Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

If I could just thank the minister. During almost all of the 43rd Parliament I was a full-time candidate down in Bass and his door was always open to talk about issues of substance. One of the issues we talked about and that I campaigned strongly on before the last election that always attracted a great deal of interest in northern Tasmania was indexation of the income thresholds for the Commonwealth seniors health card. I can recall talking to large groups of people, including with people from the Association of Independent Retirees. There was a great deal of interest in this issue.

The minister's office staff were always very welcoming and were ready to provide us with details in relation to these matters. I was able to report to the Association of Independent Retirees that the coalition had made a very strong commitment to index the income thresholds for the Commonwealth seniors card. If I recall correctly, we made the same strong commitment at both the 2010 and 2013 elections. How refreshing to see that that promise has translated to a budgeted measure in this year's budget. This measure improves the lives of many Australian senior citizens and it does so in a way that is intended to be fair, clear and consistent. I know the government is being as generous as it can be at this time, given the wider national social context of strong fiscal restoration and recovery.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

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