Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the estimated 250,000 British pensioners resident in Australia, I call upon the Australian government to renew its diplomatic efforts to lobby the British government to index United Kingdom sourced pensions. We ask that British pensioners be treated fairly, equally and without discrimination by recognising their right to parity with pensioners resident in the UK, and in many other nations abroad, by annually indexing the British sourced pensions to which they're entitled on a non-retrospective basis. There is no reasonable or logical explanation as to why residents of certain countries such as the United States of America, Israel, Jamaica, the European Union and the Philippines currently have their pensions indexed, while their counterparts living in Commonwealth countries such as India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Australia, Canada and Trinidad have their pensions frozen.

The British Pensions in Australia organisation estimates that the impact of frozen UK pensions costs Australia more than $220 million a year. This is because many British retirees receive partial pensions from both the United Kingdom and Australia, and, as the relative value of British pensions decreases, pension payments from Australia must increase to compensate. The policy is discriminatory and unjust. When Australia negotiates new trade agreements with post-European-Union Britain after Brexit, this issue must be addressed as a priority. Successive Australian governments have raised the issue of pension indexation with their counterparts in the United Kingdom, noting that the current policy is discriminatory and inequitable, without success. My electorate of Moore is home to a large number of British pensioners who are experiencing the hardship and financial disadvantage of having the purchasing power of their income diminished by inflation and the increased costs of living.

Australia and Britain share a very close relationship, and the governments of both our nations ought to work together in the interests of our people, particularly in the area of the social welfare of our senior citizens who have contributed to their nation's pension scheme throughout their working lives. I'm pleased to stand with my constituents in making this representation in the Australian parliament for renewed diplomatic efforts to be made to the British government for the non-retrospective annual indexation of UK sourced pensions for retirees.