THE $500 seniors’ bonus from John Howard was not enough to change Joyce Kable’s vote. She has been a staunch Labor voter all her life and a few hundred dollars was not about to change that.

But like many of her contemporaries, as a pensioner, Ms Kable, 83, was grateful for the extra money.

Last year she used it to make repairs around her house, particularly on the back deck, which was rotting and had become dangerous.

This year she was going to get her water heater replaced and hire a plumber to fix some taps.

“When the Government started the payment I thought it was very good and it would help a lot, it was a nice thing to have happened,” she said.

“It could have been John Howard buying votes, I don’t trust anyone much. But I appreciated the money. It is difficult to live on the pension. I think most older people really appreciated the $500. Who wouldn’t?”

Having voted for Kevin Rudd, and been very supportive of him as he has taken up the reins of government, she now feels betrayed.

“You vote for the person you believe is going to make things easier, then they do some mean little thing like this. If he does take it away, I am very disappointed in him. It just seems mean.”

Ms Kable, who retired as a tea lady at ABC headquarters in Ultimo in Sydney 21 years ago, said she was more fortunate than most pensioners because she received an extra payment as a result of her late husband, Frank, having fought in World War II.

But friends her own age who were relying solely on the pension were very much looking forward to the $500.

“I don’t expect anything till I get it, but some of my friends are doting on it and would be very disappointed if it doesn’t come.”

The expected demise of the seniors’ bonus follows the likely axing of the $1600 a year paid to carers through the carer bonus and the carer allowance.

In Launceston, carer Bev Barnard, 64, who has received both the carer payment and seniors’ bonus for the past four years, said the money was always spent on essentials.

Last year, the seniors’ bonuses she and her 68-year-old husband, Jim, received were spent on paying off the wheelchair-capable car they needed after Mr Barnard was rendered immobile.

She has also received both carers’ bonuses of $1000 and $600 for each of the last four years.

She said she had come to rely on the money, which was the only windfall she has received in 10 years of caring for her husband, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, as well as her 38-year-old intellectually disabled daughter.

“This is absolutely not on, it’s just not right,” Ms Barnard said. “We are saving the Government money by keeping our loved ones at home.

“If we didn’t do that, the Government would have to build and fund more nursing homes.

“The Government needs to rethink this.”