Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

But those on the other side who are actually literate—and I count the member for Hindmarsh among them, just—understand the question of male total average weekly earnings versus CPI and the impact the changes to indexation will have on the growth in pensions over time. We will see a cut in the value of the pension compared to what it was going to be in time, as a result of those changes to indexation.

If we go back, the last change was the first one in more than 10 years where CPI was the actual headline figure that came into effect. The bottom line is: their own budget papers make it absolutely clear that hundreds of millions of dollars have been cut from the forward estimates with respect to pension expenditure in the out years. There is absolutely no doubt about that. The estimations, if we go on previous movements with respect to MTAWE versus CPI, are quite devastating to pensioners in this country. If this indexation system had been in place for the last four years, a single pensioner on the maximum rate of pension would be more than $1,500 worse off every year. This gap would continue to increase every six months. That is what is going to happen.

I want to highlight a particular issue in relation to the veterans community in this space. Just a few weeks ago, the parliament passed legislation for 'fair indexation' of some military pensions, DFRDB and DFRB. I note at least one former shadow minister here in the chamber, and I know that she understands what I am talking about here. Many on the other side of the aisle carried on about the fact that this was a matter of justice, a matter of fairness, a matter of equity, ensuring that there was a fair indexation system which maximised the value of the payments to those who had served our country. It was a long debate. There was a lot of discussion about it. There was quite a bit of disagreement. There were times when the other side refused to do it and there were certainly times when we did. But at the end of the day they did it. Some on the other side of the chamber carried on about the fact that this was about fairness and equity, and it became an attack on us.

The interesting thing now is, when you implement this budget in full, and the changes that are outlined in it—understand this, members of the government—you will have about 56,000 people who are DFRDB and DFRB pensioners who are being indexed to MTAWE versus CPI, who have what you said was a fair indexation system, and you will have hundreds of thousands of pensioners who are on CPI. Not only that; you will have hundreds of thousands of war veterans and widows on CPI. You are going to improve the indexation for their superannuation payment, the top-up payment, for some of them, while at the same time taking money off the very people you are giving that to. You will be giving TPIs a bigger cut in what their payments would have been, on the basis of that indexation change. You will be cutting service pensioners to a very similar level.

In those circumstances, I want to see how you justify that out there in the veterans community. I want to see how you justify that out there amongst the people who gave so much for this nation. When you do, I want you to make sure you tell DFRDB and DFRB pensioners: 'It's okay. We changed everybody else, but we won't change you. You're okay. We gave a guarantee.' Well, you did not give a guarantee to everybody else. You did not give a guarantee to them, and now you have changed it. You now have a massive contradiction with respect to what you said was fair just a matter of days ago and what you are now threatening to implement for everyone else, every other senior in this country, including many who have grievously suffered as a result of their wounds.

I look forward to that debate occurring out there in the veterans community and in the wider community around superannuants and around those in the age pension sector, because you have created a problem for this country, a problem for those people who rely on those benefits to maintain their standard of living. It is a problem which will haunt you from now on until well beyond the next election.

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