Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Seniors and carers are doing it tough in Australia, and that is why the government has sought to provide some assistance through this budget package. We are committing $5.2 billion in additional funding for seniors in this budget. That is 3½ times the amount pledged by the previous government in the 2007-08 budget. The implementation of Labor’s election commitments in this budget will provide age pensioners and seniors with an additional $900. To put this in perspective, the average gains of age pensioners over the last six coalition budgets was around $327 and, for seniors, $400. Today we introduced into the parliament a bill to pay age pensioners and seniors a $500 bonus; 2.7 million Australians will benefit from this measure. This bonus will be paid from the end of the current financial year, 30 June 2008.

These bonuses come on top of an increase in the utility allowance from $107.20 per year to $500 per year, and this is locked in. We have already paid out the first quarterly instalment to age pensioners and seniors in March, and we are working to deliver our commitment to index pensions by the highest of the living cost index for age pensioner households, consumer price index or male total average weekly earnings. These important financial measures come on top of an extension to the telephone allowance, new dental funding for concession card holders and petrol vouchers for volunteers who use their own transport.

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