Sharryn Jackson (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to congratulate the Rudd government, especially the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, for the pension reforms that will take effect from next week. Australia’s 3.3 million pensioners, disability pensioners, carers, wife pensioners and veteran income support recipients will benefit from increases in their pension payment. The 16,622 pensioners in my electorate of Hasluck are included in that number.

The Australian pension is 100 years old this year. When it was introduced, 65,500 people were eligible for it and it was the princely sum of 10 shillings a week. The average life expectancy at the time was close to 65 years of age. Frankly, it was a safety net introduced by a Labor government, and people were not expected to claim it for very long. Nowadays, there are over 3 million eligible pensioners, and the average life expectancy for men is 82 years of age and for women is 86 years of age. There has also been valid criticism that it is tough to live on the pension, a fact that my age pension parents, Fred and Val Jackson, do not hesitate to remind me of on a regular basis, and I am sure they have brought it to the attention of their local member, the honourable member for Cowan. I have to say it is especially tough for single pensioners.

Pension reform was required. These reforms are long overdue. Last year, the Rudd government initiated a significant review, the Harmer review, into the adequacy of our hundred-year-old pension system. The review found that the single rate pension was inadequate and that the ratio of full rate payments between single and couple pensioners needed to be lifted from 60 per cent to between 64 and 67 per cent. Even in these difficult global financial circumstances, the Rudd government is responding to these concerns and to those findings. The government is providing a significant increase—$65.00 per fortnight for full rate single age, disability and carer pensioners and $20.30 per fortnight for full rate couple pensioners combined. This lifts the proportion of the couple pension going to single pensioners to 66.33 per cent. To ensure the pension remains at adequate levels, the government has also legislated a new benchmark of 27.7 per cent of male average weekly earnings for singles—up from 25 per cent—as well as implementing an additional cost of living measure to ensure a more appropriate indexation of pensions for the future.

Every Australian knows that one day they may need to rely on a pension. A strong safety net is needed now and into the future. The global recession highlights the importance of this. We are also faced with an ageing population—a demographic change I find reassuring, personally. That demographic change means that the costs of pensions today will double as a share of GDP by 2050. To ensure the pension continues to provide a strong safety net and remains sustainable, the government is making reforms now, including gradually lifting the age pension qualifying age from 65 to 67 from 2017 and increasing the income taper test from 40 per cent to 50 per cent. Both these reforms reflect the Harmer report’s findings.

Prior to the current sitting fortnight, I had the pleasure of hosting over 900 seniors at four separate seminars in my electorate where we offered information on the changes to the pension. I was ably assisted in this task by a team of very competent Centrelink officers, in particular Hillary Godde, Rod Sinclair and Annette Sinclair. I should say I was also ably assisted by my staff. I want to record my appreciation for their professional and entertaining presentation, especially Hillary, and their willingness to stay behind and answer many individual questions. I expect a lot of additional work was generated for them to follow up. My office received terrific feedback about the information sessions. Many of the participants expressed their appreciation for the information supplied. My office was overwhelmed at the large response from constituents to the forums. We had to turn hundreds away when our venues reached capacity. We encouraged them to attend the information sessions conducted by Centrelink.

The reform package improves the adequacy of the pension system, makes its operation simpler and more responsive to pensioner needs and secures its long-term sustainability. (Time expired)