Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

With great respect, I am not referring to any particular persons being a liar, I am saying lies have been told to the Australian people. And now we are seeing another attack on Australian pensioners by this government. They were told prior to the last election that there would be no attacks on Australian pensioners and no cuts to Australian pensions. They were told there would be no change. There are cuts and changes proposed in this legislation. I describe those sorts of things as fibs, untruths. Some others might call them lies. Let me make very clear the impact this legislation will have on some people. As a direct result of this legislation, because of the measures within this legislation, some single pensioners will be $8,000 worse off. Some pensioner couples may be up to $14,000 worse off as a result of the measures in this legislation.

Let me tell you about a mate of mine who is a teacher. Peter is aged 60 and he has a wife who is aged 60. Both of them were fully employed until the end of last year. They have worked for close to 40 years teaching in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, sometimes in remote communities, whilst raising four boys with all the educational, cultural and sporting needs to be satisfied in any family. This couple is now in the process of winding down to retirement. The wife has retired and Peter is using his long service leave and reducing his employment from full-time to part-time, and he plans to retire in a couple of years. Until budget night this year, Peter and his wife felt secure and safe that their retirement years would be comfortable, and they were looking forward to a bit of travel and devoting the coming years to their sons' families with a growing number of grandchildren. This is not an unusual scenario for people around retirement age.

The 2015-16 budget, this legislation, introduces savings measures which will tighten the assets test for pensions payments. This consists of two parts: raising the asset test thresholds and increasing the rate at which pension payments are reduced, which is known as the taper rate. Peter and his wife are members of that group of about eight per cent of all pensioners who are estimated to have their part-pension reduced as a result of this measure. They have to sit down and work out precisely what it will cost them each year. It could be well over $10,000 and it may well be $14,000. I go back to what I said at the start. This government, prior to the last election, said there will be no cuts and no change. What are Peter and his wife looking at? No cuts and no change? What they are looking at is potentially impecuniosity as a result of deliberate measures being taken by this government. I know members of the government are embarrassed by it; but it is the truth—and they ought to be embarrassed. I see that the minister is here. I am pleased that he is here.

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