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

Before the election we remember well the Prime Minister's promise that there would be no changes to pensions—yet in his very first budget he launched an unprecedented attack on pensioners. He made real cuts to the pension by lowering the rate at which pensions increase over time. He made cuts to important pensioner concessions. He cut deeming rates for part pensioners and increased the retirement age to 70.

Today Labor again calls on the government to drop these cruel cuts. The 15,770 pensioners in my electorate of Newcastle did not vote for a cut of up to $80 a week to their pension. Novocastrians did not vote for a government that would force them to work longer than any other nation in the developed world. A retirement age of 70 years will unfairly impact on those working in major industries in Newcastle like manufacturing, health care and construction—industries that employ large numbers of manual workers. These are the people who do the heavy lifting.

Newcastle did not vote to have their part pensions reduced because of changes to the deeming rate thresholds, and they did not vote to have $1.3 billion of Commonwealth support for their pensioner concessions ripped out from underneath them. More than 300 Novocastrians wrote to me after the budget, telling me that they did not support changes to the pension. Their message was clear: 'Mr Abbott, don't pocket our pensions.' Enough is enough. Labor will always stand up for pensioners, and we will fight these changes every day until the next election—and this Saturday, New South Wales voters get a chance to send a clear message about these cruel cuts: put Liberals last. (Time expired)