Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security and Veterans’ Entitlements Amendment (Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2009. At a time when Australians are facing an economic crisis, the Rudd government is planning to cut senior concessions. I am certainly against this bill. Unfortunately, this bill sends yet another message to our seniors, our older Australians and our veterans, that the Labor government does not value the contribution they have made to Australia over their working lives. This measure totally disregards the fact that these same seniors have worked for most, if not all, of their lives. They have taken personal responsibility for themselves. They have saved. They have rarely, if ever, sought financial assistance from the government. They have raised their families and have made sacrifices during their lives not only for their families but often also in preparation for their older years. It appears that the Labor government is determined to discourage savings, to discourage hard work and sacrifice, to discourage taking personal responsibility and, clearly, to discourage reward for hard work. This bill effectively rips 22,000 concession cards from our senior Australians, including self-funded retirees and Veterans’ Affairs pensioners. How does this ease the cost-of-living pressures for senior Australians?

In 2007, during the election campaign, the Prime Minister said he would ease the cost-of-living pressures for senior Australians. Well, this does not do that. It clearly now appears that the Rudd government wants to roll back the support provided for seniors and veterans by the previous coalition government, and this comes at a time when senior citizens are feeling particularly vulnerable. They are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a reasonable standard of living, many having no capacity or capability to find employment to supplement their fixed incomes. On 15 May 2008, the government announced a review—yes, another review—of measures to strengthen the financial security of seniors, carers and people with disability. This was known as the Harmer review. The government was provided with the final report at the end of February but has not released it publicly nor outlined its response. We can only believe that cuts in this bill may well be the first of many. Many seniors in my electorate of Forrest have read about the proposed changes in the local Western Australian seniors’ newspaper and have been in touch with me. Not only those receiving a pension but also those suffering a declining rate of return from their hard earned savings and investment funds as interest rates continue to fall have expressed their very genuine concerns that they are already facing tight financial pressures.

What has to be respected, remembered and understood is that, as we are an ageing population, many of us will require increased access to medical treatment and prescriptions to assist our wellbeing in later life. Many senior Australians struggle with the cost of prescription medicines. Even though medications under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme are government subsidised, the seniors health card provides a further subsidy of $5.30. To many senior Australians that is a very important amount because so many of them need more than one script per month and would struggle to pay the higher costs for their medications at the full rate. This would simply put even more financial pressure on our senior Australians.

The Rudd government has spent the budget surplus and plunged Australia deep into debt and it is now penalising the people who have worked and saved for retirement. The coalition supports an increase in the base rate of the age pension and in September we introduced the bill that would have increased this rate. During the last 12 months I have regularly talked with many senior citizens who are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a reasonable standard of living because the rate of the pension they receive has not kept pace with increased costs. We know that the base rate for the single pension is $562.10 per fortnight. Many of our senior Australians cannot live on this amount with the recent cost-of-living increases for basic items such as food, housing and health costs. I believe it is now time to address this very important issue by ensuring there is an increase in the base rate of the age pension in the May budget.

Also, the burden of paying rent is one of the biggest issues for retirees and pensioners. I have over 12,760 age pension recipients and over 4,400 disability support pensioners in my electorate. I ask the government: how many in my electorate will lose their Commonwealth seniors health card and therefore suffer even further financial pressure than they are currently facing? As I said earlier, I am very concerned that the changes outlined in this legislation may be the beginning of more cuts that will adversely affect vulnerable people in our communities—and we have seen so many of the benefits that have come for our seniors.

After 1 July, threshold limits will remain the same. Superannuation drawings from a taxed fund will remain untaxed, but those drawings will simply be added to a person’s adjusted taxable income for the purpose of assessing eligibility within the threshold limits. The effect will be that many self-funded retirees will lose their Commonwealth seniors health card on 1 July 2009. We need to know exactly who these self-funded retirees are and where they are currently living. Many of those same self-funded retirees altered their investment arrangements towards superannuation, to take advantage of the 2007 reforms, and they will now be negatively impacted by the eligibility changes.

There is no doubt that there is now a significant difference in the economy and in the performance of private and taxed superannuation funds and various savings vehicles. An increasing number of previously self-funded retirees have suffered a severe fall in income and, as a result, are now entitled to the age pension. A proportion of those on higher levels of income who have also had a fall in income may now be below the health card income-test limit and may qualify.

But for seniors who lose the card the effects are substantial. They will lose benefits such as prescribed pharmaceuticals under the PBS safety net, the seniors concession allowance, the telephone allowance and a range of other benefits granted at the discretion of providers. These include medical bulk-billing and household, transport, educational, recreational and entertainment facilities. These benefits will be a major loss to those who lose access to the card, and this will no doubt have a very negative impact on the quality of life of those affected. That is very important in the senior years of each individual’s life.

The first tranche of cutbacks will be enacted if this bill passes. I reiterate that approximately 22,000 self-funded retirees may lose their Commonwealth seniors health cards from 1 July 2009. The Prime Minister did not disclose this to voters before the election. The former coalition government improved eligibility for Australian government concession cards so that over 85 per cent of people above age pension age actually qualified for the healthcare card, the Commonwealth seniors health card or the pensioner concession card. The coalition significantly increased the income limits so that more self-funded retirees became eligible. Due to these measures, around 300,000 people held the card, compared to just 35,000 when Labor left office in 1996.

The Labor government proposes to allow for superannuation income streams from a taxed source and income that is salary sacrificed to superannuation to be included in the income assessment for the purpose of eligibility. These changes will hit self-funded retirees the hardest. Keep in mind that these are the same seniors who have also been penalised by the Rudd government’s bungled bank deposit guarantee and had their savings frozen and locked up by this decision.

Let us not forget that the original purpose of the Commonwealth seniors health card was to provide assistance to retired persons on low incomes. When introduced in 1994, the income-test limits for the card were the same as the income-test limits that applied to the age pension, so the vast majority of retired persons issued with the card were asset rich but income poor, and often farmers.

Mr Rudd and his government will effectively force many seniors over the income-test limit and strip them of their card. The former coalition government worked very hard to pay off the previous Labor government’s $96 billion debt so that assistance could be offered to self-funded retirees who were not claiming income support. Now, 15 months after coming to office, the Labor government is rolling back this initiative. These proposed changes, as I said, were not mentioned prior to the last election, and recently we have learnt that the Prime Minister is looking at options to roll back other measures that the coalition government provided to senior Australians.

During these difficult economic times, the Rudd Labor government should not be punishing self-funded retirees. Those people have worked hard, saved and planned prudently for their retirement with very little dependence on government support. I strongly support the seniors and veterans in my electorate. I am opposed to Labor’s proposed changes and do not support this bill.

See this speech in context