Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a real pleasure for me to speak on this particular motion tonight. It is interesting that about a month ago in this chamber I presented a petition about pensions and a whole range of issues around them. A number of the members have mentioned tonight that we hear every day about the concerns raised by pensioners and for us to debate about this tonight across this chamber is certainly of interest. I think the member for Tangney is well intentioned in his motion but what some of the speakers, certainly on the opposition side, have spoken about tonight does not really get to the heart of what I understand his motion to be. As speakers on this side of the chamber have stated, unfortunately a lot of it is misinformed. A lot of the concern about what this motion is about and what pensioners can and cannot do is not explained.

About two weeks ago there was a whole lot of media coverage around some statements that I made and there was certainly a move by the opposition and others to drive a wedge by saying that I somehow was going against the statements of my own government or Prime Minister. I am here tonight to say that is just not true. If you look at the statements that I made they were very similar to the statements that we are making here tonight about the need to understand and consider pensioners generally.

This particular motion is a very important one when we are talking about those who have the ability to earn further income, particularly those who have got to the stage of being able to retire, take on a pension at 65 and continue to work. The problem is that I do not believe that it goes far enough. Again, my statements of only a couple of weeks ago that led people to suggest that there was some dissension within our government were essentially what we are saying on both sides of this chamber tonight. There is not enough information for us right now to make any definitive statements about what we should or should not do with pensioners. Even in the debate tonight people are coming up with different understandings about this motion and the concerns that pensioners have. I want to speak about a particular pensioner in my electorate who is certainly of a senior age but still has the capacity to work. In South-East Queensland and Queensland generally we have a major skill shortage. There are many people who have appropriate and professional skills and who are able to re-enter the workforce but many of those have come to me and said: ‘The rules around pensions are really tough. We can’t earn more money simply because of the rules.’

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