign being run by Bill Shorten and his union mates despite the fact these are policies they took to the election campaign and regardless of who was in government these would be coming into effect on January 1," Senator Ryan said on Tuesday.
"These are changes both the Coalition legislated, but also the Labor Party took to the election as part of its election policy."
He said 90 per cent of people receiving the pension would see either no change or an improvement from the start of 2017, while 170,000 of the most vulnerable would be the greatest beneficiaries.
Acting Opposition Leader Chris Bowen said the Coalition's poor poll numbers among older voters were due to the pension changes, not Labor's political tactics.
"The changes coming into force on the first of January for example in a deal done between the Greens and the Liberal Party," he said.