Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in the Main Committee today out of concern for those people in the community who have a disability or are on a pension or who are a carer for someone with a health problem or disability. I would also like to talk about a chap in my electorate who is raising and caring for his three sons who suffer from autism. The gentleman himself is receiving a disability pension. His sons are aged between 14 and 20. Some years ago his doctor advised him to take his sons from the city to live in the country to improve their quality of life and to raise them in a less stressful environment. He sold his home in Brisbane and moved to a rural community north of Bundaberg.

The proceeds from the sale of his Brisbane home amounted to $400,000. He paid $350,000 cash for farmland that allowed him to generate a small income by raising a family of pigs and a few cattle. Most of the remaining $50,000 was consumed by stamp duty and other costs associated with buying the property. He built a modest shed that has only three walls, with a tarp making up the fourth wall. The shed has a dirt floor. He generates his own electricity because the power authorities demanded an excessive fee to connect the power. His diesel generator runs eight hours a day on chicken fat that he buys from a local takeaway chicken shop; this way he is able to keep his fuel costs for his truck and generator to $12 per month. His property was recently flood affected and he lost one-third of his cattle, swept away in the floodwaters. He applied for flood relief but, because that little corner of the electorate where he lives was not declared, his claim was rejected.

He is not looking for a handout or compensation; he simply wants to borrow about $40,000 from a bank or a lending institution to install a solar electricity system to lessen the time he has to use his generator and to make some improvements to his less than acceptable living quarters. The really crazy part about this is that he had satisfied all the conditions for the old solar grant but, because he has no cash and cannot borrow, he cannot get the subsidy. Under the ruling of the national consumer credit code, which was updated as a result of the global financial crisis by the Rudd government and supported by the coalition, pensioners and people on disability assistance are finding it impossible to borrow money.

The chap I am representing here today is a thoroughly decent man with good intentions. He actually wants to save the taxpayers money by ensuring that his sons are raised with a good work ethic and skills given to them on the farm. He has set up a trust to ensure that, when he passes, his sons will each inherit a third of the land and, therefore, be independent and able to make a small living. Because of their disability, they are unable to handle the stress of being crowded by other people and it makes sense that they be able to stay in this environment that assists their quality of life.

This case is not an isolated one. My office has received many calls from people on pensions who are now not able to borrow because of this new ruling imposed by the national consumer credit code. There is something fundamentally wrong here with rulings in legislation that discriminate against battling Australians, and I ask the parliament do something to correct this imbalance. What is wrong with the federal government assisting by providing the necessary guarantees for pensioners and people with disabilities so they can obtain loans to improve their position and take pressure off them at times of great stress?

I implore the government to work with me to address this unfair situation and to give these people back their dignity. They have contributed to Australian growth and prosperity and it is time for us to give them a fair go.