Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, the other aspect of this matter is that the Prime Minister has constantly refused to rule out cuts to the pension. Labor is committed to ensuring pensioners continue to receive a decent income. We on this side of the House do not believe that pensioners should be targeted by these Abbott government cuts, as I have already mentioned. That is why we were so disappointed and so upset when yesterday in question time the Prime Minister stood here and refused to rule out cuts to the pension. It is also why we were so disappointed when we heard the former leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party John Brogden calling on the Abbott government to cut the pension.

I think that pensioners deserve to know that the income they receive for the pension is safe. They deserve to know that the government will ensure they continue to receive a decent income. The pensioners that I represent in this parliament rely on the government and the significant number of people who are over 65 years of age—that 19.8 per cent of the population in Shortland—rely on the pension. Over 80 per cent of those people in the Shortland electorate receive the pension.

Pensioners are frightened. They feel very vulnerable and the Abbott government is feeding on this vulnerability. I have had pensioner after pensioner ringing my office concerned about the proposals of this government to cut the pension. I give a guarantee to the pensioners of Shortland, and for that matter the pensioners of Australia, that I will fight the Abbott government cuts and make sure that they continue to receive a decent level of income. They have worked hard for Australia in the past and now it is our turn to make sure that they have a decent living.

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