Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

To the pensioners of Australia, I say that there is a very simple way to tell if this Prime Minister is lying to you: his lips are moving. No more and no fewer than nine times in the last election campaign, the Prime Minister of Australia said to the pensioners of Australia, 'There will be no change to the pension.' Now we know, from day one, whether it is the former pensions minister or the current pensions minister, they have been working away behind the scenes to cut the pensions of Australians.

Were it not for the hard work of member for Jagajaga, for the hard work of my colleagues on this side of the House, that original cut to the pension would have gone through this place. We are proud that we stopped that first pension cut, and we pay tribute to the member for Jagajaga for that effort. That is the good news, that we stopped that. The bad news is that they are back.

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