Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Pensioners in my electorate are struggling. They are struggling because of the neglect of this government. There is no doubt that pensioners have had a very difficult year. Many of them are at serious risk from the virus, and they've had to take precautions accordingly. In taking those precautions, they've had greater expenses. Has that been recognised by this government? It has not. For this government to drop the ball when it comes to the pension is just adding insult to injury in what has been a really, really difficult year.

Of course, we know the government has form when it comes to neglecting pensioners. It was Labor that called the government out on its disgraceful and disrespectful pension freeze in August—the first time in two decades that we were looking at not having a pension increase. What a disgrace. What a way to treat older Australians. What a way to show that you do not respect them, that you do not understand their needs—for the first time in more than two decades to threaten a pension freeze. Labor called the government out on that, and I'm pleased that it acted, but it has not gone far enough. We know that, when the government was initially caught out on its pension freeze, it actually tried to condescendingly explain that CPI had gone down in the recession. Well, that was of little comfort to all of these pensioners who are experiencing for themselves the increased costs they're facing during this pandemic and the lack of support and lack of respect they're getting from this government for what's going on in their lives and the expenses they're incurring, with the way this government is treating the pension.

This form on the pension extends to how the government is treating deeming rates. The government continues to short-change pensioners by maintaining unreasonably and unrealistically inflated pension deeming rates. Many people may not know much about deeming rates, but to pensioners these are very, very important. In this time, when pensioners are facing increased costs, increased stress, the lack of action from this government on deeming rates is an insult. How is it that, when the Reserve Bank's cash rate is at an all-time low of 0.1 per cent, the upper pension deeming rate is still at 2.25 per cent? Since the Liberals and Nationals have been in government, the cash rate has been cut 10 times, falling 240 basis points, yet the age pension upper deeming rate has only been adjusted four times. I say it again: this is an insult to pensioners. It really sums up how this government treats them and the lack of understanding of the reality of their lives.

Since the Prime Minister and the Treasurer took office, the cash rate has been cut six times, yet the age pension upper deeming rate has only been adjusted twice. I know that pensioners are worried about this, because they're telling me so. Pensioners should not be being forced into risky investments just because this government is refusing to take action on deeming rates. They should not be lying awake at night thinking about where they are going to get their money from and whether they need to switch to a riskier investment because this minister won't take action on deeming rates. Pensioners should be able to keep their modest savings safe. They should have the reassurance that they can do that and they should not be penalised for doing so.

This is from Shane, who is a pensioner in my electorate who wrote to tell me how abandoned he feels by this government: 'We have us the pensioners who worked, held jobs, worked long hours to help make this country, and our government has forgotten us, because we've outlived our usefulness. They forget we have gas bills, electricity bills. Most are living below the poverty line. We can't afford decent food, which in turn doesn't help with illness.' Shane asked me: 'Can you tell me why we're treated like we're all an inconvenience? At the moment, meat in most places is double the price, but we have money for half or less of this. It's just one example of how COVID has affected everyone. So why are we worthless?' He concluded by saying: 'I'm saying this for all pensioners.'

I ask the minister: can you explain why you're forcing older Australians to skip meals and struggle to pay their bills because you won't adjust the age pension deeming rate? How can the minister justify only adjusting the deeming rate four times, when the cash rate has been cut 10 times? When can pensioners expect this situation to change and the minister to act to adjust deeming rates to reflect the reality of their situation? When will this minister show pensioners respect?

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