The Grey Power NZ Federation supports calls by the Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson for an amnesty for all older people caught in the border closures in 2020 and 2021 and who now face the possibility of having to repay an overpaid pension because they were forced to stay out of the country over the 26 weeks limit, through no fault of their own.

Grey Power Federation president Jan Pentecost has called for an immediate halt to pension suspensions for all New Zealanders trapped anywhere overseas by Covid-19 travel restrictions.

“There is no acceptable reason why an amnesty should not immediately apply to anyone and everyone caught overseas beyond the twenty-six-week period for which they were entitled to receive their pension, and to rigidly apply the rules of the system was and is heartless and simply inappropriate during a global pandemic.

The government has spent millions of dollars to help all sectors of the community survive the pandemic and that is what we expect of them. Hitting pensioners stuck overseas through no fault of their own with large bills and loss of pension is contrary to that ethic; it is inhumane and totally unacceptable; an amnesty must happen now!” she said.

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