Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

This is a truly bizarre question from the Leader of the Opposition, because the married pension has gone up $78 a fortnight under this government. The single pension has gone up $51 a fortnight under this government. Just last week both of them went up by some $5 or more. This is a government which is putting pensions up, and this government will push pensions up twice a year, every year. That is what we will do. We will put pensions up twice a year, every year.

We have done the right thing by the pensioners of Australia by scrapping the carbon tax that the Leader of the Opposition wants to bring back. He does. He wants to bring back the carbon tax. We have scrapped the carbon tax and we have kept the compensation. You know what else we have done, Madam Speaker? We have kept the hand of government, the long hand of the former minister for financial regulations, out of pensioners' pockets. That is what we have done. He had his hand deep into the pockets of pensioners. He was going after their inactive bank accounts. We have said, 'Bill, hands off pensioners' bank accounts.' That is what we have said. Thanks to the Leader of the Opposition—

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