OAP bus restriction a poor look
IT’S always a good bet to know your audience. Deputy Lester Queripel is very aware of his – they are often tagged with the word ‘grey’.
But the latest backlash on an idea from the Environment & Infrastructure Committee to restrict free bus use for OAPs to after 9.30 in the morning has probably taken the committee by surprise – demonstrating a naivety on its behalf. Especially given how negligible the benefit is likely to be for the public purse.
Ever since the first proposal came forward for a goods and services tax, and the island’s old age pensioners took umbrage, unprompted, that they were being ‘blamed’ for the demographic time bomb, the older end of our community have been on a mission. ‘Don’t mess with us,’ seems to be the catchphrase.
For Deputy Queripel to claim ‘once again [older people] are being told by a committee of their own government, that they are an inconvenience’ may be stretching things a bit, but politicians beware. Perception is reality. The letters on this page today are just the start.
Tinkering around with pensioner benefits, including, but not limited to, the old age pension, is rarely a good look and needs to be mooted very, very carefully.
E&I may say that this is a consultation, but the inevitability of a U-turn on this relatively minor issue now seems high. It will have caused considerable anxiety, embarrassment and bad feeling where there was absolutely no need for it.