Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take the interjection from the member opposite, because this is a shabby opposition that even Bob Hawke is embarrassed about. In January this year Bob Hawke, looking at the projected deficit of $47 billion, said: 'This is a very large budget deficit that you are looking at.' Labor seem to be walking away from the suggestion that they can move into surplus in this first term, but what is required is the same thing. You have to have a Prime Minister and a Treasurer and a competent ministry that understands the issue and is prepared to make the hard decisions. Yes, we have had to make some hard decisions. We have not enjoyed making the decision to cut the seniors' supplement; it has been a difficult decision for us. We will be upfront about that, but, let me tell you, we will not cop the misleading rubbish that we are hearing from Labor and the scaremongering from Australian pensioners.

We are not cutting the pension. The pension goes up twice a year and in September 2017 there will be a change from indexation to CPI. That is correct, but let me say this: it was good enough for Labor to do it for those on Family Tax Benefit to move to CPI from indexation. Again, we see the utter hypocrisy of those opposite. Let me say to anyone watching this broadcast or reading it in Hansard: we are not cutting the pension. We will not cop the misleading rubbish that even Bob Hawke—who was a good Prime Minister and a great Labor figure—is embarrassed about it.

I want to refer very briefly to the co-payment and a very important safeguard in relation to the co-payment. Again, there has been a lot of rubbish talked about the co-payment. A total of 8.6 million concession card holders will be protected by the safety net. They will pay a maximum of $70 a year. On this point I agree with members opposite: for some people $7 a visit is quite tough, particularly if it combines a number of services—pathology and radiology may be combined with a visit to the doctor in the one visit. So it could be more than $7 in one visit, but the important thing that we have done is to provide for doctors to bulk-bill. There will be many doctors who decide to continue to offer bulk-billing to those who need it the most. Again I hear the echo of 'Rubbish' across the chamber, but it is simply untrue. Allowing bulk-billing is part of our reforms. What has been amazing in this debate is the talk of cost-of-living pressures and the absolute betrayal by members opposite against self-funded retirees—it was mean and nasty, but we have not heard anything about the carbon tax.

Today we are very proud that the carbon tax has been abolished by the Senate and that seniors will no longer be hit by an average of $550 a year through higher electricity and gas prices. While I acknowledge that for some seniors $7 as a co-payment might be quite tough for some, those same people are turning off their heaters because they have not been able to pay their electricity bills. Those same people are struggling with this dreadful, toxic tax which is costing manufacturing across Australia $1.1 billion—it has been a $9 billion handbrake on the economy. A year ago three of the most senior members of the then government, and now the opposition, said, 'We have terminated the carbon tax.' And three times since Labor has voted to keep the carbon tax. I can assure everyone in my electorate of Corangamite and across Geelong that this is a great day for manufacturing and our smart manufacturing future. It is also a great day for farmers. There have been many groups and agencies that have spoken out today applauding the repeal of the carbon tax—including the National Farmers Federation, who have been extremely critical about the way the carbon tax drove up the price of doing everything on the farm, from fertilisers to transport. Dairy farmers were hit with an average increase in their costs of between $5000 and $7000 a year. When we talk about the cost of living, what a shame that the members opposite do not have the courage to acknowledge that as of today we have to delivered a great bonus and a great benefit to older Australians.

There have been a lot of misleading statements made about our support for families and the seniors. I want to reflect on the very important welfare scheme we have in place for so many families. We have a comparatively generous welfare scheme—a great social safety net. A sole parent with two children aged under six and earning $60,000 in our 2016-17 budget receives a parenting payment single, the Clean Energy Supplement and Family Tax Benefit A of $7009. The Energy Supplement Part A is $139; Family Tax Benefit B is $3913; the Energy Supplement Part B is $69; Family Tax Benefit B and A supplement is $1200; and the supplement is another $300. That totals in government payments $12,630, making it a total income of $72,630 with the income tax of $12,147 and income after tax is $60,483. So there is a net gain of $483. Let us not forget that the income tax burden has been lowered substantially because we have raised the tax free threshold from $6000 to $18,200. When we talk about supporting families, that is a really good example of the incredibly generous government payments that we provide families who really do need our help. A dual income family with a 70/30 income split with two children under the age of six, earning $60,000 in 2016-17, receives total government payments of $10,067 and that is a total income of $70,067 with income tax of just $5667. The income after tax is $64,400, and net gain of $4400. They are $4,400 in front because of the very generous government payments that families like the ones I have referred to in my contribution receive. There is a range of other government support that families receive. There are rent assistance, the child care rebate of up to $7,500 per child and child care benefit. There are also access to family support programs, carer allowance and carer supplement to care for somebody with a disability and, for some, subsidised medicines through the PBS.

That is a really good overview of the support that we are providing to families. Today we have acted to lower the cost-of-living burden by ensuring that we deliver on our commitments to repeal the carbon tax. We are very proud of that. Members opposite would not be feeling too proud about their decision today. It is a really embarrassing decision for them to have made. It will cause 30,000 seniors on low incomes to miss out on some really important benefits. I can understand why people like the member for Bendigo are squirming in their seats and feeling uncomfortable with their decision. The opposition may disagree with other parts of our budget, but this is an unnecessary and very unfortunate decision that they have made. The people who will suffer as a result of it are seniors. They are the people who need our help. Let us start talking about the facts and let us reflect on the decision that the opposition have made today. Self-funded retirees all around the country, including in my electorate of Corangamite—there are some 25,000 older Australians in the electorate of Corangamite, which I represent very proudly—will be extremely unhappy with this decision. But we have not given up yet, of course.

The indexation of the seniors card reflects an important election commitment. I am very proud of the election commitments we are delivering in my electorate and across the Geelong region. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is one of the biggest safety nets we have seen in our lifetime. We are again seeing shocking, appalling, scaremongering from those opposite, including from the Leader of the Opposition, scaring people with a disability and their families and carers. I pay credit to the Leader of the Opposition, because when he was in government he helped these people; but now all he is doing is scaring them. That is incredibly unfortunate. I commend this bill. It is a wonderful initiative. I condemn those opposite for the decision they have made.

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