Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

For this government to be standing here and giving itself a big pat on the back for giving pensioners some assistance is the latest in a long line of the world's best examples of hubris. Overbearing pride and arrogance are at the heart of this poor government. The fact is that the government has introduced pension increases, as the member for Parramatta has outlined in her motion. However, it is also a fact that this government has belted pensioners around the head with rules, regulations and extra taxes that have made them worse off than before. It is interesting to note that the compensation for the carbon tax will be taken as income assessment for public housing, so the rents will go up in accordance with income assessment from the carbon tax.

To give the ministers of this government another movie quote that they can use, 'What we have here is failure to communicate.' Let us see them come in here and tell the truth. We have seen the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations laud himself that that side of the House deals in the truth. Look at the millions of dollars used by this government to tell people about the free money they are going to receive. Look at the ads which do not mention the words 'carbon' or 'tax'. Why not come clean and just tell them that you think they will fall for this handout? Why not just tell them in an ad that says: 'Look, the Greens said they would support us if we introduced a carbon tax. It is that simple. It was either that, or they would take their support and go to the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, and tell him that they would help him form government.' And we laughed and we laughed and we laughed. Yes, that was going to happen! Of course they would not.

This was okay by the Prime Minister all along. It was no deal they had to make to remain in government. They knew that to go to the electorate to tell them they would introduce an economy-wide tax on carbon, which would eventually drive electricity prices up so high that solar and wind power would become competitive, would lose them the election. So they stood there and covered the media with great big porky pies straight down the barrel of the camera. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer kept a straight face when asked whether they would introduce a carbon tax. 'No, no, no,' came the response repeatedly in the last week of the campaign.

I was contacted by a self-funded retiree recently. She was listening to a radio interview between Mr Shorten, the Minister for Employment Workplace Relations, and Alan Jones. Mr Jones was asking about the plight of self-funded retirees. The member for Maribyrnong duly assured Mr Jones that he would raise these concerns with the Treasurer. This was some weeks ago. We are now six days away from the introduction of the carbon tax and we have heard nothing from either of these men on the plight of self-funded retirees.

What is the truth? The truth is that compensation for tax is not compensation at all. Extra money paid out by borrowing is not compensation; it is a yoke around the neck of the next generation. This government, and the Labor state governments of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, have racked up huge amounts of debt and they have to be repaid. This government and the member for Parramatta simply cannot have it both ways. You cannot continue to borrow against future generations and then decry attempts to rein in spending—much like this government's last budget, where it claims to have cut things to the bone while lifting spending to a new high.

The truth is that this government is attacking pensioners with the world's biggest carbon tax and with red tape and regulation which are making it harder to make ends meet. Let's be very clear about this: the compensation being offered to some stops at the front door, even for those people who are getting it. Who pays compensation to the Townsville City Council for the carbon tax? No-one pays compensation to the Townsville City Council for the carbon tax. No-one pays compensation at all to the shops, building firms or house builders. You have to be in a marginal Labor electorate for industry to be given any sort of assistance by the government. The Leader of the Opposition railed about the dangers being faced by the steel industry. The government has come forward with another $300 million for the steel industry, but only for those places controlled by the AWU. Places in my electorate like Pacific Coast Engineering and Wulguru Steel get nothing, but they have to pass their costs on.

My butcher does not get any compensation for the carbon tax, so the pensioners who go to my butcher because they get good service get nothing back. Those costs have to be passed on. Tropical Ice in my electorate are facing huge increases to their electricity costs. Those costs are passed on to the occupants of public housing. All those small business expenses will be added to the costs of being a pensioner in today's society. Australia has an ageing population and the challenges we face are huge. We need leaders who will provide hope, reward and opportunity to all in this society. (Time expired)

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