Opposition Senator Amery Browne has criticised the Government’s $250 increase in the grant for pensioners, arguing that the adjustment offers limited relief to older people struggling with the cost of living and medication.
Browne made his comments in response to the pension increase announced in the Fiscal 2027 Budget on Monday. Speaking to reporters outside Parliament on Tuesday, he questioned how the Government intended to finance the adjustment while the allocation to a ministry he previously held had been reduced by $850 million compared with the previous year.
He acknowledged that any increase in assistance for senior citizens and differently abled people was welcome, but argued that the wider circumstances facing vulnerable citizens gave little reason for optimism. He described the measure as giving pensioners “a morsel on one hand” while taking away “a basketful on the other”.
Browne also pointed to difficulties accessing essential medication and other forms of social support, saying these continued to place pressure on people who depend on assistance. His criticism centred on whether the additional money would make a meaningful difference when other costs and support needs remained concerns.
The report also highlighted questions raised by Opposition MP and former finance minister Colm Imbert about the interaction between the proposed increase and the existing pension cap. Speaking at an Opposition post-budget news conference on Monday, Imbert said people receiving both an old-age pension and a National Insurance Board pension would not benefit from the increase if the cap remained unchanged.
According to Imbert, the current cap is $5,500. He argued that pensioners whose combined payments already reached that limit would be unable to access the additional $250 unless the cap was raised. He estimated that the issue affected about 30,000 people.
Imbert recalled that when a previous People’s National Movement government increased the senior citizens grant by $1,000, the cap was also raised, moving from $4,000 to $5,500. He questioned why a similar adjustment had not been made alongside the latest increase.
The former finance minister also challenged the Government’s revenue projections for the coming year, questioning how it planned to generate an additional $5 billion. He further argued that the stated $7 billion deficit could rise to around $9 billion by the end of the current fiscal year because the figures presented on Monday did not include August and September 2026 and were based on data up to July.
Those deficit and revenue figures were presented as Imbert’s assertions, rather than independently established outcomes. The available report does not provide a Government response to the criticism.
The debate therefore centres on both the value of the additional pension assistance and the rules governing who can receive it. Whether pensioners already at the payment cap will benefit depends on the applicable arrangements, an issue the Opposition has placed at the centre of its criticism of the budget measure.