Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

It truly is amazing. We had 12 years of inaction from those opposite—they are all leaving the chamber now. When they had an opportunity to act, what did they do? Absolutely nothing. What has the member for McPherson been doing in relation to these issues in the last 10 years? We see that the member for Warringah, the shadow minister, is not here today. We know that is because he is not interested in pensions; he has made that pretty clear. Indeed, we had 12 years of inaction from those opposite across a whole range of issues. It was not just pensions; there was health care. The only thing we had action on was Work Choices. They were the party of Work Choices; that is what they gave us. But when it came to pensions they did nothing.

But the Rudd Labor government is committed to taking decisive action when it comes to assisting pensioners. There is no question at all that many pensioners are doing it tough. We acknowledge that. Many single age pensioners are struggling to meet rising living costs for things such as rent, petrol and food—we certainly know that. But other pensioners are struggling too, including half a million carers and people with a disability, who only have their pension of $281 a week to rely on. In their rush to score political points, the opposition forgot about two million Australian pensioners. They did not care about them. Carers, people with a disability, wife pensioners and pensioner couples will be excluded from the scheme that the Liberals and Nationals have put forward. What about those people? Where do they rate in this scheme? Absolutely nowhere. The plight of around half a million single pensioners and people with a disability, carers and widows in exactly the same financial circumstances as single age pensioners, living on $281 a week, have been totally ignored by the opposition. What are they saying to them? When they go back to their electorates, what are they saying about those two million people who are being completely ignored?

We know that pensioners need some extra help. That is why we increased the utilities allowance to $500 a year and decided to pay the instalments every three months. It is also why, for the first time, we extended it to the disabled and carers. This fortnight, pensioners, age pensioners, carers, disability support pensioners and veterans will receive their third quarterly instalment of $128 to help with their bills. While the opposition has forgotten about carers and people with a disability and has left them behind, this fortnight, because of this new government, they will receive an extra $128.

The government’s position on pensions has always been clear. In opposition, Labor instituted a Senate inquiry into the cost-of-living pressures facing seniors. Indeed, the first recommendation of the bipartisan—

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