To my mind, the Amex Platinum Edge is the best card - if she knows she can make use of the $200 Travel Credit every year (providing she joins the Ascent scheme that is, which means Velocity points for local travel) - and she will get 3 points a dollar at many Supermarkets, and their associated liquor shops (excluding Coles Liquorland), and 2 points a dollar for petrol. And, if she doesn't have too many serious pre-existing conditions, she can use this card to get complimentary worldwide travel insurance (but if she has too many pre-existing conditions, she won't be covered by this card).
If going the Velocity point route, the Velocity membership debit Mastercard costs nothing, but will then earn lots of half points a dollar - providing one remembers to keep topping it up. Same story for Qantas cash.
Otherwise, if she wants a credit card that earns points - knowing that bills will be paid for phone, water health insurance etc, and not having to worry about debit cards being topped up - then the Jetstar card is one of the cheapest at $69 a year, and earns half a point a dollar. Only problem is that it earns Qantas points, and the Amex Edge card earns Velocity points (if one wants the Travel Credit).
Of course, if she wants to travel, she has to now get the free 28 degree Mastercard for using credit when overseas, and the free Citibank Plus account with Debit card for getting money out of ATMs overseas, as both cards don't have foreign exchange fees.
Regards,
Renato
P.S. However, if she still has some time before retiring, she should be going for one of the two Amex cards with the 100,000 Qantas points on offer (one costs $395 with $400 travel credit, the other $450 with $450 Travel credit) and cancelling it before retiring and then switching to the Platinum Edge card. It's a shame those more expensive cards aren't as good point earners at supermarkets, as the Edge card.
