Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will explain it to the honourable member, who claims that what I am saying is not correct. The $10 14 increase for age pension couples actually works out at a $9.09 decrease when one takes into account the cancellation of the annual $500 bonus payments that pension couples have received in past years but which will no longer be forthcoming from the government. The member for Maribyrnong is perceived in the government to be a member of great influence and I would ask that perhaps he should take this matter up with the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. This may well be an unintended consequence, but the reality is that age pension couples who received an apparent $10.14 increase actually suffered a $9.09 decrease. Dr Ritchie also advised the Fisher Seniors Forum that, in addition, the $32.49 increase in the pension for singles is only a $22 87 increase when the cancelled $500 bonus factor is taken into account.

These pension figures are a major letdown not only to the pensioners on the Sunshine Coast and, I suspect, the pensioners in North Queensland in the area represented so ably by my friend the honourable member for Herbert but also to pensioners right throughout the country. Pensioners have been struggling with major cost of living increases across the board. With the global crisis that government members constantly talk about, pensioners are doing it very tough at the moment. They have waited patiently for a response from the government and they have got a response but, unfortunately, not the response that they had hoped for.

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