Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am proud to be part of a government that values the contributions of senior Australians to our country. There is no doubt that we live in the best country in the world. It is a fantastic country. People from all over the world want to come and live here. Part of that is what senior Australians have left us. For many generations before us and the current generation of seniors who are self-funded retirees and pensioners, their work, their contribution through volunteering and their involvement in the community have made Australia the great country that it is. The Turnbull government recognises that, and I am proud to be part of a government that does.

I am also be proud to be part of a government that backs the families of those seniors. The government recognises and is working to make sure that they get the most out of every dollar that they earn. I am proud to be part of a government that supports the vulnerable and casts a secure net under Australians who find themselves falling on hard times. I am proud to be part of a government that has enormous respect for our veterans, those who have been prepared to pay with their lives so that we all may be free.

I am particularly proud to be able to rise to speak today on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Energy Assistance Payment and Pensioner Concession Card) Bill 2017. That is because the bill provides a one-off energy assistance payment to recipients of the age pension, the disability support pension, the parenting payment single and certain veterans' payments. Approximately 3.8 million people will benefit, which is great news. In addition to providing energy assistance payments, the bill will provide a pensioner concession card to former social security pensioners and receivers of veterans' payments cancelled with the rebalancing of the pension assets test by Social Services Legislation Amendment Act 2015. This is important because the coalition has been listening to people in their electorates, and that is why this card is being restored. As a result of losing their concession card, former pensioners also lost access to hearing services from the Department of Health as well as access to some state and local government and private enterprise concessions outside the Commonwealth jurisdiction. It could have been Brisbane City Council rates or Moreton Bay Regional Council rates, or it might have been car registration. So this change to restore the card and this one-off energy supplement are very important. I am proud to say that we are listening to the people in our electorates, as is the minister, and I very much support this bill.

But I have to say that this amendment from Labor is a bit rich, particularly coming from the member for Jagajaga. Australians know that Labor cannot be trusted with energy prices. Labor cannot be trusted when it comes to balancing the budget, and they flip-flop on all sorts of different issues, which I would just like to highlight.

We will hear the member for Jagajaga come in and sum up in a minute and talk about how terrible we are, but you know what? The people in my electorate know that the member for Jagajaga brought in the world's largest carbon tax, which I was elected under in 2013 and we said we would scrap. They also know that the members for Moreton, Whitlam, Eden-Monaro and Fowler also voted for that carbon tax. They all voted for it, every one of them sitting over there that get up and speak on this bill. The words that come out of their mouths in relation to energy prices are absolutely hypocritical. They brought in the biggest carbon tax on the back of their Prime Minister Gillard at the time saying, 'There will be no carbon tax under any government that I lead.'

Do you think Australians have forgotten that? I do not think so. Not in my electorate, because every pensioner that went down to the RSL for a meal got hit with the carbon tax. Refrigeration prices, gas prices, all of this that the poor old RSL had to pay, and at the local pub where they went for a counter meal, the pensioners got hit with, and hit with hard. They were hit really hard. I remember the Bracken Ridge Tavern in my electorate in 2013 telling me that they had a bloody carbon tax bill—excuse me, Mr Deputy Speaker, I withdraw that comment—of $120,000 a year. And do you think that is not passed on to pensioners when they go down to eat? They want to talk about a supplement, a lousy 365 bucks a year that they gave, because people's electricity bills went up by 50 per cent. So their home electricity bill went through the roof, they got hit with it down at the local pub as well, or the RSL, for a counter meal. And, somehow, they are sticking up for pensioners? Australians have not forgotten. We will keep reminding them, no doubt about that.

We also have Labor's ridiculous renewable energy policy of 50 per cent by 2030, where we are seeing a rush to renewables. It is so much so that in states like South Australia they are having problems with supply. If you get onto the NEM—the National Electricity Market—you will see that often South Australia is paying a lot more than other states, like Queensland, when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining. Once again, that is a Labor policy. And it is not only federal Labor policy. The Palaszczuk government in Queensland, as you know, Mr Deputy Speaker Vasta, has the same policy. It is going to see energy costs skyrocket even more.

So we will not take lectures from those opposite and the member for Jagajaga when it comes to electricity prices. The Labor Party flip-flops on so many different items, including under the leadership of Bill Shorten. That man cannot be trusted with the prime ministership of this country. When you look at what he says in relation to the NDIS, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which needs to be properly funded, one minute he thinks it is great to raise the Medicare levy and then he says he is going to vote against it! Now he says he is going to vote against it!

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