Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Disability Reform) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh very much for that question because I know how much he does, particularly for families and pensioners, in his electorate of Hindmarsh. It is, of course, the case that this government has been getting on with the job of delivering real assistance to both pensioners and households. If you go firstly to the millions of pensioners in Australia, it is this government that delivered the most substantial improvements to the pension and, compared to when the Leader of the Opposition was in government, pensioners are now getting $148 a fortnight extra if they are single pensioners on the maximum rate. That certainly has helped pensioners with their difficulties when it comes to meeting cost-of-living pressures.

The government is also doing many things to help families. It is this government that has increased the childcare rebate to make sure that it does provide that extra assistance with out-of-pocket costs when parents need to take their children to child care and it is this government that has helped parents with the costs of education, most recently with the cost of school uniforms. And, of course, it is this government that has made sure that it improves assistance for those parents who have got older teenagers who are staying on at school—not like those opposite, who are so out of touch and who have got no idea about the costs of older teenagers. It is this government that has made sure that it delivers to those parents, and they are now getting up to $4,200 extra a year to make sure that they can meet the costs of their children.

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