Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take the interjection from the member. Money does not grow on trees. Apparently $65 billion grows on trees. You are happy to hand that back to the banks and the corporations. We need to address a fundamental mistruth that this government peddles—that terrible lie of lifters and leaners from this government, that awful labelling of pensioners as a 'burden' on society. Pensioners are not a burden on society. They have helped build our society. Whether in a lifetime of paid work or looking after a home or volunteering for a charity or a school, pensioners are valuable members of our society and they deserve to be treated with respect, and they deserve society's support when times get tough.

No-one in Australia should have to choose between affording food and affording electricity, between affording a pet and affording a car, between affording a gift for a grandchild and affording a day out with friends. We are an extraordinarily wealthy country—a wealth that our pensioners helped create. And we can—and we should and we must—do better. Pensioners are hardly living the high life. The current rate of a full age pension, including pension supplements and the energy supplement, is $888.30 per fortnight for singles and $669.60 for each eligible member of a couple—for singles, $444 a week for rent, petrol, bills, food and everything else. And all of us in this chamber receive close to $300 a night for staying here. So, $444 a week for pensioners to meet every expense they have, when we get $300 a night to cover our motel and a bit of transport maybe—well, no; the Comcars are free—when you talk about money not growing on trees—

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