Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Portability Extensions) Bill 2021 and to speak in favour of the second reading amendment moved by the member for Barton. I listened to what the member for Barton said in her remarks to the House today, and at the conclusion of her comments a phrase rang true for me. I wondered where I'd heard it before and I rang some family members. She said, 'A penny saved is a penny earned.' That is a saying my grandmother used to use all the time.

My grandmother, Evelyn Margaret Budden, was the sole parent of four children and she was a retail worker. In her later life she worked at David Jones in Queen Street in Brisbane. She worked up until the age of about 70, and one morning, when she was getting off the escalator, she broke both her wrists and was forced to retire, so she went onto the pension. That was about when I was born. I remember when going to my nan's house and catching up with her that she had a little book in her green handbag. She would go to this a couple of times a day. That was her pension book, where she would write down exactly what she was spending, how she was going to spend her money and what she was spending her money on. She was a very proud woman and a very trusted and honourable person. People on the pension have to rely a lot of times on their wits, on their abilities, and they have to watch every penny.

She was also a very strong Labor supporter, and I remember that as kids we asked her, 'Nan, why are you such a strong Labor supporter?' She always said one thing straightaway. She said, 'Labor, when I was a young mum and when child endowment came in'—I think it was about 1941 or 1942—'it was five shillings paid directly to the mother.' It was the first time it was paid to the mother. She remembers clearly that payment coming in for her four kids when she was on her own, raising those children. It was the first time they could afford to buy golden syrup. She said, 'Under a Labor government, that's what allowed our family to go ahead.'

So I'm really proud to speak on behalf of the pensioners in my electorate as well as all those pensioners who have gone before us in this nation, who have helped build our nation, like my grandmother, who if she were still alive would be terribly embarrassed that I was talking about her. She would just say, 'Get on with it,' so I will. I speak on behalf of the almost 20,000 people, in the Oxley electorate, aged over 65 to 70 and the 12,850 people on the age pension that I represent, making sure that their voices are heard in this parliament. A lot of those pensioners go week to week, fortnight to fortnight, making sure that they look after every penny.

I want to raise my voice on a number of issues in support of the bill today. It's a pretty straightforward bill. Administrative changes ensure that the pension rate is available to pensioners who travel or live overseas and, in certain circumstances that are outside of a pensioner's control, allow the secretary to make a declaration that prevents pension rates reducing in line with usual rules. I want to focus on the record of this side of the chamber versus the government's appalling record when it comes to dealing with pensioners.

I also want to talk about this issue that's been raised today, and that pensioners are also discussing with me, about the cashless pensioner card that the government has not successfully ruled out as an option for the 12,850 pensioners I represent. Around 67 per cent of people aged over 65 in my electorate are, directly, on the age pension. When I talked to some pensioners on the weekend, at the Blue Fin Fishing Club, and explained that the government may be using this as an option, they were horrified—but also embarrassed that a government in Australia may take away their ability to spend their own money.

As the member for Jagajaga said, it's judgemental, it's wrong and it's offensive to pensioners, and I won't stand for it. The member for Richmond has been leading the charge on this, side by side with the member for Barton. Labor is the party of pensioners. Labor is the party that delivered the pension in the first place and delivered the first historic increase for the pensioners of Australia. Labor will also be the party that fights the government's plan to introduce this shameful debit card to pensioners, forcing them onto it.

Don't take my word for it. I'll quote what Minister Anne Ruston's—I had to google who she was!—lines were on this. When she was asked about it, she said:

… whether there is a conversation that the Australian public would like to have about the broadening of the use of the card.

Why is she raising this in the first place? If I was asked that as the minister for social services in this country, I'd say, 'Not over my dead body.' That's exactly what I would say, and so would the member for Barton if she was privileged to be the minister in this parliament. She should be the minister in this parliament, to make sure that pensioners' voices are heard and that those issues are raised. In 2020 the Prime Minister's social services minister said:

… I see from the cashless debit card becoming a more universal platform …

What does 'a more universal platform' mean?

This government's great at ripping into the vulnerable. It is always weak against the strong but strong against the weak. We know this government is not on the side of pensioners, and I know there are members on the other side getting the same feedback that I am receiving from pensioner groups in my community and my electorate. They would be getting the same concerns in emails and telephone calls and the social media campaign that's being run around this. I pay tribute to the advocates. It started in Bundaberg and is spreading out across Australia. I know every single member of this parliament would have pensioners contacting them through the various platforms. We saw the social services minister, last week—this is the person in charge of running the social security system in this country—go onto the member for Richmond's Facebook page and start trolling her because she was standing up for pensioners. It is completely unacceptable that members of parliament should somehow be chastised for speaking out on behalf of pensioners.

If the government has its way, pensioners won't be able to buy second-hand goods. They may not be able to give cash to grandkids. They may not be able to have a cheap meal or a roast at the local RSL if they're not signed up to it. If the government has no plans to roll this out to pensioners, why are there venues right across this country already listed, already banned? Why is it in the legislation that it can apply to pensioners? Why is it in there? Why did the government do that? I voted against that legislation, and so did every other member of parliament on this side of the chamber.

Look at my home state of Queensland, which has hundreds of thousands of pensioners. In the electorate of Dickson, there are around 13,288 people on the age pension. In the electorate of the member for Petrie, who is at the table here—

Mr Howarth interjecting—

I will—through you, Deputy Speaker—talk about how the member for Petrie and members of the government have a plan to roll this out to pensioners. They should get up in this chamber, speak after me, and deny it. The member for Petrie, in his electorate, has 20,823 people on the age pension. I tell you what: there's one person who will be fighting it, and that's the Labor candidate for Petrie, Mick Denton, a blue-collar worker, a frontline worker, who's fighting for pensioners in the Petrie electorate. Here they go, Madam Deputy Speaker!

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