Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Senator Dean Smith's private senators bill, the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Pensioner and Veteran Workforce Participation) Bill 2022. Firstly, I congratulate my very good friend and colleague from Western Australia on his work and his enduring commitment to older Australians, to pensioners and to veterans not only in our home state of Western Australia, but also nationally. Contrary to what Senator Ayres told the chamber, this is a project of passion for Senator Smith. For his entire time in the Senate he has worked tirelessly for older Australians and also, in particular, for increasing grandparents' rights who have responsibility for children. This bill is the culmination of many months of consultation by Senator Smith, and others, with businesses and agricultural organisations and in particular in partnership with National Seniors Australia. As I said, it is a genuine and longstanding commitment.

I admire greatly Senator Ayres' attempts to deflect from the very substandard proposals that the Labor Party—well after their first 100 days—have now put forward. In my contribution today I'd like to focus on the contrast between this excellent piece of public policy—and I thank Senator Rice for her comments about the legislation and about its benefits.

As a senator for Western Australia, I do welcome and support this bill, which will improve the livelihoods not only of thousands of Australians, but thousands of Western Australian pensioners and veterans. This bill does contrast sharply with the government's long overdue announcement on an age and veterans pension income credit, and again I note that it took Senator Ayres probably 10 minutes of rewriting the history of the previous government before he was able to very lightly touch on the benefits, as he saw it, of Labor's emperor-with-no-clothes policy. I will explain why it is so deficient. As Senator Smith said, at best it is a very lukewarm response. It is a substandard measure and a very temporary measure, unlike the measures contained in this bill which are permanent for older Australians and for veterans. Sadly, this is yet another classic ALP response, one that is clearly influenced by the dead hand of the trade union movement, who are very fast becoming the de facto government of this nation. Not only is the Labor announcement too little too late for many Australians, but, as I have said, it is a very poor attempt to copy our policy that we announced in June of this year.

Let me remind the chamber that in June the coalition announced our policy to double the amount of income that age pensioners and veterans and service pensioners can earn without reducing their pension payments. This is something that we put forward in June. As you can see, it is now sitting before a Senate committee, which, completely and utterly disgracefully, Labor is now stalling. There have been no hearings on this bill yet in the Senate committee, which is something that I also join Senator Smith in calling for.

Let's now compare the two. Let's contrast the two policies. Our policy is to increase the amount that can be earned each fortnight from $300 to $600 for individuals or $1,200 for couples without impacting on their pension payments. Labor's plan will only allow pensioners to work an extra 4.25 hours per fortnight. That's right. I will say that again: only 4.25 hours per fortnight, which is just over two hours per week. That is pathetic.

In contrast, under the coalition's age pension and veterans reform initiative pensioners can earn an extra $7,800 for this financial year and for future years, which, again, contrasts sharply with Labor, who are just introducing a very light-touch policy of 4.25 hours per fortnight. Again, under the dead hand of the unions, they're not making this permanent and that is a complete and utter disgrace.

Our policy, in contrast, is an extra $7,800 on top of the $7,800, which is currently the maximum income allowance to be earned under the work bonus. This will bring the total amount per year, under our plan, to $15,600. That's an extra $300 on top of the $300 that can be earned every fortnight. The coalition's plan allows pensioners to work an extra eight hours every fortnight, or four hours every week, before they are penalised. Labor's so-called income credit will only increase the amount eligible participants can earn to $453 per fortnight. That's well short of the $600 per fortnight proposed by the coalition.

The coalition's policy also extends the period in which age and disability support pensioners are required to reapply for payments when their employment income exceeds prescribed limits. It's also to retain access to the pensioner concession card for up to two years in these circumstances. Seniors' organisations have said to us that that is something that is very important but something that has clearly fallen on the deaf ears of those opposite.

Also, to the dismay of senators on this side, it appears that Labor has completely cynically and unnecessarily delayed this announcement to coincide with the government's jobs summit. Not only is that unnecessary, but also it's having serious consequences on our economy. By delaying this for over 100 days eligible participants have not yet had the confidence to work. So during the first quarter of this financial year, which was a critical time in our nation's economy, people have not been able to go out and start filling some of those jobs. These are Australians who want to be in the workforce, who could have been in the workforce today providing such necessary support to businesses who are now closing, because they cannot find enough workers to assist.

As Senator Smith asked Senator Ayres rhetorically through the chair: why are we waiting? Despite all of the revisionist history we got from Senator Ayres, there was no answer. In my own home state of Western Australia businesses and communities are battling staff shortages each and every day. Businesses are closing. Small-business owners in particular are struggling to do all of the extra hours to keep their businesses open. According to the ABS there are 107,000 people aged between 60 and 69 who are not in the labour force—they're not retired, but they are not employed—but they want to work. Australia's labour shortage, while bad right across this nation, is even worse in my home state of Western Australia. Despite that, the Labor Party, for all of their rhetoric about, 'Yes, we care about Western Australia, and we understand you're the financial engine room of our nation,' guess how many delegates we had from Western Australia? Colleagues, guess how many we had from Western Australia?