Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

It is despicable. The Prime Minister says they will not be worse off, but that is not guaranteed because he will not outline how those people will not be worse off. Carers and senior Australians need to know where they stand in relation to the carers and the seniors bonus.

Today we have heard a lot about the carers in our communities. The Leader of the Opposition has detailed those personal stories. I ask today in the House a question of the Prime Minister on behalf of Mr Norman, who contacted my office: where are those seven letters? The Prime Minister has lost the seven letters. He has denied that a senior adviser said to Mr Norman that the carers bonus and the seniors bonus had been scrapped. That was a senior adviser advising Mr Norman that that was what was going to happen. We have heard Mr Norman’s story from the Leader of the Opposition today. He contacted my office on a number of occasions to discuss what was going on. This is the human face of what we are talking about today, the human face of the most vulnerable in our communities who are going to be the most affected.

You talk about us not being caring when we were in government, but for four years we paid these bonuses. We were able to pay them because of our good economic management. It was because we had a budget surplus that we were able to give back to those people. They came to expect that every year. They want to see it again this year. The former government left a budget surplus of double digits. Why can’t part of that surplus be given back to those people in our communities? I am sure everyone sitting on the other side of the House in government today has had calls to their office—concerns raised with every member in this House about these bonuses and whether or not they will be paid. I guarantee that every one of you has had a call, and I dare you to come to the dispatch box and say that you have not. These people need to be looked after.

I will say on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition that Mr Norman wrote to the Leader of the Opposition as well. Not only did the Leader of the Opposition visit Mr Norman but he actually answered his correspondence. Mr Norman wrote to the Leader of the Opposition on 13 February, and he received a response on 18 February. Does that say something about how much we care about people like Mr Norman? Our leader even went and visited Mr Norman. Where has your Prime Minister been? He certainly did not answer any of the letters written by Mr Norman outlining what was happening in his life.

The Minister for Ageing, in the newspapers in our local area at the weekend, said that she would represent local interests. I say to the Minister for Ageing that she is the national Minister for Ageing and she should be representing all older Australians, each and every one of those older Australians who have contacted all of us regarding these payments. It is important that they know that they have a representative sitting in this House who is prepared to go in to bat for them. They deserve nothing less.

Another thing that has also not been said is that this is going to affect veterans in our communities. Do you know that many of our veterans receive these bonus payments? These are the men and women who have served their country, and they have served it graciously, with dignity, under our flag. What are we doing about our veterans? Are we ignoring the contribution they have made to our country, the contribution made by all older Australians in building this wonderful nation of ours? They deserve this bonus. They deserve to know what this government is going to do when the budget is brought down in May. What they do not deserve is two months of uncertainty and anxiety.

The Prime Minister of this country needs to tell older Australians and carers what he intends to do in the May budget. You are the ones that have brought this to the media. Now you have all these older Australians worrying about their future, their bonus and whether or not they will have the flexibility and the choice to spend that very small bonus in the way in which it is most going to benefit them. They need to know it is coming. I call on the Prime Minister and the Minister for Ageing to ensure older Australians, our veterans and our carers that they will be looked after with a one-off bonus in the May budget this year, 2008, so they can make those choices about how that money is spent to the best advantage for themselves.

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