Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

They are very embarrassed, Senator Scarr. They're late to the party, and they've come embarrassed.

Let me be clear: this is not a proposal for charity. This is an economic measure that deserves support now because small businesses are being hurt now. Age pensioners and veterans are experiencing real cost-of-living pressures now. Here is a bill. We have eight parliamentary sitting days before the federal budget. Senator Ayres, Senator Ciccone and Labor senators could come back to the Senate at any time over the next two weeks and say: 'Let's put politics aside. Let's be the best selves we can be, and let's endorse a plan that delivers for age pensioners and veterans and small businesses across the country.'

What have some of those submissions to the inquiry had to say? Let me acknowledge the great and consistent advocacy that National Seniors Australia and Ian Henschke in particular have done both prior to the last election and since the election to get this initiative up. This initiative does not look exactly like the National Seniors initiative, but their advocacy and commitment to supporting age pensioners facing real cost-of-living challenges in our country deserve to be acknowledged. National Seniors Australia has said in a public submission to the committee:

National Seniors Australia welcomes the proposal put forward by Senator Dean Smith to double the Work Bonus limit.

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Labour shortages across our agricultural communities are crippling. Grain Producers Australia, in its submission, says:

GPA supports the positive intent of this Bill, to introduce changes to the social security entitlements and payments for Australia's veterans and pensioners, to help incentivise greater participation in the agricultural and rural workforce, by introducing more flexible rules and modern arrangements.

Australian agriculture has faced long-term structural challenges with labour supply and whilst these problems are widely recognised, lasting solutions continue to elude policy-makers and governments.

That would have been true until this bill was introduced into the Senate. Indeed, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry from my home state of Western Australia has said:

In this context, it is those economies that can extract the most out of their local workforces that will gain a competitive edge in the global economy.

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ABS data shows there is currently significant latent demand for over 65s to work. In 2019, the average hours of additional work sought by people over 65 was 685,000 hours. The total number of hours has since swelled and now stands at 724,000 hours.

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said:

During the current skills and labour shortages, pensioners and veterans can help provide business with the workers they need to keep operating. Not only can they fill roles, but the community can benefit from their experience in training, managing, and mentoring other staff as well as lifting overall productivity and bringing broader skills into the labour market.

I would have thought that if Premier Dan Andrews thinks this is a good initiative, there surely can be no other excuses for not legislating it immediately. Dan Andrews supports the idea of older workers being able to enter the workforce to help address cost-of-living challenges and help address labour shortages, as does the New South Wales Treasurer, Matt Kean. What more is needed? The Premier of Victoria, Dan Andrews; the New South Wales Treasurer, Matt Kean—what more is needed to convince Labor that this is an initiative that should be legislated now?

I think it's very true that Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, did something very unorthodox for a new opposition leader following an election: he came up with a policy idea, which is this idea, on 26 June. There was enthusiastic head-nodding across this country because people understand this is a sensible solution. I think Senator Ayres himself is nodding, 'Yes, Senator Smith, I think that is a sensible solution.' But Labor's enthusiasm is lukewarm. If Labor were enthusiastic, they would have done this not after 101 days of being in government; they would have done it immediately. If Labor were not lukewarm, they would have made this the first initiative of the Jobs and Skills Summit, not the last. If Labor were enthusiastic and not lukewarm, they would be saying to pensioners and veterans: 'We will not make you wait. We will not make you wait until the budget. We will not make you wait until the legislation that comes out of the budget later this year.' Age pensioners and veterans are saying, 'Why are we waiting?' I hope that Senator Ayres, in his contribution, will be able to satisfy that question.

And why is Labor's proposal less generous than the coalition's? It is because, in the submissions to the committee inquiry, one of the submitters has made it very, very clear that the initiative will pay for itself. I hope that when I walk out of the Senate chamber I'll get a call from the chair of the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee to say, 'Senator Smith, you're quite right. You caught us out. We've been avoiding a public inquiry on your bill, so we're going to have a public inquiry soon and we're going to get that report out because this is an initiative that deserves to be supported, and it deserves to be supported now.'

The Jobs and Skills Summit did deliver a grand bargain for big unions, big government and big business. I've been around long enough to remember that once upon a time it was called the accord. But, Senator Ayres—indeed, all Labor senators—age pensioners and veterans in our community deserve their grand bargain, and they deserve it now. This bill can be legislated in the next eight sitting days, and I look forward to that being the outcome.