Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services) Share this | Hansard source

The interjector says, ‘Make an amendment.’ It is your motion; you do the work. We have already got a plan to assist all these people, and we are not going to be distracted by the makeshift tactics of the opposition. Furthermore, we have 78,000 single age pensioners living in public housing who will lose a quarter of this mythical increase in charges. In my own electorate of Maribyrnong, in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne, 8,700 couple pensioners would miss out under the coalition strategy rather than our strategy, and 1,100 carer payment recipients and 4,800-plus DSP recipients would also miss out. This is the problem with the coalition proposition: too many people miss out, because they do not understand a lot of the issues around pensioners.

The third reason why the coalition’s propositions are disingenuous, mischievous, erroneous and artful is that 12 years of inaction failed to achieve very much. It is pretty easy to spend someone else’s money, I suggest to the opposition. I have had a look at what the weekly rate was when Paul Keating was defeated and the Howard government came in. It was about $173 per week. During the time the coalition were in government—11 years and eight months—the pension increased by a total of $97. Now they are in opposition, they can be friends to all, because they do not have to try to sort out the long-term strategy for all pensioners.

If they want to talk about inaction, why is it that they never talk about the disability support pensioners? In Australia in the last 20 years, the plight of the disabled has been one of the public policy disgraces of Australian politics. Why is it that people with a disability, those on the pension, have lower homeownership and lower educational outcomes? The fastest growing pension in Australia was the disability support pension under the old government, because of the low unemployment rates. I suggest that the coalition’s proposition is belated, tardy, overdue, past due and delayed, when they had the power to do something that they failed to do.

Many others do not believe the credibility of the opposition. Dr Peter Sloan, the spokesperson for the Down Syndrome Association of Australia, said:

Why is the Opposition treating 714,156 Australians like second class citizens? People with disabilities are finding it just as difficult as retirees to support themselves on the pension.

The Director of Queensland Advocacy Incorporated, Kevin Cocks, said:

While age pensioners deserve attention and focus, the opposition’s failure to include disability support pensioners in their plan at best suggests this is cynical policy on the run; at worst a fundamental lack of compassion.

The President of People with Disability Australia, Robert Farley, said on 22 September, ‘People with a disability are very much the forgotten people in this proposal.’ And the list goes on. Nicole Lawder, CEO of the Deafness Forum of Australia, said:

The disability support pension is the main source of income for people with a hearing loss who receive a Centrelink benefit. So this review is of a vital concern to those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment—

our review! She continued:

Deafness Forum is very disappointed with proposals for legislation that excludes DSP and carers.

Joan Hughes, CEO of Carers of Australia, said:

People on carer payments and disability support pensions are equally affected by the rising cost of living and are equally deserving of relief.

It is not acceptable to say you will consider these groups at some unspecified time down the track. Their need is immediate. I have a letter from one of the many people who write to me about the plight of disability support pensioners. It says:

I am receiving an invalid pension due to chronic emphysema. Normally I don’t complain but it’s come to the stage where I can no longer live a quality life. After paying my bills such as rent, electricity, gas and phone, and hire fees on my washing machine and fridge, I have a mere $90 a week to live on.

It is not enough, I suggest to the opposition. I do not dispute that the opposition is interested in the aged. I am not going to have a debate about that. I am sure all of the members of parliament care about the aged. But it is not enough to care. That is a condition precedent to improving the plight of not just the age pensioner but all pensioners. You have to be effective.

In the world where I come from, everyone could get up and make a promise to people. But the people who really matter are those who can deliver on the promise to people who do the hard work. I suggest that the coalition’s propositions are stopgaps. They are makeshift contrivances which lack the long-term interests of the people who are hardest up in society—not just the age pensioners but all these other groups. Why on earth are we having a competition between different groups of pensioners on who receives the coalition’s love and attention? I would suggest that all these groups—as will happen with the Harmer review, and the commitment of the Rudd government and Minister Jenny Macklin—get the benefit.

I would like to leave the last word to Belinda Epstein-Frisch, spokesperson for Family Advocacy, who said on 20 September this year:

The opposition’s concern for the plight of age pensioners is a strategy designed to demonstrate compassion for people on Struggle Street. If this concern was real, people dependent on the disability support pension would also be within their sight.

Regretfully, the coalition is merely contriving, acting and distorting rather than taking the best interests of all Australians into account.

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