Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion by the member for Shortland and note that New South Wales Seniors Week runs from 14 to 22 March, with a focus on older Australians and the enormous contribution they make to our communities. It is of course a very festive occasion, with many areas rightly celebrating with many activities and events. And I acknowledge all those wonderful seniors in my electorate of Richmond who contribute so much to our community.

The theme for New South Wales Seniors Week is 'Be inspired'. It is about encouraging greater effort, enthusiasm, and creativity. Whilst this is a time for celebration, it is also a time that highlights just how much this government has abandoned our seniors—those very people who built our nation with their hard work and commitment. Instead of honouring that commitment, the government is attacking the living standards of our seniors and pensioners. The fact is that since the Liberal-Nationals party's unfair budget last year our seniors have had to deal with many cruel measures, including cuts to pensions, cuts to health services, cuts to aged-care services and cuts to support services for older Australians as well as being told that they will have to work longer, with an increase in the age pension eligibility age from 67 to 70. But probably the cruellest measure is the cuts to the age pensions. At the last election the Prime Minister said there would be no changes to pensions and no cuts to pensions. All his candidates ran around saying, 'No cuts'—and in my area that was all the National Party candidates. Well, they all broke that promise, and that is why the National Party cannot be trusted.

In the last budget we saw the government introduce huge changes in relation to their cuts to pensions. And over the weekend we saw some more changes. What they are saying now is that they want to index the pension by only the consumer price index. The fact is that under Labor the pension was indexed by whichever was the higher of male wages, the consumer price index and the pensioner index, which Labor actually introduced. This was to make sure that pensions kept up with the general standard of living of all Australians.

The government's latest idea is just a mean trick—trying to say to pensioners that they might get a change over three years. It is quite cruel and mean. Labor will not support any cut to pension indexation, because that would in fact leave pensioners worse off. The Australian Council of Social Service has already worked out that if the government gets its way pensioners will be $80 a week worse off over the next decade. Research from ANU shows that the pension would drop from 28 per cent of average weekly earnings today to just 16 per cent by 2055.

In 2009 Labor reviewed the adequacy of the pension and delivered the largest increase in the pension in 100 years. Labor also improved pension indexation with a new pensioner index and increased the wages benchmark for the pension from 25 per cent of male total weekly earnings to 27.7 per cent. The Liberal-Nationals government's cuts will reverse these historic increases, and they risk creating an underclass of pensioners in Australia. There are also many other cruel measures that have really had an impact on our pensioners right throughout the country, and indeed many in my electorate tell me all the time how it has affecting their cost of living. An estimated 500,000 or more seniors across the country will now have a reduction in their pensions due to the lowering of the deeming thresholds. The Seniors Health Card will be harder to qualify for. The government has also slashed federal funding to the states and territories for very important concessions to pensioners and seniors card holders. The government also stripped away the seniors supplement from Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders. It is quite a long list of cruel cuts.

But the pain does not stop there. The government's petrol tax—or the Nationals petrol tax, as we call it—will make it harder for many in regional areas. The Pension Education Supplement and the Housing Help for Seniors program will also be abolished. Local seniors in my area also know that you just cannot trust the National Party when it comes to health care and hospitals. Regardless of what the Prime Minister or health minister have announced, we know that the GP tax will be back. Make no mistake; it is not finished. The Prime Minister has said that he is committed to it, that he remains committed to it. This is all about the Liberal-Nationals party destroying Medicare and destroying bulk-billing, because this is their agenda. Part of their attack includes the $50 billion that will be slashed from hospital funding agreements. Also for our seniors there will be increased costs due to the privatisation of Australian Hearing. We know that is what they intend to do. This will really hurt seniors, as pensioners are Australian Hearing's largest customer group.

Our seniors have every right to feel betrayed by this government, and in regional areas that betrayal is particularly felt by the National Party. The fact is that the Abbott Liberal-Nationals government treats our senior Australians disrespectfully. They treat them like a burden. They continue to relentlessly attack the standard of living of seniors and pensioners by cutting the pension, by slashing services and by increasing taxes. Before the election they promised that there would be no changes to pensions, no changes to health care, no GP tax, no petrol tax. Yet what has happened? That is what we saw. After the election they broke these promises with an unprecedented attack on Australia's pension and healthcare system and the millions of older Australians who rely on it. Every day I hear firsthand from older Australians in my electorate how they are feeling the impact of this government's cruel and unfair cuts.

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