Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, it is absolutely urgent that we debate pensions now, because pensioners have a problem now. They have a problem now, which members opposite know about. We have had a succession of ministers admit that there is a problem now, led by the Prime Minister. Let’s do something about it now. That is why we have to have a debate now—not in a week’s time, not in a month’s time and not in a year’s time or two years time. We should have a debate about this problem now, because the problem is now.

It says something about the fraudulence and the phoniness of this government and this Prime Minister that they say that there is a problem—they say they cannot live on the single rate of the pension—and what do they do? They do not fix the problem, they do not resolve it and they do not decide it; they study it. That is so typical of this government. They cannot make a decision on anything, even on a problem which is staring them so much in the face that they are forced to admit it time and time again on national television.

What we have heard from members opposite today is that the former government did nothing about it. The former government did everything about it. I refer members opposite to a statement from their very own public servants which says: ‘Pension rates have grown by more than two per cent a year above inflation over the last decade.’ The single base rate of the age pension has increased from about $9,000 to about $14,000 a year thanks to the work of the Howard government. Pensions today are 57 per cent higher than they were in March 1996. They are 24 per cent higher in real terms thanks to the Howard government. Pensioners have bonuses now thanks to the Howard government—no thanks to members opposite who wanted to abolish the pensioners bonus in the budget. It only survived because the department of the minister for families leapt on the Treasury to protect the bonus that they knew was necessary and which Treasury wanted to scrap. Pensioners now have a utilities allowance thanks to the Howard government—and no thanks to members opposite who simply lifted Howard government proposals from the election campaign.

What we had from the Prime Minister was a claim today that he had a program for action. His program for action is not action now; it is action possibly in February next, possibly in May next year, but most likely in May 2010 and then only because there is an election looming. That surplus does not belong to him; it belongs to the people of Australia. What he is saying is that he would rather give that surplus to the states than spend it on pensioners. Pensioners will not forget this. In voting against this motion, the Prime Minister is voting against the pensioners of Australia—and they have very long memories. Standing orders should be suspended and this House should debate pensions now.

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