Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I refer the minister to his previous non-answer, in which he failed to answer any of the questions I asked. I put it to him again: does the government have modelling on the impact of the change of the indexation on pensioners? The minister referred to the 'evil' carbon tax and other matters, but that is not what the question refers to. My question simply refers to the change in the indexation of the age pension and other pension payments. Budget Paper No. 2, at page 203, indicates savings of $449 million over the next five years by changing the way of indexing the pension. Let me put this to the minister very clearly and in a very straightforward fashion: can the minister confirm that this is $449 million that pensioners will not be receiving, that will be cut from their income?

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