Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given that the government has ruled out further cuts to foreign aid, will the Prime Minister also rule out his $80 a week cut to pensions?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a truly bizarre question from the Leader of the Opposition, because the married pension has gone up $78 a fortnight under this government. The single pension has gone up $51 a fortnight under this government. Just last week both of them went up by some $5 or more. This is a government which is putting pensions up, and this government will push pensions up twice a year, every year. That is what we will do. We will put pensions up twice a year, every year.

We have done the right thing by the pensioners of Australia by scrapping the carbon tax that the Leader of the Opposition wants to bring back. He does. He wants to bring back the carbon tax. We have scrapped the carbon tax and we have kept the compensation. You know what else we have done, Madam Speaker? We have kept the hand of government, the long hand of the former minister for financial regulations, out of pensioners' pockets. That is what we have done. He had his hand deep into the pockets of pensioners. He was going after their inactive bank accounts. We have said, 'Bill, hands off pensioners' bank accounts.' That is what we have said. Thanks to the Leader of the Opposition—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Balaclava Bill!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will desist.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

some 156,000 inactive bank accounts, tens of thousands of which belong to the pensioners of Australia, were trousered. They were trousered by the Leader of the Opposition—a half-a-billion-dollar raid on the pensioners of Australia. Well, the pensioners of Australia can rest easy. They can relax. They can be calm, because we have ended Bill Shorten's cash grab. That is what we have done. So we are doing the right thing by the pensioners of Australia, now and forever.