Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to second it, Deputy Speaker. I'm very pleased to speak on the motion moved by the member for Mayo. It's a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the adequacy of the pension and the degree to which the Turnbull government has cruelly deserted Australian pensioners. In every single budget that this Liberal and National Party government has handed down, the Liberals and the Nationals have tried to cut the pension. Let's have a look at the very recent history under this government.

In the 2014 budget, they tried to cut pension indexation, a cut that would have meant that pensioners would have been forced to live on $80 a week less within 10 years. This unfair cut would have ripped $23 billion from the pockets of pensioners in Australia. The Prime Minister and every one of his Liberal-National Party colleagues voted to index the pension to CPI only. If this out-of-touch Prime Minister had had his way, the pension would have dropped from 28 per cent of average weekly earnings today to just 16 per cent by 2055 because of the Turnbull government's decisions.

In the very same budget, the LNP cut $1 billion from pensioner concessions, support designed to help pensioners cope with rising cost-of-living pressures. They also axed the $900 seniors supplement to self-funded retirees who receive the Commonwealth seniors health card. In the 2014 budget, these mean-spirited Liberals tried to reset deeming-rate thresholds, a cut that would have seen 500,000 part-pensioners made worse off. In 2015, the Liberals and Nationals did a deal with the Greens political party to cut the pension to around 370,000 pensioners by as much as $12,000 a year by changing the pension assets test. In the 2016 budget, the Liberals and Nationals tried to cut the pension to around 190,000 pensioners as part of a plan to limit overseas travel to pensioners to six weeks.

So what plans are still on this out-of-touch Turnbull government's books? The Liberals and Nationals still want to make pensioners born overseas wait longer to get the age pension by increasing the residency requirements from 10 years up to 15 years. They still want to increase the pension age to 70, meaning Australia would have an older pension age than the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. In the first four years of this policy, around 375,000 Australians will have to wait longer before they can access the pension. That would be a $3.6 billion hit to the retirement incomes of Australians. The Liberals and Nationals still want to axe the energy supplement to two million Australians, including around 400,000 age pensioners—a cut of $14.10 per fortnight to single pensioners or $365 a year, and couples would be $21.20 a fortnight, or $550 a year, worse off. This out-of-touch Prime Minister also wants to completely take away the pension supplement from pensioners who go overseas for more than six weeks. This will see around $120 million ripped from the pockets of pensioners, and they still refuse to adjust deeming rates for pensioners. It's been nearly three years since the out-of-touch Turnbull government last lowered deeming rates, and pensioners are paying the price, with current deeming rates now significantly higher than real rates of return. Interest rates have fallen from 2.25 per cent in February 2015 to 1.5 per cent today, yet Prime Minister Turnbull has done nothing.

Why is all of this relevant to the member for Mayo's motion? It is because this motion proposes to establish a tribunal to govern future increases to the pension. Currently, the pension's indexed twice a year, in March and September. It is indexed to the higher of three indices: the consumer price index; the pensioner and beneficiary living cost index, which is like the CPI for older Australians; and male total average weekly earnings. Unlike income support payments like Newstart, the pension is linked to wages. This is very important. Linking wages growth in the broader economy to the adequacy of the age pension is hugely important. It enables the pension to keep up with broader living standards.

Labor understands the need for the rate of the pension to reflect community standards and to ensure that pensioners have an adequate standard of living—that they can afford to have a shower, that they can afford to eat and survive. We understand that older Australians should be able to enjoy certainty, security and a decent standard of living in retirement. That's why the Labor government in 2009 increased the base rate of the pension by $30 a week. It was and still is the largest increase to the pension in its history. Increasing the pension is a proud Labor reform. Labor's pension increase was responsible for helping one million older Australians out of poverty. Labor has runs on the board in this area and Labor will always stand for up pensioners. When we roll out a tax policy that has a small impact, I notice that the Prime Minister jumps on board and says, 'No, we care for pensioners.' Labor has runs on the board. Let's look what the Prime Minister actually does rather than the words coming out of his mouth.

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