Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

the 2.3 million pensioners in Australia, some of whom I met in Queanbeyan today. The member for Eden-Monaro should get out and talk to some of the pensioners he has betrayed and the Prime Minister has betrayed. I say to the pensioners in Eden-Monaro that the member for Eden-Monaro is sitting in here having a good old laugh today because he has betrayed them and the Prime Minister has betrayed each and every one of the pensioners in Eden-Monaro—and in Bass, in Herbert. You keep laughing when you face up to those pensioners in Townsville and tell the truth at the next election. Those pensioners are going to see a cut to their pension because of the way each and every one of you has voted in this House of Representatives. Each and every one of you will be held to account by all of us at the next election for the way in which you are cutting the pension. If you do not want to believe me, just believe your own Treasurer, who, last week admitted that by 2024 the amount the government will spend on the age pension will be $7 billion less than otherwise projected. What does that mean to Australian pensioners? We tried to ask the Prime Minister this question the other day but of course he refused to answer.

The Australian Council of Social Service has worked out exactly what it will mean to Australian pensioners. Over the next 10 years it will mean $80 a week less and the member for Eden-Monaro should have a chat with his pensioners in Queanbeyan because they know—and you can shake your head and act like you do not know—that you have betrayed them and they know that Tony Abbott has betrayed them. It will be exactly the same for the three stooges in Tasmania.

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