Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make some points about the bill we currently have in front of us, the Social Security and Veterans’ Entitlements Amendment (Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2009. It is no secret that the last government put in place an enormous number of benefits that were able to ease the lives and the burdens of many people in Australia, including seniors, whether they be self-funded retirees or just seniors generally. The Commonwealth seniors health card provides access to discounted pharmaceuticals through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the seniors concession allowance, the telephone allowance and the seniors $500 bonus. The fact is that these cardholders can benefit from other concessions at the discretion of providers, such as medical bulk-billing or household, transport, education and entertainment concessions, just for having access to the Commonwealth seniors health card. However, what we have seen is a rollback of all of the great achievements that were put in place.

The coalition’s achievements for self-funded retirees were centred around, firstly, paying off the previous Labor government’s $96 billion debt, which was costing us some $9 billion per annum in interest. Once that was paid off we then moved to extend assistance to self-funded retirees who were not claiming income support. The coalition government at the time improved the eligibility for Australian government concession cards so that over 85 per cent of people over age pension age qualified for a health care card—a Commonwealth seniors health card or a pensioner concession card.

The coalition significantly increased the income limits of the Commonwealth seniors health card in 2001 so that more self-funded retirees became eligible for a CSHC. Due to the coalition government’s measures, around 300,000 people held the Commonwealth seniors health card, compared to just 35,000 when Labor left office in 1996. I think that is a significant number when you look at paying off $96 billion in debt and saving $9 billion a year in interest payments on that debt. The coalition expanded the number of holders of the seniors health card to over 300,000 people, compared to just 35,000 when that significant debt was left by Labor in 1996. These things should not be forgotten, because this is about the climate that we are experiencing now. This is the beginning of the downturn. This is the beginning of the debt cycle, and we have to recognise that when there is a debt cycle such as this, once the money has gone, then people must pay.

The coalition legislated to link pensions to 25 per cent of male total average weekly earnings, MTAWE, and introduced the utilities allowance and the seniors concession allowance. The coalition increased pensions at two per cent a year above the rate of inflation. After January 2007, for pensioners on the land—and I felt this was particularly important to mention here this evening—the concessional asset test treatment was applied to all land adjacent to, and on the same title as, an age pensioner’s principal home, which made a very, very big difference for those people who were on properties and were disadvantaged by the curtilage rule. That was a major advantage. In short, pensioners were no longer penalised for land they had lived on for 20 years or more continuously but were not able to use to produce. That benefited, at the time, around 17,000 people.

We introduced some of the biggest reforms to superannuation ever and we introduced many safety nets for the people of Australia after that debt was paid off. However, we are now seeing that, after 15 months of being in government, the Rudd Labor government are rolling back all of that support that was put in place. During the 2007 election, Prime Minister Rudd promised to ease the cost-of-living pressures for senior Australians. Instead of acting, the Rudd government have now announced that they will roll back those great benefits that were achieved for the people of Australia through the hard yards that the people of Australia were able to do, with some very conscientious guidance from a government that was concerned with fiscal management.

In the short time that I have to speak here this evening, I cannot do justice to this bill, because we certainly have to get this legislation finished this evening, but I will finish by saying that, at this critical time of global economic difficulties, when we have seen many self-funded retirees losing much of their income stream, we seem now to be forcing them to face more uncertainty. They are already living in the most extreme of uncertain times. They are fast becoming the poverty stricken people of Australia. It is time that we recognised what they have given to this nation and stopped penalising those people, who pay for themselves and support themselves for the future and are now being penalised by this government.

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