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

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) 14 to 22 March is New South Wales Seniors Week, a week that acknowledges their contribution to the community;

(b) older Australians make an enormous contribution to our communities;

(c) all older Australians deserve to live in dignity; and

(d) the Government is attacking the standard of living of seniors and pensioners by undermining the pension, benefits to seniors, Medicare and support services for older Australians; and

(2) calls on the Government to reverse its anti-seniors ageist approach to government and service delivery.

This is New South Wales Seniors Week. It is the largest festival in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is an opportunity to say thank you to seniors for the many and varied roles they play in our communities across New South Wales, both past and present. The contribution of seniors is enormous, and quite often it flies under the radar. Listening to the Abbott government, and in particular to the Treasurer, Australians could be forgiven for thinking that pensioners were nothing more than a burden, responsible for an enormous budget expenditure and, in fact, a major contributor to the budget deficit. This is a short-sighted, erroneous and quite fallacious proposition that has been put forward by the Abbott government. All the Abbott government can do is look at one side of the equation—the side that says this is how much money we spend on pensions, this is how much money we spend on health—instead of looking at the whole picture and understanding and recognising that seniors' contribution to our society is very varied.

They contribute in many ways, including volunteerism and child care. We have a situation in Australia where the cost of child care and availability of child care is being constantly debated, and seniors make an enormous contribution in providing child care. Rather than being a negative for the economy, seniors contribute in many and varied ways such as the grey nomads and travel. Their lifestyle generates income for the economy. They have enormous knowledge, and that knowledge they share with those around them. The arts and their contribution in that area is many and varied. These are just a couple of samples that I have added to this debate.

Unfortunately, Prime Minister Abbott and Treasurer Hockey seem unable to recognise this. Instead, they continue to promote negative stereotypes of senior Australians, equating ageing with sickness, disability and dementia. Two out of three people over the age of 65 have excellent health and lead a very active lifestyle. It is a myth that they are a burden on our society. Eighty per cent of people over 70 live independently and care for themselves. It is a myth that an ageing population is a looming crisis. People are living longer and enjoying life more. None of this is put forward by the Abbott government.

Instead, what they do is wage an attack on senior Australians. All you need to do is go to last year's budget to understand the contempt they have for seniors and pensioners in Australia. The PBS increased the price of medications, and then there is their GP tax—or what they like to call a Medicare surcharge. I held a rally in my electorate and I had people 90 years of age coming out and opposing the GP tax. Finally, kicking and screaming, they have put it on hold for a while. Increasing the eligibility for pensioners to 70 years of age is fine if you have got a white collar job. But if you are out there working as a labourer each and every day, putting your body on the line, it is going to be absolutely catastrophic. By changing the way the pension is indexed, pensioners will receive less money. There is a plan to cut the seniors supplement. Thankfully, the Senate has not passed that. But, once again, it is an attack on seniors by the Abbott government. Centrelink is anything but user friendly for our pensioners and seniors that visit there. There are cuts to organisations supporting seniors, and in New South Wales the privatisation of electricity will increase the cost of electricity. It will also mean less dollars for services for Seniors Australia, and the Baird government's opposition to the price cut of electricity is on the record.

My message to senior Australians that are celebrating Seniors Week this week is that you know you have the support of us in the opposition. You know that we value each of you and everything that you do. We know that you make a valuable contribution to not only New South Wales but Australia, unlike those on the other side of this House who do not value your contributions.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Gilmore has many seniors, who I refer to as the wise ones in our region. It is their wisdom, their selflessness and their impact on the social and economic wellbeing of our community that we value the most. They are an important part of the CWA, the Men's Sheds, the workers at Vinnies, the team who volunteer for Meals on Wheels and the members of Rotary and Lions. Many of these people would be termed 'seniors' by younger whippersnappers, but none sees themselves as old. We recognise they are a major asset. You need only look at the website for NSW Seniors Week to see the change in attitude to those who used to be the 'old ones' in our community There it is, heading the web: 'Be inspired, be active'—accompanied by photos of a dancing couple and a bushwalker ready to hike. There are invitations to start canoeing, to learn to ride a trike, to have a weekend in Jindabyne and to take part in other more traditional activities such as trivia nights and safe scooter travel.

Way back in biblical times, getting to the ripe old age of three score years and 10—for the whippersnappers, a score of years is 20 years—was almost a miracle; you were viewed as a 'venerable elder'. But that is not so much the case now. If you were to call someone in their 70s a venerable elder now, they would most likely chase you around the golf course or chuck you in the surf! Times have changed. In the township of Milton we have a resident named Mrs Maisie Evans who lives independently in her own residence. The Illawarra Retirement Trust helps her with chores and shopping. In January the remarkable Maisie reached her 103rd birthday. This year about 4,000 people in Australia will turn 100. In 2025 there will be about 10,000 people turning 100. And 40 years from now there are likely to be 40,000 celebrating their 100th birthday. Every single one of them deserves to live with dignity.

It is all very well for Labor to squawk about changing the pension age from 67 to 70, but who introduced 67 years as the age eligibility in the first place? Labor did. One could ask: why did they do that? If they were being honest instead of political, they know that in 10 to 20 years time it is unlikely that our great pension system will be available. There simply will not be any money left on the money tree—because we have borrowed too much already. We absolutely must have money set aside. We must stop the increasing flow of debt growth if we are going to help our pensioners of the future. The pensioners of the future have the right to expect us to take care of their senior years, as do the pensioners of today. It is our responsibility to make sure they all live with the dignity they so rightly deserve.

The Labor party overspent in their time of government, causing grief and financial discomfort not only for the pensioners of today but also for the pensioners of tomorrow, next week and 40 years from now. Why? I ask them sincerely: is being in government such a critical ambition that you would compromise the financial dignity of our fellow Australians? It is about time the previous government actually put their politics aside and worked for the dignity of not just our wonderful seniors but all those who need income support. In 2015, only 4.5 out of every 10 persons aged between 15 and 64 years are working; in 2055, only 2.7 out of every 10 persons aged between 15 and 64 years will be working. Do the maths! This is completely unsustainable. The current investment in the age pension is approximately $42 billion; in 2017-18 we will need to invest almost $50 billion. We are living healthier and longer; three score years and 10 is no longer considered to be old.

The coalition government is keeping the commitment not to change pensions. There are proposed changes but they will not come into effect until after the next election; and these changes may need to be modified, as has been indicated in recent discussions with Minister Morrison. Also, there is a possibility that pensions may be reviewed every three years so that an appropriate safety net is kept. Frankly I despise the untruths that are being peddled. The pension will continue to rise every six months as it always has done. We kept the much needed energy supplement, originally paid as compensation for damage done by the electricity hike of the carbon tax. We have reduced out-of-hospital medical expenses by lowering the Medicare safety net threshold. These all add to extra money for our pensioners; and it is not borrowed, so we will not have a million dollar daily debt to pay back.

Last Tuesday I spoke to the Association of Independent Retirees. They understand the need for debt reduction. They have worked incredibly hard throughout their working life and are now active and vital members of our community. We really do value our older citizens. With the Restart Wage Subsidy, we are trying to encourage them to stay in the workforce. We look after our older people. We have a duty to make sure we provide for them all. (Time expired)

Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am proud to speak on this motion about National Seniors Week and honouring the contribution of seniors. I will start by making a simple point about the contribution from the member for Gilmore: we on this side support the pension; those on the other side would rather give tax cuts to multinational corporations than support the pension, and that is demonstrated by their motions in this parliament. I will get onto broken promises later. First, I want to honour the contribution of seniors in Australia and in my area in particular. In the seat of Charlton 22,000 people are over the age of 65. That is 17.1 per cent of the population, which ranks us 30th highest in the country. I am proud of the fact that so many people over the age of 65 choose to live in the seat of Charlton.

I see this when I run my regular seniors expos, which are really well attended. The most interesting thing about these seniors expos is the volunteerism demonstrated by the seniors themselves. They organise and staff the stalls that are a key part of the expo—people from the University of the Third Age, from Men's Sheds, from the great institution of the Toronto Croquet Club, from the Lions Club, from Alzheimer's Australia, from the Westlakes Seniors Computer Club and from Meals on Wheels. All of these great stalls are staffed by people aged over 65 and predominantly provide services to seniors. That is a great achievement and it is something I am intensely proud of in my area. I am also intensely proud that the member for Shortland moved this motion. She has a similar population in her electorate. The members for Richmond and Newcastle will be speaking later, and they are all very proud of seniors and support them greatly.

The truth is that, while those on this side support seniors greatly, the government does not. The government, through broken promises and untruths and fictions, is attacking seniors as we speak. The member for Gilmore said the 'no changes to pensions' promise is not a broken promise because the changes do not come in until 2017. Well, first off, she is factually incorrect. We have already seen a massive cut in concession payments from the federal government—a $1.4 billion cut in concession cuts to pensioners has already started.

In some states we have seen a short-term commitment to bridge the gap, but I have very serious reservations about whether that will continue. We have seen cuts to the pensioner education supplement. We have seen the abolition of the seniors supplement. We have seen cuts to the deeming threshold. We have seen an increase to the pension age. Most of these—the ones that pertain to pensioners—are a direct broken promise of the infamous statement by Mr Abbott, made before the last election, that there would be no cut to the pension. And the greatest crime of all is the change in pension indexation. A change that, according to the independent Parliamentary Budget Office, will result in a $23 billion cut to pension payments in this country. Let me repeat that: a $23 billion cut. Those on the other side can say that it is a change in the indexation. They can edge around it, but if it is booked into the budget over the future years as a $23 billion cut, then it is a cut. To put this in context, if this change in indexation had occurred four years ago this would have resulted in the pension now being $1,500 lower than it is today—a significant impact on pensioners.

But pensioners, and seniors more broadly, are not just concerned about the impact on themselves. They are concerned about the impact on their kids and their grandkids. I have many seniors coming up to me and talking about the higher education reforms, which they are afraid will stop their grandkids going to uni. They are worried about the $30 billion cuts to schools, which mean that their grandkids and great grandkids cannot get the best start in life. They are worried about the $50 billion cuts to hospitals, which are already having an impact in my area, where we have the John Hunter Hospital. It is of great concern to seniors, not just when they present themselves to the emergency ward but when their kids do. Seniors are very concerned about jobs. They are concerned about the ability of their families—their kids and grandkids—to find well-paying jobs in the economy.

I stand up here proudly, like everyone on this side, honouring the contribution of seniors. I honour their volunteerism. I honour their decades of contribution to Australian society. I call on the government, I call on those opposite, to stop just talking and to match their rhetoric with real action and reverse their changes to the pension; reverse their changes to the seniors supplement; reverse their changes to higher education; reverse their changes to Newstart; and reverse their $80 billion cuts to schools and education. That is the best way they can honour the seniors of this country.

Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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?

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion by the member for Shortland and note that New South Wales Seniors Week runs from 14 to 22 March, with a focus on older Australians and the enormous contribution they make to our communities. It is of course a very festive occasion, with many areas rightly celebrating with many activities and events. And I acknowledge all those wonderful seniors in my electorate of Richmond who contribute so much to our community.

The theme for New South Wales Seniors Week is 'Be inspired'. It is about encouraging greater effort, enthusiasm, and creativity. Whilst this is a time for celebration, it is also a time that highlights just how much this government has abandoned our seniors—those very people who built our nation with their hard work and commitment. Instead of honouring that commitment, the government is attacking the living standards of our seniors and pensioners. The fact is that since the Liberal-Nationals party's unfair budget last year our seniors have had to deal with many cruel measures, including cuts to pensions, cuts to health services, cuts to aged-care services and cuts to support services for older Australians as well as being told that they will have to work longer, with an increase in the age pension eligibility age from 67 to 70. But probably the cruellest measure is the cuts to the age pensions. At the last election the Prime Minister said there would be no changes to pensions and no cuts to pensions. All his candidates ran around saying, 'No cuts'—and in my area that was all the National Party candidates. Well, they all broke that promise, and that is why the National Party cannot be trusted.

In the last budget we saw the government introduce huge changes in relation to their cuts to pensions. And over the weekend we saw some more changes. What they are saying now is that they want to index the pension by only the consumer price index. The fact is that under Labor the pension was indexed by whichever was the higher of male wages, the consumer price index and the pensioner index, which Labor actually introduced. This was to make sure that pensions kept up with the general standard of living of all Australians.

The government's latest idea is just a mean trick—trying to say to pensioners that they might get a change over three years. It is quite cruel and mean. Labor will not support any cut to pension indexation, because that would in fact leave pensioners worse off. The Australian Council of Social Service has already worked out that if the government gets its way pensioners will be $80 a week worse off over the next decade. Research from ANU shows that the pension would drop from 28 per cent of average weekly earnings today to just 16 per cent by 2055.

In 2009 Labor reviewed the adequacy of the pension and delivered the largest increase in the pension in 100 years. Labor also improved pension indexation with a new pensioner index and increased the wages benchmark for the pension from 25 per cent of male total weekly earnings to 27.7 per cent. The Liberal-Nationals government's cuts will reverse these historic increases, and they risk creating an underclass of pensioners in Australia. There are also many other cruel measures that have really had an impact on our pensioners right throughout the country, and indeed many in my electorate tell me all the time how it has affecting their cost of living. An estimated 500,000 or more seniors across the country will now have a reduction in their pensions due to the lowering of the deeming thresholds. The Seniors Health Card will be harder to qualify for. The government has also slashed federal funding to the states and territories for very important concessions to pensioners and seniors card holders. The government also stripped away the seniors supplement from Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders. It is quite a long list of cruel cuts.

But the pain does not stop there. The government's petrol tax—or the Nationals petrol tax, as we call it—will make it harder for many in regional areas. The Pension Education Supplement and the Housing Help for Seniors program will also be abolished. Local seniors in my area also know that you just cannot trust the National Party when it comes to health care and hospitals. Regardless of what the Prime Minister or health minister have announced, we know that the GP tax will be back. Make no mistake; it is not finished. The Prime Minister has said that he is committed to it, that he remains committed to it. This is all about the Liberal-Nationals party destroying Medicare and destroying bulk-billing, because this is their agenda. Part of their attack includes the $50 billion that will be slashed from hospital funding agreements. Also for our seniors there will be increased costs due to the privatisation of Australian Hearing. We know that is what they intend to do. This will really hurt seniors, as pensioners are Australian Hearing's largest customer group.

Our seniors have every right to feel betrayed by this government, and in regional areas that betrayal is particularly felt by the National Party. The fact is that the Abbott Liberal-Nationals government treats our senior Australians disrespectfully. They treat them like a burden. They continue to relentlessly attack the standard of living of seniors and pensioners by cutting the pension, by slashing services and by increasing taxes. Before the election they promised that there would be no changes to pensions, no changes to health care, no GP tax, no petrol tax. Yet what has happened? That is what we saw. After the election they broke these promises with an unprecedented attack on Australia's pension and healthcare system and the millions of older Australians who rely on it. Every day I hear firsthand from older Australians in my electorate how they are feeling the impact of this government's cruel and unfair cuts.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to make a bit of an analogy not only about this debate on News South Wales Senior Week but about many things in society today. Imagine that a rogue tenant moves into a house. The house is neatly maintained, the gardens are nicely kept, the kitchen is clean and the house is tidy. The rogue tenant spends six years there and absolutely trashes the place. After six years of trashing the place he sets fire to it, barricades the door and goes and sits in the gutter on the other side of the road, where he watches on as the fire brigade turns up. As the fire brigade goes in and knocks the door down and goes in to try to put the fire out, the rogue tenant stands there and harps and criticises and nags from the sidelines, complaining about the damage that is being done to the carpet, the water damage, the damage they are doing with their muddy boots.

Well, that analogy is exactly what is happening in this debate. The Labor Party of this country trashed this nation's finances, and the greatest expenditure that the government now has—the fastest-rising expenditure—is interest on government debt: $13.5 billion needs to be found from the taxes raised from the citizens of this country simply to pay the interest on the debt. The nation is currently spending 10 per cent more than we are raising. That is completely unsustainable, because it means that every dollar of deficit is a dollar that we steal from future generations of this country, and it is currently 10 per cent. It simply means that young people, children who are yet to be born, will have a higher tax burden and a lower standard of living unless we get that budget back into balance and then slowly pay off this debt. Yet every time we put forward a sensible measure to try to bring the budget back into balance we hear this narking, whining and harping from the opposition with absolutely no alternate policies.

There is also the hypocrisy of this motion from the people on the other side of this chamber who came in here and held up the repeal of the carbon tax for over nine months. After we saw that repeal we saw the largest fall in electricity prices in our nation's history. They not only introduced the carbon tax, but they also voted against its repeal twice. We know as sure as night follows day that they will bring it back. Should they ever get the chance, they will bring it back. They will give it another name, and they will slug pensioners, older Australians and all Australians with higher electricity prices.

We should look at what their previous policies did in increasing electricity prices for the most hard-up in this country. In New South Wales alone, between 2009 and 2013, there was a doubling of the number of households that had their electricity cut off. In fact, in the last year of the carbon tax there were 33,000 households that had their electricity cut off, and yet the members on the other side voted to continue with that carbon tax.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about the seniors? Do you care about them?

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear the member for Newcastle interjecting. How many people in your electorate, Member for Newcastle, had their electricity cut-off? Did you go around and knock on the doors of those seniors and ask how many of them had had their electricity cut off because of the policies of the Labor Party? What a disgrace!

Then in this motion we had the shameful comments of the member for Shortland associating herself with the most dishonest scare campaign being run by New South Wales Labor and their union mates about the privatisation of electricity in New South Wales. They used this scare campaign, this false campaign, that the privatisation will increase electricity prices, when the exact opposite is true. Even the chairman of the ACCC has said that 'electricity prices will be lower with this privatisation,' and the member for Shortland comes in here and tries to beef up this scare campaign.

I will leave you with a quote. This is the quote from former Labor minister Mr Martin Ferguson. He said about this dishonest scare campaign:

It's just deliberately misleading the public, creating unnecessary fear and trying to scare people into voting for Labor not on merit but on misinformation. In many ways I am ashamed of the Party.

That is not Craig Kelly speaking, that is not the Prime Minister, that is not a conservative commentator. The words 'I am ashamed of the Labor Party' are the words of a former member of the Labor government.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very happy to rise in support of the motion before the House today moved by the member for Shortland, who has been a longstanding advocate both in her electorate and in this parliament for senior Australians, and I thank her for putting this motion today.

It is interesting to follow the member for Hughes. I feel very sorry for those constituents of Hughes whose member stood here with an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of older Australians in his electorate that are making a difference. But all he can do is look back, blame Labor and talk about the ills and myths and use the rhetoric that this government spins out time and time again. Not once did he acknowledge the enormous contribution that older Australians in the seat of Hughes make to this community. So I acknowledge them in my speech now.

I would also like to say that Seniors Week is a wonderful opportunity for all of us, including the member for Hughes, to stop and reflect on the immense and invaluable work of older Australians in our communities and to say thank you for their ongoing contribution. The theme for this year's New South Seniors Week is 'Be Inspired,' which is said to be about encouraging greater effort, enthusiasm and creativity with a focus on activities that celebrate self-expression. While I always encourage seniors to be actively engaged and involved in our community, I do challenge the assertion that seniors need to be encouraged to put in a greater effort. The data at hand certainly suggests otherwise.

In Australia, senior Australians contribute the highest number of volunteer hours of any group. This is truly remarkable when we consider that as a group senior Australians do not make up the largest demographic of volunteers. There are fewer of them, yet they work harder and longer than anyone else. Today, overall, more than six million Australians, including some 17,000 Novocastrians, volunteer each year to help make a difference in our communities. In the Newcastle and Hunter regions the monetary value of volunteer work is estimated at about $60 million in unpaid wages each year, with some 235,000 volunteer hours worked annually. As a community we are deeply indebted to the volunteers for the selfless work that they do to strengthen and build a more cohesive and inclusive society.

In Newcastle, senior volunteers tell the story of our cities rich history through their work at Fort Scratchley, the Newcastle Art Gallery, the Newcastle Museum and the Maritime Centre and, indeed, through their engagement with a number of historical societies across the region. Major events in Newcastle, like the recent AFC Asian Cup, would not have been so successful without the contribution of senior volunteers. I would like to pay tribute here to just one of the hundreds of senior volunteers from the Asian Cup, Dorene Schafferius, a constituent of mine from Adamstown Heights. Dorene first volunteered at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, nearly 60 years ago, and she has never stopped. So I think it is fair to say that volunteering is very much in Dorene's blood. Upon reflection, Dorene said back in 1956 her volunteering was 'all about the boys and adventure' but now she enjoys 'the sense of community that volunteering brings'. I thank Dorene Schafferius for her longstanding commitment to the wellbeing of our community. It is very much appreciated.

I would also like to acknowledge the important work of a terrific team of volunteers that collectively manage and maintain the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens in Heatherbrae. Last Saturday, I was fortunate to visit the gardens in Heatherbrae along with a fantastic Labor candidate for Port Stephens, Kate Washington, to lend our support to the giant garage sale which helps raise much needed funds for the gardens. The extraordinary team of senior volunteers was in full swing, and they will be backing up again tomorrow when the gardens host the mental health forum for seniors. This is a forum where visitors can learn from senior psychologists about the importance of practising techniques that lead to positive mental health, such as mindfulness and meditation, and ways to handle anxiety and depression. The contribution of volunteers is extraordinary both in a social sense and an economic sense.

What we do know about the Abbott Liberal government's proposed changes to the indexation of pensions—in spite of pre-election commitments not to do so—is that they will drive pensioners into poverty over the coming years. Recent research by ANU Economist Peter Whiteford shows the pension would drop from 28 per cent of average weekly earnings, today, to just under 16 per cent by 2055. It is little wonder that older Australians feel betrayed by the Abbott Liberal government. We can and must do better to ensure the dignity of older Australians in retirement. (Time expired)

Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You can understand if people in the gallery today think, with a contribution like that from the Labor Party and the Speaker wearing a red jacket, that there is virtually nothing to talk about among pensioners and aged Australians of significant financial import, because we can talk about mindfulness in the contributions of volunteers. It is always a very safe topic when you can point over in that direction and hope they do not notice the obvious.

What is the obvious that brings us here today, when talking about financial pressures on senior Australians? Let us go through the devastating chronology of the last six years. No. 1 is inventing a carbon tax and insisting that pensioners pay it. That is the history. No. 2 is bringing in an unclaimed money bill so that pensioners who had their money in a bank account could be swept by the Labor Party and kept by the government, without the seniors knowing. I bet that is not raised when you have your cups of tea and coffee with pensioners in your electorate. Absolutely not.

The most grievous sin of all, perpetrated on seniors, was six years—as the member for Hughes pointed out in such voluminous tones that even his own electorate in Hughes could hear it, without the benefit of broadcasting—of uncontrolled spending, leading to what? It led to no interest bill each month, to us paying $1 billion every week in interest that should be paid to pensioners. The money that should be helping the most needy is paid mostly to foreign entities, two-thirds of whom have the privilege of going into debt. We could not run the books. 'We never saw a good idea we could not fund in government,' said the Labor Party, leaving us with a billion-dollar-a-week debt. Where do we find the billion dollars if we do not take it from the aged pension? It is a Labor government that ran out of ideas. They simply refused to fund anything long-term and left it to the coalition to sort out the mess, as the member for Hughes pointed out.

Let us rewrite a little bit of history here, for a minute, before I talk about pensions. Back in 2009 we were all concerned about a GFC. What we did know at the time was there was plenty of money in the bank—thank you to John Howard. We had the four major banks all triple-A rated and strong enough to resist the threats of a GFC. Lastly, we had strong exports, in the form of mining. That is the triple inoculation that would get us through a GFC.

I do not blame people, at the end of 2008, in the panic of Lehman saying that maybe we need to tighten our belts and stimulate the economy. The payments to pensioners that occurred late that year were supported by both sides. But as early as 2009, the TRIM modelling from Treasury showed something very embarrassing for the Labor Party: there would be no fall in GDP, we would not go behind and we would not fall into deficit.

In early 2009, given the option—now realising there was going to be no GFC recession in Australia—what did they do? They kept spending. It was not just for another quarter or another year, it was for four years of continuous spending. They wonder in the end when, after the US, Australia was the largest spender, why it is that we are in debt now. The simple answer to seniors in this country is: six years of uncontrolled spending puts us in this invidious situation, where we have to look at ways of addressing social spending.

The age pension moving to $50 billion a year is an important issue, and this is a government that has watched on as two pension indexations are all based on CPI. The third one this week will also be based on CPI. But I would be lying if I did not say there is concern amongst pensioners about whether we are simply switching from one indexation formula to another. That is why, intrinsically, all Australians out there would support the possibility that we have an adequacy review of the age pension every three years. We would take it out of the hands of the mob that cannot run the economy and the mob that are trying to repair the economy and we would say, independently: 'Can we look at the level of indexation? It is appropriate to make sure that the age pension keeps up with what we think is a basic expectation.'

Let us be honest. Why do we discuss the age pension? Like almost every other form of welfare, age pensioners have almost no alternative to earn an income. They are at the age when they are living on their savings and are utterly reliant on them. That is why—and I can see the member of the Labor Party on the other side who spent us into oblivion in the first place—we must find a way to examine the adequacy of these pension increases and make sure that they meet community expectation. That is where our minister is. That is why many social groups support where we are going.

We can find a way that will raise pensions every year, twice a year. We do it not because we want to, we do it because Labor's spending has given us no option but to take these tough choices.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bowman; and for a quiet, reasonable, balanced contribution I now call the member for Blair.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Shortland, who has a tremendous commitment to the seniors, not just in her electorate but nationally. She is one of the fiercest advocates for seniors in this place. This gives me an opportunity in this particular debate, as shadow minister for Indigenous affairs and shadow minister for ageing, to mention a couple of events I went to recently.

I was very pleased to attend an event at Cherbourg, the Ny-Ku Byun residential aged care facility, to have some discussions with local people in South-East Queensland in the Aboriginal settlement up there about the challenges of consumer directed care, residential aged care and the failure to take up the aged-care packages amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

It also gave me the opportunity last Thursday to be in Glebe with the member for Sydney, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, to speak to local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about the challenges they particularly face, and Indigenous seniors face, in an urban setting. I thank those people who were there, particularly Annecto, Kinchela Boys Home and Babana Aboriginal Men's Group, such adamant advocates for their area.

I also had the privilege of attending an area nearby the member for Shortland's electorate. I went to Shoal Bay, where I joined Labor's New South Wales candidate for Port Stephens, Kate Washington, for a seniors forum at Harbourside Haven, which features retirement living and nursing care. The residents there made it very clear. They are not happy with Liberal governments, both New South Wales and federal.

While this week we celebrate Seniors Week in New South Wales, seniors are not happy about cuts to the pension. The Abbott government's changes to indexation of the age pension will result in a real loss for pensioners over time. It is a $23 billion cut over time to the pension. Pensioners will be $80 a week worse off within 10 years. If in the last few years a pensioner had been on this form of indexation, they would be $1,500 worse off. If people do not believe this is a cut then look at the budget papers. In the May 2014 budget papers, under 'savings', hundreds of millions of dollars were cut and saved there by the Abbott government. This change is unfair, and pensioners, whether they are in Sydney, Cherbourg or Shoal Bay, know it.

The previous Labor government addressed this issue and changed the indexation rate to make sure it was 27.7 per cent of MTAWE, male total average weekly earnings, the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index or CPI—whichever was the higher. What this government is proposing to do is get rid of those other two and do it on the basis of the CPI, which, generally speaking, is much lower. It would not be a savings if it were not a cut. The budget papers reveal the platitudes and nonsense said by members opposite about this issue, because seniors are getting cuts—that is what is happening.

The Abbott government have form in this area. They have made cuts in a whole range of areas of ageing with respect to the workforce supplement, the dementia supplement and the payroll tax supplement. These are all supplements which help residential aged care providers and those people who provide home care residential services for Australian seniors. These areas were cut in the budget—before the budget and subsequent to the budget. The government is not tackling the issues which Australian seniors need help with, whether it is dementia or in a whole range of other areas.

New South Wales seniors should know how unfair that government is as well. Seniors are ready to vote. They are sick of Liberal government cuts to pensions, aged care, health and public transport. They know about it. In fact, Mike Baird's Smart and Skilled training policy really could be called 'dumb and dumber', because it puts jobs in the aged care sector at risk. A community college in Port Stephens is no longer funded to provide aged care and early childcare training—two areas of skills shortage in the local area. So what is happening there in the aged care sector? What is happening for seniors in New South Wales? They have got a great option. They have got an option to vote Labor at the next election, because there is unfairness whether it is in Port Stephens or in Sydney. It is unfair to seniors to lose these young people who are training and living in their community. What New South Wales needs now is a Labor government with heart and vision. What they need now is a government which will invest in aged care—a government which will make a difference for seniors. (Time expired)

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair. As I expected, it was a quiet, reasonable and balanced contribution.

Debate adjourned.