Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

During the last sitting I got all fired up at the prospect of speaking on the member for Hindmarsh's motion that was going to be put to the House, that the South Australian government should be condemned for their cuts to pensioner concessions. I was all ready to debate the issue with the member for Hindmarsh, and I got here today—

An honourable member: Where is he?

Well, it has been pulled. The whole motion has been pulled.

An honourable member: Why?

I will tell you why the motion has been pulled. It is because the South Australian government, in between those two sitting weeks, has come out with a policy of giving concessions to pensioners.

Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Finally, catching up with everyone else—

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here is the thing! I hear the member for Bass bleating away in the way that he is prone to. He would have been party to the decision to retreat from this motion.

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

He would have been party to it! If you put the hook in the water then the member for Bass will just jump out and grab it every single time!

Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's outrageous! Outrageous!

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So the South Australian government has done the right thing. They are providing concessions to pensioners. So what remains? I will tell you what remains—

Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Kicking and screaming!

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Bass! The member will be heard in silence.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What remains is a 2014 Liberal Party budget, the one that cuts $30 million a year—not just last year but this year and the next year—out of pensioner concessions. In electorates like mine and in electorates like Hindmarsh it is pretty unpopular, because many people rely on those concessions for their cost of living. For a government that talks about cost of living all the time, they are now savaging those least able to pay. So it is an extraordinary thing for Mr Williams, the member for Hindmarsh, to want to propose this motion and then retreat from it. It is an extraordinary thing that the member for Bass interjects at all. I am stunned that they would pick a fight on this issue. We have all this talk about how fair this year's budget is, but currently what is happening is that the unfairness—the $60 billion worth of cuts—from last year and this year are slowly rolling out. There have been $1 billion in cuts in health this year—that is $1 billion extra out of health this year.

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

There have been $30 million out of South Australian pensioners' pockets every year.

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bass: the member will be heard in silence.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is what is happening. The member for Bass will have his chance. He is speaking on my notion, no doubt in a bipartisan way, a bit further on in the day. But what we have got to establish is: these pensioners do it tough. They are the most susceptible to cost of living arrangements—most susceptible to those pressures. The last thing any government should be doing is cutting their concessions. And that is what this government is doing. That is what the member for Hindmarsh is doing. That is what the member for Bass is doing. They are hacking into pensioner concessions by hacking into state government budgets. We all know that that is the case. They will try and run. They will try and squirm. But that is the case.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 193 the time for members' constituency statements has concluded.