Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Senator Evans) and the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) to questions without notice asked by Senators Bernardi and Coonan today relating to Indigenous affairs in the Northern Territory and to the proposed luxury car tax.

Senators heard today unequivocally that the Labor Party intends to dud pensioners. It seems that those on the other side of the chamber are in complete denial about what the leaders of the Labor Party are saying and the reality of the difficulties that are facing pensioners as we speak. The Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, said that he could not live on the single pension of $546.80 per fortnight. He would rather study the problem and not fix it. The Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Julia Gillard, says the same thing. So does the Treasurer, Mr Swan, and the finance minister, Lindsay Tanner. If they were honest, I am sure that the whole of cabinet—on their ministerial salaries—would agree that they could not live on the single pension of a measly $273 a week. This is a national disgrace and the Labor Party knows it. Payment of course will be adjusted for inflation on 20 September, but the Rudd Labor government has no plans to deliver any additional money until—wait for it—it has not one, but two reviews: first of all the Harmer review, which is not due until February, and then all of those results are to be swept into the Henry review, which is not due to report until the end of 2009. So effectively that is two years before pensioners can expect to see any serious adjustment in their base rate.

We have to ask: why this delay on the part of the Labor government when everyone knows pensioners need action now. The families and community services minister, Jenny Macklin, says, ‘Yes, we want to get pensions right and that’s why we haven’t moved immediately.’ What that means is the government want to wait until all of these reviews feed through, but there is nothing to help pensioners in the meantime. This argument by the government that they have to wait to get things right is totally threadbare. The evidence for that is that the government had absolutely no problem, no difficulty at all, proposing an increase in the luxury car tax before finalisation of the Bracks review of the automotive industry and the Henry review of taxation. We heard Senator Conroy’s pitiful attempt—not an attempt, but a pitiful attempt—to deal with the delay that the Bracks review involved before the automotive industry and Henry review of taxation came down. The same applies with the introduction of the solar panel rebate ahead of the climate change review. It is absolute nonsense that the government need to wait until they get the results of the Henry review before they can move on pensions.

So when it is a tax grab, this Rudd Labor government has no need to wait for an inquiry, no need at all to wait before imposing imposts on the car industry—no need to get that right—No need to even let voters in on the secret that they would be slugged a surcharge to buy a medium-priced Australian vehicle. When it comes to pensions, however, it is a very different story. We now know that in May the Rudd government considered an 83-page set of fully costed proposals prior to the budget with a number of options. And guess what happened? Yes, pensioners were dudded once again, passed over once again. Somehow or other it is not time to act when it comes to looking after pensioners, the most vulnerable people in our community, but there is no problem at all in slugging the Australian car industry with the luxury car tax, putting up prices on Australian vehicles and imposing an increased threshold on solar panels until there is a further review. So this business about waiting until there is a review is absolute nonsense and Australian pensioners need to hold Labor to account. (Time expired)