Old Age Allowance | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 高齡津貼 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 高龄津贴 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Fruit money | |||||||||||||
Chinese | 生果金 | ||||||||||||
|
Old Age Allowance,colloquially known as fruit money,is a Hong Kong government programme introduced in 1973 which provides monthly payments of $1,290 to elderly Hong Kong residents. There is no means test for the Higher Old Age Allowance given to recipients of age 70 or above. The Normal Old Age Allowance for elderly residents between the ages of 65 and 69 was only offered to people who fell below certain income and asset thresholds,but since 2013 such people are now covered by the similar but separate Old Age Living Allowance scheme instead.
OAA recipients were originally required to have been absent from Hong Kong for no more than 56 days in the year prior to the date of their application,and to be present in Hong Kong for 125 days per year thereafter. The latter limit was relaxed to 60 days in 2011,but this still meant that people who had retired in mainland China or abroad and did not often return to Hong Kong were ineligible. [1] A 2012 challenge to these residence requirements before Judge Johnson Lam in the Court of First Instance failed. In his ruling,Lam suggested that the applicant apply for the means-tested Portable Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) instead. [2]
In 2013,the Social Welfare Department began accepting applications for OAA from Hong Kong residents who lived in Guangdong. However,receipt of payments continued to require an account at a Hong Kong bank,which proved difficult for some recipients whose banks told them they could not maintain an account without a Hong Kong address. [3]
Recipients of Normal Old Age Allowance of ages between 65 and 69 have long been required to meet a means test;however,attempts to introduce a broader means test as a trade-off for increasing the OAA have proven politically controversial. In 2008,when the OAA was HK$625 per month,Chief Executive Donald Tsang faced calls to raise the allowance to at least HK$1,000 per month,and proposed a means test in response. However,public opinion was strongly against such a means test,with some elderly recipients saying they would prefer the continuation of lower payments instead;they saw the payments as too small to constitute a living allowance in either case,and thought of them simply as a "token of appreciation" for their decades of contributions to Hong Kong society. Eventually,Tsang was forced to withdraw his proposal for a means test. [4]
In July 2012,Chief Executive C. Y. Leung announced the new Old Age Living Allowance,which would provide monthly payments of HK$2,200,roughly double the existing OAA,to applicants who met a means test. [5] By June 2013,three months after the OALA scheme had begun,there were more than 310,000 recipients,mostly former NOAA recipients between the ages of 65 and 69 who had been automatically converted to the new OALA scheme. [6]
Hong Kong in the 1970s underwent many changes that shaped its future,led for most of the decade by its longest-serving and reform-minded Governor,Murray MacLehose. Economically,it reinvented itself from a manufacturing base into a financial centre.
Public housing in Hong Kong is a set of mass housing programmes through which the Government of Hong Kong provides affordable housing for lower-income residents. It is a major component of housing in Hong Kong,with nearly half of the population now residing in some form of public housing. The public housing policy dates to 1954,after a fire in Shek Kip Mei destroyed thousands of shanty homes and prompted the government to begin constructing homes for the poor.
Raymond Wong Yuk-man is a Hong Kong author,current affairs commentator and radio host. He is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo),representing the geographical constituency of Kowloon West. He worked in Commercial Radio Hong Kong and hosted many popular phone-in programmes. Also,He is a founder and chairman of Mad Dog Daily from 1996 until its closure in 2022.
The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying,wife of Leung Kwok-hung,it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parliamentary struggles".
King Yin Lei is an historic mansion in the Mid-Levels area of Hong Kong. It is within the Wan Chai District.
The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme ("QMAS") is a points-based immigration system in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It was first announced in February 2006,and began accepting applications in June of the same year;by September 2023,more than 20000 people had been admitted to residence in Hong Kong under the scheme.
Social security,in Australia,refers to a system of social welfare payments provided by Australian Government to eligible Australian citizens,permanent residents,and limited international visitors. These payments are almost always administered by Centrelink,a program of Services Australia. In Australia,most payments are means tested.
The Political Appointments System is a scheme introduced in 2008 by the Hong Kong Government to reinforce its ministerial team by superseding the Principal Officials Accountability System and inserting two layers of politically appointed officials below the secretaries,who are political appointees. These appointees report only to the secretaries,but not the permanent secretaries,the highest-ranking civil servants. The appointment of undersecretaries and political assistants is an extension of the previous RPAS that was initially confined to principal officials. Prior to the introduction,there were 14 political appointees—3 Secretaries of Departments and 11 Directors of Bureaux.
The visa policy of Hong Kong deals with the requirements in which a foreign national wishing to enter Hong Kong through one of the 15 immigration control points must meet to obtain an entry permit or Visa,which depending on the traveller's nationality,may be required to travel to,enter,and remain in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Visitors from over 145 countries are permitted without Visa entry for periods ranging from 7 to 180 days,to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for tourism or certain business-related activities. All visitors must hold a passport valid for more than 1 month.
Hollywood Hong Kong is a 2001 Hong Kong film directed by Fruit Chan,with screenplay written by Kei To Lam. The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 58th Venice International Film Festival. It is the second instalment of his "Prostitute trilogy" which Chan directed from 2000–02. The other two movies in the trilogy are Durian Durian (2000) and Three Husbands (2018).
Scheme $6,000 is a 2011 Hong Kong Government tax rebate program that gave out HK$6,000 to all adult holders of a Hong Kong permanent identity card,in a bid to "藏富於民".
The Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) scheme is a welfare programme in Hong Kong that provides supplementary payments to Hong Kong residents whose income is not sufficient to meet basic needs.
Guangdong Scheme was launched on 1 October 2013. The purpose of the Scheme is to provide the Old Age Allowance,on a monthly basis,for eligible Hong Kong people aged 65 or above who choose to reside in Guangdong. The recipients can get a monthly cash allowance of $1,135 if they satisfy the minimum residence period of 60 days in Guangdong in a payment year,along with the other requirements.
The Social Welfare Department is a department of the Hong Kong Government responsible for providing welfare services to the community.
Tsang Kin-Wah is a visual artist based in Hong Kong. His earlier work,particularly his "wallpaper art",was known for its combination of beautiful illustration and painting,and for its use of profane or obscene words. More recently,he has explored topics related to politics and religion via large-form,multi-media installations that combine music,video and light projections.
The administration of Carrie Lam as Chief Executive of Hong Kong,or Lam administration,officially referred to as "The 5th term Chief Executive of Hong Kong" relates to the period of governance of Hong Kong headed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam,between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2022.
Erick Tsang Kwok-wai is a Hong Kong government official. Since 2020,he has been Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs,one of the principal officials of Hong Kong. Prior to that,he was Director of Immigration.
In Hong Kong,assisted-living facilities,referred to by the government as residential care homes,are available for those 65 or over.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Hong Kong on 23 January 2020. Confirmed cases were generally transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital's Infectious Disease Centre for isolation and centralised treatment. On 5 February,after a five-day strike by front-line medical workers,the Hong Kong government closed all but three border control points including Hong Kong International Airport,Shenzhen Bay Control Point,and Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge Control Point remaining open.
Dennis Lam Shun-chiu,JP is a prominent Hong Kong ophthalmologist,businessman and politician. He has been a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) since 2008 and a member of the Election Committee.