Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hate to say it at the outset, but it would be highly unlikely that I would agree with the entirety of the motion. But I do concur with the member who proposed the motion in relation to her comments about older Australians and the wonderful contribution they make to our communities. Certainly, we can all support the desire for them to live in dignity.

However, it was interesting to listen for a minute to the contribution from the member for Charlton and the litany he carried on with. The member for Charlton was not in this House during the previous government, and, as usual for those opposite, he has failed to acknowledge the failures of the previous government that have led the budget to be in the parlous situation that it is, and it is interesting to reflect on the fact that his now backbench colleague, the member for Lilley, made the promise some 500-odd times over the six years of the previous government that they would achieve a budget surplus. That never, ever, occurred.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

It is good to see my good friend the member for Moreton, at the table, contributing to this debate in his usual constructive manner!

I would like to reflect on some of the wonderful contributions that seniors make in my community of Forde. As other members have already touched on, they volunteer and are the key reason that our service clubs still survive and operate today—service clubs like the Twin Rivers Lions Club, the Ormeau Lions Club, the Rotary Club of Beenleigh, the Rotary Club of Loganholme and many other wonderful community organisations.

We also take the opportunity to regularly go and meet with our seniors and speak to them at various events—not just at our annual seniors forum. We also put on morning teas for our seniors at our various retirement villages. That is a good opportunity to go and speak with our seniors face to face, and talk to them about their concerns.

It is interesting to listen to the member for Charlton's comments around pension cuts, but what he fails to articulate is that the pension rises during the past 12 months—namely, March and September last year—were all based on CPI. I wonder if the member for Charlton would care to explain why those pension increases were based on CPI? But they do not have the intellectual honesty on that side of the chamber to acknowledge the fact that the increases were based on CPI, because the rate of wages growth over that period has fallen to below the rate of CPI. Therefore, CPI is now providing the highest level of pension increase. I would suggest that the increase due in the next week or so may also be linked to CPI rather than wages growth. So, in effect, CPI increases to pensions are benefiting pensioners, at this point in time, over and above wages growth. I think that is a very important aspect of this discussion.

We, as a government, recognise the invaluable contribution of older Australians to our economy and to the growth of this country over the last 50, 60, 70 years—because Australia would not be what it is today without their contributions. But we also need to recognise that Australians are living healthier and longer lives than ever before, and this provides us with some challenges in terms of an ageing population and this change in our demographic. Part of our discussion about this challenge should be with the business community. How do we encourage the business community to engage with older Australians who are still more than capable of working and have tremendous knowledge and skills, particularly in mentoring for younger employers? How do we encourage businesses to include those people in their workforces and allow them to contribute those wonderful skills and talents that they have accumulated from a lifetime of working?

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