Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

We have some interjections from the other side. I can tell you what: any minute now, those on the other side are going to have to decide, in the full view of the Australian public, whether they are going to vote to put up the cost of prescriptions for older Australians by 600 per cent. My advice to them, if they are going to interject this morning, is that they are going to have to remember that their foot is well and truly on the sticky paper and older Australians in every one of their electorates—and, amazingly, this includes someone from a Queensland electorate—are going to have the capacity to ensure that Madam Bligh hears a bit of a thought process in relation to how you are voting. I say to those opposite—through you, Madam Acting Deputy President—who come from Queensland that I would be a little bit more careful about the sorts of interjections I made in this place just before a test time.

We have had the Prime Minister persuading Australians of two fundamentals—that he would bring down petrol prices and that he would bring down grocery prices. And of course he has become the gold-plated watcher: Fuelwatch, GroceryWatch. We watched carefully as prices went up. Not only did he let them go up; we now have the introduction of the Social Security and Veterans’ Entitlements Amendment (Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2009. It does a couple of things, as I have just indicated. It will actually increase the cost of a prescription for older Australians by over 600 per cent.