Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to convey the disgust older Australians, in my electorate and indeed Australia, feel over their treatment by the Rudd government. They feel neglected, particularly given that the federal government demonstrated absolute contempt today for those who have built the great society and country we call home. They feel exploited, especially by the underhand manner in which the government slipped in punitive clauses which will cut out their benefits from next year. They are furious, and they have every right to be. They have been let down by a government that promised the world and so far has delivered nothing.

The Rudd government promised to bring down the price of groceries. The Rudd government promised to bring down the price of petrol. The Rudd government promised to bring down the cost of living, and I ask you: what have they done? They have done nothing. All they have done is watch—watch the cost of living get worse and worse. Of course, they now continually blame the global economy for their failures. They should not have made those wild, pre-election promises to the Australian people if they could not deliver—and deliver they most certainly have not. They knew they could not. The public was duped by a smooth spin master and now we all bear the consequences of an inadequate, insensitive government full of talk, talk, talk and no action.

To top it all off, the Rudd government, by rejecting the coalition’s proposal for an immediate $30-a-week increase to the single age pension, has flatly refused to act on the difficulties that Australian pensioners are experiencing. This $30 a week would greatly assist in dealing with the skyrocketing prices we have seen since this government took office. This $30 a week would be a godsend for hundreds of thousands of Australians who, we know, are not coping; who, we know, are suffering; and who, we know, cannot wait any longer for relief.

The Prime Minister and six of his senior ministers have admitted that they could not survive on the current pension allowance, yet they arrogantly and ruthlessly will not act now to help. That is right: Mr Rudd wants to wait until next February. That is six months away—six months of hardship for our pensioners for yet another one of his committees to finish yet another review. I would also like to point out that Mr Rudd had already seen an 83-page report on the plight of pensioners, by Dr Jeff Harmer. On viewing the report, what did he do? Yes, you guessed it: he called for another review into the review he already has in his hands. Unbelievable and inexcusable! He cannot show leadership on important issues without review after review and committee after committee before he can make up his mind. Let me also ask: will the never-ending review into pensioner entitlements actually change anything? We have to wait six months at least to find out if the findings are adequate and a positive way forward. Maybe he will be setting up ‘pensioner watch’!

Question time today was a lively and very frustrating debate for me, my colleagues and, in particular, our senior Australians. The Prime Minister continually—time after time after time—refused to answer questions on why he would not act now and endorse the $30 increase. He is letting this country down with his spin, his rhetoric and, most importantly, his blatant disregard for the Australian public and, in particular, our senior Australians. In fact, today Mr Rudd and Mr Swan had the gall to say that the opposition’s proposal of a $30 increase was nothing but a political stunt. A political stunt? How dare he call a necessary solution to a dire situation a political stunt? That is pretty rough coming from the masters of political stunts.

In June I wrote to seniors in Tangney, my electorate, to inform them of the latest cut to their benefits, an item hidden in the Rudd government’s first federal budget and planned to come into force at the beginning of the next financial year.

See this speech in context