Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Senator Evans) to questions without notice asked by Senators Fisher and Brandis today relating to single age pensions and to terrorism trials.

It must be particularly galling for the myriad listeners out there who listen to the Senate during question time for a serious question to be posed to the Leader of the Government in the Senate about how pensioners are doing it tough only to get a flippant answer that simply belittles the inquiries and the efforts the coalition are making to redress the cost-of-living problems for pensioners. How belittling it is to have the Leader of the Government in the Senate talking about pensioners and saying this is a stunt. This is not a stunt by the coalition. We are simply advocating that cost-of-living pressures are crippling many pensioners. Two million of them are on the age pension in this country; two million of them need a cost-of-living pay rise of at least $30 a week in their pensions.

While Senator Evans and his merry band of men who occupy the ministerial wing are in complete denial about this and are refusing to do anything about it, what are the backbench of the Labor Party doing? Fortunately there are some advocates in Senator Evans’s very own faction who are out there in caucus—I read in the Australian today that Labor backbenchers are pushing for a one-off bonus payment because they understand, just like the coalition understands, that pensioners are doing it very tough. This is the Labor Left, of which Senator Evans purports to be a member. They have been ignored in caucus and in cabinet, and we understand that because we know who really rules the roost for the Labor Party.

But what about the priorities of some of the other Labor members of parliament? How galling must it be, in a week where we are talking about pensioners being forced to eat jam sandwiches and tins of baked beans and reports of some of them eating dog food—as abhorrent as that is—to have Mr Murphy in the lower house saying the portions of beef stroganoff are not large enough for his wife. That is occupying the time of the government in the lower house. They are saying, ‘My wife’s portion of beef stroganoff from the staff cafeteria in Parliament House is not big enough and there’s not a big enough selection of food.’ If that does not indicate that this is a government with its priorities completely wrong, then I do not know what does. The simple facts are that pensioners are doing it very tough in this country. We have had a few ministers say: ‘Yeah, we couldn’t live on $273 a week. Yeah, we couldn’t do it but we’re not going to do anything about it pending a review’—another review! We have had enough reviews; what we need is some action.

Later on we are going to hear from Labor about how, in 12 years, the coalition government did not do anything, which is absolute nonsense. They are trying to reinvent history and are going to get another member of the Labor Left faction—in fact, the Socialist Left faction—come out and belittle the economic achievements of the former government. Mr Deputy President, it is complete nonsense over there. No matter what Labor say, the coalition did a great deal for pensioners. In the two minutes I have left, I accept the fact that there has been an increase in the utilities payment and that there has been a one-off bonus paid under this government, but they have still done nothing significant to redress the fact that people cannot afford to eat, they cannot afford to put petrol in their cars—they cannot survive on the single pension.

The Labor Party are resting on their laurels already: after six months of doing very little, copying a few coalition election promises, they still have not done anything because they have not got an idea. But what will we see? We will probably see the portions of beef stroganoff increased before they increase the age pension. That is a shame on this government. I do not know how they can live with themselves, because in their electorates their own backbenchers know—maybe the Labor senators are in denial about it because they are so removed from things—just like the coalition know because we are in touch with the community, that pensioners are doing it very tough. So, rather than play petty politics and the blame game and talk about all of these things that are irrelevant, why doesn’t the government address the issue of giving pensioners more? Let them live on more. They need more money to simply survive. When are they going to stop being in denial about it? I am interested in hearing the answer, because if the contributions from the Labor Party this afternoon are going to be the denial and the mocking shown by their leader in the Senate, then Australian pensioners are in for a very rough ride. (Time expired)

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a remarkable contribution by Senator Bernardi. Since November last year, all of a sudden all these revelations have come to the now opposition. After 11½ years in government of not seeming to know anything—the world was fine and everything was great: ‘We were doing everything for everybody’—all of a sudden, since November last year, everything is bad. It is a revelation! They have just worked out in the last eight months that pensioners are doing it tough. Eleven and a half years of doing absolutely nothing, and you have just worked it out! The hypocrisy coming from that side of the chamber is absolutely shameful. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Cheap politics—that is all you want to play. This is an opposition—

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Marshall, address the chair.

Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And be serious about your answer. Stop your acting!

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator McGauran! Senator Marshall, address the chair.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy President. I am not surprised that the squawkers over there like Senator McGauran want to say, ‘Tell us something else!’ I understand that a former minister in your government actually took a proposition to the cabinet of the former government to raise pensions and it was rejected. Did we hear Senator McGauran or Senator Bernardi complaining about that? Did we hear any of that? No, we did not hear any of that then. What a disgraceful performance!

What an opportunist opposition it is that wants to get up and just make cheap political points when it knows that we are fundamentally going to address the underlying needs for the pension in the future and fix the system which it neglected and failed to take any reasonable steps on for 11½ years. It is not as if we do not understand the tough times many people in our community, particularly pensioners, are going through. That is why we addressed many of those issues with a down payment in our very first budget.

When we were elected in November last year and delivered the budget in May this year—not that long ago—we addressed some of the fundamental needs of pensioners on the understanding, as we have been saying ever since, that we needed a complete overhaul of the pension system in this country to make it fairer, to make it more equitable and to actually deliver better outcomes, not just cheap shots that the opposition wants to throw up. It wants to give out a few extra dollars, which would then have flow-on effects on allowances and other benefits and would leave people worse off in many circumstances.

We need to take an overall look at the whole pension system and address the whole issue to make pensioners better off across the board, not just single pensioners but couples, disabled pensioners, disability support pensioners, veterans—everybody. We want to get that right. That is what the work that we are doing is about. In the less than 12 months that we have been in government, we have been working on this issue and we will ultimately deliver a better, fairer, equitable system for the future for all pensioners, instead of taking the lazy political position that the previous government took, which was simply: stopgap here, stopgap there, act when the politics get a little bit too hot but never do anything structurally.

This government recognises that right now many people who are wholly dependent on the pension are struggling to cope with rising living costs. We have the guts to actually say it and we have the guts to actually do something about it—not this political harping over there and not the political opportunism that we see from a miserable opposition that never lifted a finger. They thought that everything was fine while they were in government, but now there has suddenly been this great revelation. Well, we knew about the problems that you had when you were in government and we are working hard to fix them.

The government has already taken action to provide extra support to pensioners, which includes a $500 bonus payment for seniors that benefits some 2.7 million pensioners. So we have not done nothing, as the harping and squawking that was coming from over there would suggest. Over 3.2 million are benefiting from a higher rate of utilities allowance, now $514 a year. Under our government this allowance has been extended to carer payment and disability support pensioners for the first time. Did I hear Senator Bernardi get up and say, ‘I congratulate the government for doing that for the first time. I wish we’d done that in government’? No, I never heard any of that because, again, in government they thought it was all okay. It is only now that they are in opposition with their crocodile tears that they think there is a problem. (Time expired)

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Rudd Labor government do not care about pensioners. The Rudd Labor government do not care about the cost-of-living pressures faced by older Australians. If you want to find out what the Rudd Labor government think about anything, do not listen to what they say but watch what they do—and they do nothing. Other than setting up a committee, they do nothing. We now find out that the Prime Minister had comprehensive advice from the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs on how to help pensioners more than five months ago. What did they do? Nothing—they set up a committee. What a cynical smokescreen!

Before the election they were telling us, ‘We’re going to help working families with cost-of-living pressures.’ What have they done since then? They have set up a couple of committees and some bureaucracies to watch prices go up. They should join us in practical initiatives like the $30 a week increase in the single age pension, rather than this constant cynical manoeuvring and trying to hide behind yet another one of those bureaucratic processes that Kevin Rudd likes so much.

Not only are they not doing anything to put downward pressure on the price of petrol, groceries and all the other cost of living expenditure items but they are actually pushing up prices. The government in their first budget increased spending by $15 billion and taxes by $20 billion over the forward estimates. They have introduced a tax, which is before the Senate right now, that is going to impose $2½ billion worth of additional tax on the North West Shelf gas project in Western Australia and that will push up the price of gas and electricity for families, pensioners and businesses in Western Australia. So, rather than bringing the price of anything down, they are pushing prices up. They have also brought in a measure to increase Medicare levy surcharge thresholds. Who is going to be hurt? Pensioners, who will be forced into longer queues and who will have to wait longer for access to public hospital treatment.

We heard again today this lazy criticism: ‘For 12 years you did nothing.’ Let me go through some of the things that we did when we were in government. We decided in 1997 to link the age pension to growing incomes—25 per cent of male total average weekly earnings—rather than to the cost-of-living increases, the CPI. We legislated for the age pension to be set to at least 25 per cent of male total average weekly earnings or to be increased by the CPI, whichever was greater. As a result of this, pensions are higher now than they would have been. We increased pensions at two per cent a year above the rate of inflation. We introduced a utilities allowance to assist pensioners with the cost of utilities bills such as gas and electricity. We have done a whole range of other things. We were a government that took action. If we were still in government now we would be taking action. Quite frankly, rather than continuing to stall and hide behind committees and further inquiries, the Rudd Labor government should take some action. They should join us in committing to an increase of $30 per week in the base rate of single age pensions and they should support all of the other practical initiatives that we have put forward in recent weeks.

What we have had here today is yet another example of a government that do a lot of talking, that put a lot of rhetoric out there, but it is really all just a fraud. They tell you one thing and then do another and they think the Australian people are not going to notice. In the lead-up to the budget we were told for six or seven months that we had to fight inflation, we had to cut spending, that this was going to be a difficult budget, and that unless we made some tough decisions and cut spending it would be the end of the world as we knew it. What did we get? A $15 billion increase in spending and a $20 billion increase in tax revenue through new tax measures. This is pushing up inflation, not bringing it down. This is pushing up the cost of living for older Australians and pensioners in particular. This government should be ashamed of themselves. They should actually start taking the cost-of-living pressures that are being faced by older Australians in particular much more seriously than they are. Quite frankly, if they were fair dinkum about helping pensioners, they would make a declaration today, here and now, that they support our proposal to increase the single age pension by $30 a week.

Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

May I firstly congratulate you, Mr Deputy President, on your appointment. This is the first time I have had that opportunity. Mr Deputy President, you have heard the opposition in this chamber today, both in the matters of public interest debate and also in this debate, say that the Rudd government does not care about pensions. What a furphy, because if you examine the facts—and the facts are quite clear—you will find that this government in its first budget increased pensions by $15.40 per fortnight, effective 20 September, and by $12.70 per fortnight for partner pensions. That is the commitment that was given in the budget. There is also the bonus increase of $500 to all eligible pensioners—the increase in utilities allowance of a further $500. Those are the commitments that were given by the Rudd Labor government in its first budget.

There was also an increase in the seniors concession allowance from $218 to $500 a year and a range of other improvements for pensioners. These are commitments that cannot be disputed. The opposition had 12 years in a situation where they had record surpluses in just about every budget they ran. The Treasurer at the time, Peter Costello, brought down a budget in which he predicted he would have a $10 billion surplus. Then all of a sudden it was another $15 billion. These are the irresponsible measures of a past, tired government that was not in a position to help our pensioners, and now they have the hide to come into the chamber today claiming that the Rudd Labor government is not prepared to do anything for pensioners. What nonsense!

The previous government also left us with high interest rates—interest rates that had gone up 10 times in a row. The only time the interest rate decreased was recently. On the last 12 occasions that interest rates were considered by the Reserve Bank, only on the last occasion was the rate decreased. The oppositio, when in government, gave us high interest rates, inflation on a runaway path and left the Labor government with a situation of having to bring down its first budget in economic circumstances of high interest rates, the prospect of continuing high interest rates and increased inflation affecting food prices, rent and so on. These are the very things that affect pensioners and low-income earners the most.

Let us look at new data that is in circulation. This week a new report by the Melbourne Institute shows that elderly Australians were left behind by the Howard government. The data is based on the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, the most comprehensive longitudinal survey of Australian life. The report clearly shows that the Howard government neglected older Australians, with the standard of living growth slower for older Australians between 2001 and 2005. This was on their watch. Over one-third of elderly lone male households, 34 per cent, and elderly lone female households, 35 per cent, were persistently income poor—that is, poor in all five years between 2001 and 2005.

When the previous government had the power to act, they did nothing. Now they are interested in pensioners! They come to the chamber putting up ridiculous proposals for short-term political gain. Unlike the opposition, this government is determined to get this right for the long term. We will soon be completing a comprehensive investigation into the structure and adequacy of the pension.

Interestingly, we have had the new Leader of the Opposition, Mr Turnbull, saying that he supports an immediate increase in the base rate of the pension and the government’s investigation of the pensioner system. What do the opposition want? What are they really seeking? On the one hand they are saying that we should increase the base rate and then on the other hand they are saying that we should investigate the pension system. Mr Turnbull must decide which position he is taking. He cannot support both Brendan Nelson’s political quick fix that left 2.2 million pensioners out in the cold and the government’s commitment to fixing the system for the long term. The opposition have put forward a proposal, off the top of their heads, to introduce a private member’s bill to increase the pension by $30 a week. They sat around in this building for 12 long years— (Time expired)

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the 13 weeks since 1 July, when I was fortunate enough to join you in this chamber—although this is now only my third week sitting in the chamber—one thing I have found is the extraordinarily audacious claim to the moral high ground that those on the other side of the chamber take in relation to all matters of government. But the one thing that I particularly find appalling is the way in which they advocate that they own the rights to compassion and that it is they alone who understand the needs of Australians. Since being in government—only nine months—it is so clear that they not only do not own the rights to compassion but they actually do not care and do nothing about it for all Australians. The one thing I have observed in the last three weeks in this chamber is that they blame everything on the previous Howard-Costello government. They do that because they have no idea about what is necessary to govern for all Australians in this country.

Earlier, Senator Sherry referred to a big surplus buffer and how irresponsible it would be of the government to not maintain that surplus. We then heard from Senator Marshall, but I was not sure what it was we heard from him. His theatrics were such—because he was focusing on the cameras—that I was distracted from the content of what he was saying. And my fellow senator Senator Furner has learnt well from his colleagues when it comes to blaming the former Howard-Costello government.

The whole point here is that the pensioners themselves do not consider these to be political stunts. The pensioners themselves are absolutely scandalised at the disdain with which the Rudd Labor government treats them. Of all pensioners, it is the single pensioners who are the most hurt here. Single pensioners on fixed incomes have no capacity to deal with increasing grocery costs, yet we heard as an election pledge from the Prime Minister himself that grocery prices would come down. Fuel prices and energy prices have also escalated out of control. In Victoria, if our pensioners cannot afford fuel and decide to catch public transport—if they are game enough to put their own personal security at risk—they actually find there is no room for them on the transport system either. They are not being catered for and they are not being looked after.

In one of the electorates in the state that I represent—the Deakin electorate in Victoria—we have some 14,350 residents who are either partnered or single pensioners who are all worse off. In February this year, Mike Symon—he is the member for Deakin, for those who do not know him, which is quite possible because he is a man missing in action in Deakin—said that ‘cost of living issues’ were ‘of concern to many residents’. He added:

With a large percentage of residents over the age of 65 there was much concern voiced over aged care and pensions …

He was pledging to the people of Deakin that he would look after them. Rather than looking after them, he has gone into hiding. He is treating them with the same disdain as all pensioners are treated by the Rudd Labor government.

Finally, it is reported that 30 per cent of pensioners have less than $1,000 in their bank accounts. They have no buffer. The response of the Rudd Labor government is to hold more inquiries. There is an inquiry that will conclude in around six months time, which will then roll over into the Henry review, which is anticipated in 2009. Pensioners cannot afford to wait. With 30 per cent of pensioners only having a thousand bucks in their bank accounts, there is no buffer for them to deal with this. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.