Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

It is our policy—I note the interjection from the member for Jagajaga—because it is an official government document. You only have to look it up. It is right there in the intergenerational report.

The question for those opposite is this: how are you going to fund your policy to stay on a pension trajectory that will in the long run ensure that the pension runs off the edge of a cliff? What we have from those opposite is complete unfunded empathy. They will go around and they will scare pensioners and will empathise with every single problem in the country and not put forward one solution as to how you address them. That is a cruel thing to do, particularly to pensioners. It is a cruel thing to say that their pensions are going down when they are actually going up. It is a cruel thing to do to future generations who rely on the pension to say, 'You can just keep going on your merry way, you do not have to make any changes and the pension will be there for those in the future.' Well it will not be. If you do not embrace sustainable policies for the pension and for other measures then you will find yourself in a very difficult situation.

In government they understood that, perhaps. I am referring to comments by Senator Evans, the former Leader of the Government in the Senate. He did not make much sense when he was talking about immigration, but perhaps he was making a bit more sense when he was talking about the pension, when there was a proposal from those on this side, when we were in opposition, to increase the pension, which I note and acknowledge that the government ultimately took up when they increased the pension. They ultimately caught up and got there. But this is what they said about the proposal at the time:

I know that this proposition is disarmingly attractive—

that is to increase the pension—

… it is very easy for minors and Independents to argue. They do not have to balance the budget.

He said:

It is a really easy headline.

Today it is a four-word slogan that they have turned into a website—and they talk about four-word slogans. This government has three word achievements: we did stop the boats, we did abolish the carbon tax, we did get rid of the mining tax and we have been dealing with Labor's deficit and debt disaster, which was left by the fiscal arsonists opposite. He also said:

It is really easy to get a clap at a pensioner meeting, but that is no substitute for the serious work of this parliament and the serious work of government in public policy.

So what we see now is an opposition that when in government was prepared to make an argument like that. When invited, in opposition, to a serious discussion about how we make sure that the safety net that generations of Australians have received from those who went before us, that those who sit in this parliament now, at least on the government benches, want to make sure is there in the future, they do not want to be part of the debate. They simply want to allow our safety net to wither while they go around in a populist dance with pensioners all around the country, seeking to frighten them. Scaring the pensioners is not a policy; it is just populist nonsense from an opposition that has completely lost its way.

This government will continue to increase pensions and will do the right thing by pensioners, today and tomorrow.

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