Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know that Senator Bilyk would love me to talk about GST distribution reform, but I will not. I will stick to the issue of pension cuts. So let's have a look at pension cuts. Pensions have increased several times under this government already, and, as a result of what Minister Morrison and the Prime Minister have recently announced, 170,000 pensioners will have a pension that is higher by around $30 a fortnight—and that includes 50,000 pensioners who will move on to a full pension. The Labor Party are running around saying this is a cut. It just does not measure up—another inconvenient truth for the Australian Labor Party.

Now, I am not here to assist the Australian Labor Party, but I might just take this brief opportunity in the time remaining to me to offer some words of caution. Less than a week ago we saw a stark example of what happens when one political party pursues a range of difficult but necessary policies to get the nation's fiscal situation back on a sustainable path while the other runs a national complaints bureau, indulges in class warfare and fails to acknowledge the folly of its own irresponsible spending while in office. I predict that the Prime Minister will be more like David Cameron, and Bill Shorten will be more like Ed Miliband. That is the inconvenient truth for the Australian Labor Party. Let's see the big ideas. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.