IN March last year, The Senior ran a story headlined 'Will tax proposal kill Bill at polls?'
The backlash from Bill Shorten's franking credits proposal was such that the opposition leader buckled to pressure, announcing that all those on the age pension would be exempt from the policy.
Obviously it wasn't enough for voters.
Labor's proposal to abolish franking credit refunds for everyone but age pensioners was widely described as "milking" self-funded retirees.
National Seniors Australia warned "because the majority of self-funded retirees own shares, hundreds of thousands of people will be affected. The policy will hurt ordinary Australians and not just the wealthiest as Labor claims."
And it was those ordinary Australians who have largely been credited with the failure of Labor to win government and the downfall of its leader, Mr Shorten.
The Association of Independent Retirees was scathing in its criticism of the franking credits policy.
"Imagine if the Labor Party announced to union members that if elected, they will move to reduce their income by 10 per cent or more - the whole country would come to a standstill," said the organisation's acting president Wayne Strandquist said prior to the election.
As the country waits for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to announce his new cabinet, seniors groups will no doubt redouble their efforts to ensure aged care is front and centre in politicians' minds.
Advocacy groups lamented the lack of aged care policy from both parties during the election campaign, with COTA Australia declaring that older Australians should be "very afraid of developing a need for aged care at home" because both parties had "turned their backs on the 125,000-strong home care queue".
And with the Prime Minister not considering a rise in the Newstart payment, seniors and social welfare groups look set for a long hard road ahead.
The really good news is that perhaps now our politicians will recognise the power of the grey vote and seriously consider the points put forward by seniors lobby groups, which have spent years collating feedback and formulating policies to enhance the lives of Australians as they age.
And maybe, thanks to their epic fail, we'll bid farewell to the endless polls.
As politicians so often say, there's only one poll that counts.
Is it too much to hope we'll also see the demise of those annoying "robo-calls" in favour of good old electioneering - pressing the flesh and giving everyone the chance to have a say, like it or lump it.
