John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to this debate on responses to questions at question time. I noticed that Senator Wong was talking about foreign investment. We had a couple of arguments in Senate estimates about foreigners buying our farmland. The fact is—as John Laws has said for decades—that the more you tax something, the less you have it. So, if you're going to tax businesses less, they're going to grow more. As they grow, they will employ more people who will actually pay tax when they are paid their wage every week.

Senator McAllister was talking about some companies not paying tax. If they're making a profit they have to pay tax. So, if they are not paying tax, they're not making a profit. If you look at the mining companies that come here, for the first years of establishment they invest billions of dollars before they start selling the minerals and making an income. Of course, in this situation, I certainly support foreign investment and foreigners investing in Australia and creating jobs, our exports and our wealth. I also support the tighter restrictions that we've put on foreigners buying our land and the register of who owns our land in order to keep an eye on our food security for future generations.

A classic example is the Adani mine in the Galilee Basin. All these new coal-fired power station generators are being established around the world. When I got information from the Parliamentary Library some six months ago, some 621 new units of coal-fired power stations had been established. And guess what they are going to burn? They're going to burn coal. They have a choice: do they burn the higher-quality, higher-grade coal from Australia or the brown coal, the less efficient coal, from places like China or Indonesia? I would prefer that they burn ours from Australia. This is why we need investment to start places like the Adani mine. Those opposite support it, depending on where they are. If they're in Melbourne for a by-election for the seat of Batman, they don't support the Adani mine and coalmining, but if they are in Queensland they do. But I suppose that's populist politics—to support where you think you will get the most votes.

In relation to the age pension, I think one of the greatest commitments we need in this country is to those who have worked and done their bit for our nation, especially our war veterans. There's no question that the average population of Australia is ageing—in other words, living longer. The population is ageing and the government has made tough decisions to ensure that the age pension remains sustainable and supports those most in need. Since the coalition formed government in 2013, pensions have increased by $86 a fortnight for singles and about $130 a fortnight for couples. Pensions will continue to rise twice a year with indexation. The age pension is paid at the highest fortnightly rate of income support payments in the Australian social security system. The age pension has the most generous indexation arrangements in Australia's social security system. The indexation, calculated twice a year, is the most generous arrangement as far as indexation goes.

When the age pension was introduced, the average male life expectancy was 55 years. To ensure the pension was sustainable, the coalition supported the move to a higher pension age under Labor, who in 2009 said they'd shift the age pension age to 67. So it was Labor that actually first kicked off raising the pension age. While not yet legislated, increasing the age pension qualification age to 70 by the year 2035 remains government policy. That is still a fair way off. It will begin in 2025 and occur gradually over time, just as the Labor measure is increasing the pension age to 67 right now. In a media release, the then Treasurer, Mr Wayne Swan, supported by Minister Jenny Macklin, in 2009 said:

Increasing the age pension age is a responsible reform to meet the challenge of an ageing population and the economic impact it will have for all Australians.

  …   …   …

Australia must move towards a higher pension age over the next decade.

An op-ed by the member for Fenner titled 'You're only as old as you feel' also suggests a better approach would be to index upper age limits in all laws:

How might age indexation operate in practice? One approach would be to mandate that all elderly age limits should increase by three months every year …

That might be a bit tough, that one. But the point is that we are living longer, we have better health and we are living fitter—if you have a hip wear out, you can have it replaced, as I had done three years ago. That's why the indexation's like it is. (Time expired)