Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I congratulate you on your appointment to the Speaker's Panel. I find it incredibly ironic that the member for Fisher was taking us to task for petty politics, given the fact that both he and the member for Forde, in quite a desperate and malicious attempt, tried to link this to the carbon price issue. This is yet another example of the coalition government hitting low-income earners and pensioners.

The member for Fisher is quite right that in 2000 the Howard government did take action—and I applaud that—because of urging on both sides of parliament to deem these village home parks to be residential premises. However, the new government through the ATO is planning on applying the 10 per cent GST to older residents who own their own dwellings on rented village sites.

As other speakers have noted, this will affect around 100,000 Australians who live in this form of affordable accommodation. This is hitting 100,000 Australians who are on fixed incomes that are often quite low. In my electorate of Charlton, up to 1,000 people will be affected. These are most notably in areas such as Bonnells Bay, Morisset and Toronto. On the member for Forde's figures, the hit will be somewhere between $500 and $800.

My office has been contacted by many residents worried by these changes. For example, Lynne Wilson, president of the Grange village residents committee, has told my office, 'We are prepared to do anything. People in this village are panicked by these increases.' She has spoken with other local residential park presidents and they tell her that their residents are terrified too. This is just one piece of feedback about the level of concern out there in the community that has been noted by both this side and, to be fair, the member for Fisher as well.

The residents association estimate that 95 per cent of residents in these parts are pensioners. According to the association, there are no changes to park practices that justify the application of the GST, and this was echoed by the last speaker. However, it should be noted that, unless there is intervention, it will be the Abbott government that will be happy to slug some of the poorest people in my electorate and in other electorates in the country. In other words, the new government is even meaner than the Howard government, and that is something that is quite remarkable.

It is incumbent on the government to explain what has changed and, if they cannot, to intervene and try to avoid this outcome. They should not be hiding behind the ATO. This change will affect 100,000 people on the lowest incomes, and it is a matter of fundamental inequity.

I will turn to some of the comments by the member for Forde when he was trying to rationalise this $800 hit. He tried to link it to the carbon price and the impact on pensioners. It is well worth noting that the carbon price had a 0.7 per cent impact on the consumer price index and, in return, we lifted the pension by 1.7 per cent, well above the cost-of-living impact. That is an example of a government recognising the cost-of-living impact of a measure and compensating low- and middle-income earners for that.

The hit from this particular measure will be $800. It was quite desperate to try to link that to their flawed claims on cost-of-living pressures from the carbon price that are quite mischievous and based on hypothetical scenarios. What is more important to acknowledge is the $800 hit from this and the $1,300 hit that will occur to families from Direct Action. This $1,300 figure comes from the Treasury costings very recently. That means that within the first 100 days of the new government we have seen a $2,100 hit on poor and low-income earners in places like Charlton. So this is a hugely important issue. I applaud the member for Shortland for drawing it to our attention. I certainly support the member's motion and I urge the government to rectify this matter.

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