Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The shadow minister, in talking about and raising the issue of what was taken to an election, is exhibiting the absolute height of hypocrisy. Just across the corridor, in the Senate, we have a debate right now about killing off Work Choices and making sure that it is gone forever. It was the Howard government that, before the 2004 election, never mentioned a word about these absolutely major changes affecting all working people across Australia. It is the absolute height of hypocrisy for the shadow minister to come to this place and accuse the Rudd government of misleading or not being open and transparent with voters before the 2007 election. The Rudd government has been open and transparent, and one of the things that we have been open and transparent about is that we know that seniors and pensioners have been doing it tough. In relation to that, we have taken the position that we need to be looking at how we can assist. In October last year the first stimulus package fairly and squarely went to providing some assistance to those pensioners and carers who have been doing it so tough.

What is the opposition’s position? Originally, when there was debate about pensions we had all this confected anger—confected concern for pensioners—and a call from the then opposition leader for a $30 a week increase. When the October stimulus package was announced, the then opposition leader—because there had been a change by that time—said, ‘We support the stimulus package because we think it is doing the right thing.’ However, it did not take terribly long for them to walk away from that position. If we listen to what they are saying today, and have been seen saying now for many months, almost every contribution from those opposite is in opposition to the stimulus package. So one has to ask: exactly where is the opposition in relation to support for seniors? The shadow minister spoke about this era of uncertainty crowding in on seniors in Australia. The ‘crowding in of uncertainty’ has been generated in some sense by the shadow minister, and his contribution today did nothing to dispel this uncertainty. Scaremongering about the family home is what he contributed here today. He is raising totally unsubstantiated issues and throwing them into the mix.

Last year the opposition was calling for a $30 increase. The shadow minister is now asking, ‘Can we afford to do anything for pensioners?’ The opposition has moved very rapidly from its position of: ‘We care for seniors. We care for pensioners’—because it saw some political gain in that argument at the time—to one of: ‘We do not even support the one-off payments that they received last year. We do not support a process of review of the pension, and whatever that review is going to recommend we do not think it can be afforded anyway.’ The position of the opposition in relation to older and senior Australians is totally disgraceful.

Amidst the uncertainty there is one thing that is quite clear: that this side of the House, the Rudd government, is there with pensioners and seniors assisting and making sure they get the maximum assistance they can while they are doing it tough. We have put processes in place to review the pension. We have made one-off bonus payments and this stands in such stark contrast to the performance of the opposition, who wax and wane depending on which votes they are going to gain in the contest for leadership in the Liberal Party. They have tried to use the pensioners and seniors of Australia for internal political purposes. That is a shameful thing.

I rise in support of the Social Security and Veterans’ Entitlements Amendment (Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2009. The bill implements a 2008 budget measure to change the adjusted taxable income test for the Commonwealth seniors health card. The measure introduces similar treatment of income sources for people claiming the Commonwealth seniors health card to ensure that income received by all seniors is treated in a similar way and to ensure that the income test is applied to all cardholders consistently. The change will apply to the seniors health card issued under either the Social Security Act 1991 or the Veterans Entitlement Act 1986. The seniors health card legislation needs to be in place to give Centrelink and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs the authority to gather the required information from customers by May 2009 to enable implementation from 1 July 2009. The information to be gathered is new information that has not been requested previously from this group. All cardholders will be required to reply regardless of whether or not they have the relevant income.

In my electorate of Dobell on the New South Wales Central Coast there are nearly 17,000 people aged 65 or above. Senior citizens play a very important part in the community of the Central Coast. Nearly every week I attend a function or an event which senior citizens are closely involved in. Recently I was at the gala bowls day held at The Entrance. Nine bowling clubs from the Central Coast were in attendance. I must say it was a very enjoyable afternoon where I was introduced to bowls for the first time. But the purpose of the gala bowls day was to recognise the work that these senior volunteers had done in their particular sport to make sure that the district lawn bowls could take place. At this event I was able to present a large number of volunteers—almost all of them seniors—with certificates of appreciation. Without these senior volunteers these sorts of events would simply not be possible. The gala bowls day is just one example of how seniors are active in the community in my electorate. Look at any group of volunteers and see how many seniors are involved.

Another great example of senior citizens being active and involved in my electorate is the Toukley Senior Citizens Centre. This is the biggest senior citizens centre in the Southern Hemisphere. At one stage it had over 6,000 members. The number is slightly less than that at the moment, but it is an extremely large senior citizens centre that provides a whole range of services and activities for senior citizens. It is one of the places I go very regularly because not only do you get some great advice from our senior citizens but you are also able to interact with them and see the wonderful job that they are doing, the way in which they are keeping so active in the community and the contribution that they are making to it. Hospital auxiliary groups which are in all hospitals—at Wyong Hospital in my electorate—do an absolutely tremendous job. These are senior volunteers working in my community.

Seniors also play a very strong economic role in the community. The Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy will know—because he made an announcement of funding for the Central Coast Business Enterprise Centre of some $2 million, which is the first time that these business enterprise centres actually received any federal funding—the role that seniors play in mentoring other businesses on the Central Coast. It is a tremendous role that seniors play in my community on the Central Coast. So the senior citizens on the Central Coast are—

Debate interrupted.

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