Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Adams:

That this House:

(1)

notes that pensions must keep pace with the cost of living;

(2)

recognises the significance and importance of the Labor Government’s $14 billion reform of the pension system after over 11 years of Coalition inaction;

(3)

understands that when there is a Commonwealth pension rise, some of it is likely to be absorbed into pensioners’ rising living costs, often as a result of States and Territories lifting housing rents and power costs;

(4)

notes the danger that pensioners are at risk of becoming impoverished if State and Territory governments do not allow the benefits of pension increases to flow through to pensioners; and

(5)

demands that all State and Territory Governments commit to permanently quarantining last September’s pension rise, in the calculation of pensioners’ public housing rent levels and other State and Territory government controlled costs.

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