Recent weeks have seen the passing away of two stalwart and active members of Fair Go For pensioners. The first to leave us was Claudio (Claud) Antonelli. The second was Frank Cherry.
Claude was an active member and sometimes quiet achiever representing the Unitarian Church. Claud was always there to lend a hand. When he spoke, people listened. At the time of his passing, he was one of our vice presidents and therefore member of the executive Committee.
He came to Australia form Italy as a young man, settled in quickly and saw himself as an Australian first. Another side was that he never lost his passion for standing up against injustice and those hurt by those in authority, He joined his union At work, became a delegate and eventually an organiser with the them tramways union, and was involved in his local residents association and much more.
Frank had his own history. He served many years as an official of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. And his involvement didn’t stop here. Frank spent a lifetime active in a range of social causes like the movements for peace, justice, and a sustainable future, where he often played a leadership role.
Frank, along with his wife Cath, was one of the leading founders of Fair Go For Pensioners. The energy they put into this was incredible and pulled everyone lese along to make considerable achievements. He served as Victorian President more than once and took up other roles.
Our condolences have been passed on to the wives and families of both of these men.
Both leave behind a caring family, hurting by their loss, but having many wonderful memories. Claud and Frank also touched all those who came into contact with them.
There is an old wisdom that says that someone who has led a life for others causes the most grief when they leave us. They leave a hole that will never be filled. But they live on in the memory of those they leave behind. Through this, they gain a kind of immortality. They continue to influence our lives.
Those who live selfishly and do nothing for others cause much less grief and are soon forgotten.
Claud and Frank were definitely of the first type. We honour them best by copying their example, living the most worthwhile life possible, and striving till we too have an impact by making world a little better for our being here and are remembered when we are here no more.

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Fair Go For Pensioners (Victoria) run a stall on Sunday 2 October at Melbourne’s Federation Square, joining many other stalls and activities marking the opening of this year’s Seniors Week. Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) and Save Public housing joined us. both are affiliates.

The stall with a good bunch of helpers provided a wonderful opportunity to talk to people about key issues that affected their lives, giving us greater insight into how people are feeling and what they say is important.

Considerably more than 350 show bags were given to interested individuals, as well as a range of other material, which showed what we are doing and where we aim towards. This generated interest. This was especially true, when it came to our investigation of the state of the age pension and the plan to launch a major campaign to have it raised to a liveable level.

Most people, including age pensioners, are unaware that the [pension has been kept down below what it should be for year. Governments have been able to use sleight of hand, manipulating indexes and an inaccurate cost price index (CPI) to hold back on payment increase that should have been made. This amounts to thousands of dollars per age pensioner.

Participation in Seniors Week also marked our emergence from the isolation of Covid lockdowns. Fair Go For Pensioners is back in business, and this goes further than complaining about the state of affairs. Our intention is to help people get together to be a force for positive change. We want to organise and build unity with others in action that can bring results.

Although we are concerned with age pensioners, our concern extends to all those who are dependent on payments form Centrelink. We know that we are all in the same boat and what effects one group effects the others. We know that there is a push to turn us all into a source of cheap labour and that this has a lot to do with why all payments have fallen further and further behind what is considered an acceptable standard of living in Australia.

Fair Go For Pensioners knows that any improvements to the age pension will build pressure for improvements in other payments, and this is one particularly good reason why anyone finding it harder and harder to make ends meet, has an interest in supporting a liveable age pension, whether they depend on Centrelink, are underemployed, or heading towards retirement.

We have both organisation affiliates and individual membership. Join by sending us an Email.

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