政壇：睇社論學英文：解決長者貧窮 引入全民退保

新一屆立法會會期開啟，長者生活津貼計劃（俗稱特惠生果金）應否引入資產申報制度，成為港府與各黨派交鋒的首個重大民生議題。連日來，港府立場強硬，聲言沒有議價空間，一旦不設資產申報，公帑開支將會倍增，隨着未來人口老化，將對公共財政構成沉重負擔，影響福利和扶貧的資源投放。各黨派則拋出不同的反建議，由堅持取消資產申報到提高審查門檻，讓更多長者合乎申領資格，這已是一個議價過程，倘若港府堅持原封不動向立法會提交長者生活津貼計劃，可能影響撥款通過。

面對社會老齡人口增加，上屆政府並沒有制訂長遠的解決方案，只以一次性發放雙倍生果金等短期措施虛應貧窮長者的生活需要，本屆政府推出長者生活津貼計劃，踏出了正視問題的正確一步，但有關計劃只是一項針對性措施，並不能徹底解決人口老化帶來的長者生活貧窮問題，現有的強積金計劃，已證實不能為基層勞工提供退休後的生活保障，港府是時候全面檢討這個名不副實的計劃，考慮引入全民退休保障制度，一勞永逸解決人口老化衍生的長者貧窮問題。

A universal retirement protection scheme should be introduced in order to solve the problem of elderly poverty

As the new term of Legislative Council (LegCo) begins, the Government and the political parties are engaged in their first battle. The contention is on the major livelihood issue of whether a means declaration system should be included in the new Old Age Living Allowance (OALA, the so-called “special fruit money”) Scheme. In the past few days, the Government has stood firm and stated there would be no room for bargaining. According to the Government, if asset declaration is not required, public expenditure in this regard will double. With the aging population, the increased expenditure will burden the coffer so much that the resources for welfare and poverty alleviation will be undermined. Different political parties come up with their own counter-proposals: from insisting on the abolition of means test to raising the means assessment threshold so that more elders would be eligible. This is already a bargaining process that may affect the approval of the OALA Scheme if the Government still refuses to budge and submits its original proposal to the LegCo.

The Government of the previous administration failed to work out a long-term solution for an aging society. It took only short-term measures, such as the granting of one-off double-fruit-money, but these were empty gestures that did not meet the needs of the impoverished elderly. Now the new Government launches the OALA and this is indeed a right step towards facing the problem squarely. However, the initiative cannot completely solve the problem of elderly poverty brought on by population aging. The existing Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) has already proven to be ineffective in providing retirement protection for the grassroots after their retirement. It is now time for the Government to comprehensively review the MPF system which is unworthy of its name. The introduction of a universal retirement protection scheme should be considered in order to resolve once and for all the elderly poverty problem derived from an aging population.

重要生字

universal retirement protection scheme 全民退休保障制度

poverty alleviation 扶貧

face the problem squarely 正視問題