Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Pension Loans Scheme Enhancements) Bill 2021. The Pension Loans Scheme is a long-standing legacy of the Labor Hawke government. The Pension Loans Scheme is one of a wide range of Labor policies that have sought to ensure the safety and the dignity of older Australians as they move through the later stages of their lives.

The loans scheme allows older people who are asset rich but cash poor to access income. This is a position that a large number of older Australians find themselves in, as many find themselves having substantial financial assets in the form of a home or property ownership but without any steady cash income support. The purpose of the scheme, which was created under the Hawke government, is to enhance the living standards of senior Australians who are unable to access the age pension because they were unable to meet the income test. Whilst the Pension Loans Scheme provides an important capacity for older Australians to access an income in the later stages of their lives, in doing so, to maintain their quality of life, this program has suffered under the stewardship of the Morrison government.

There are a number of barriers that prevent Australians from accessing the program in its current form. Equity, equality of access, the complexity of the available financial products and by-products, unintended consequences of safeguards against excessive debt, interest rates and cultural issues are all factors that contribute to the relatively low uptake of the Pension Loans Scheme. Despite each of these barriers being known for a substantial period of time and becoming more pronounced throughout the nine years of this Liberal-National government, the only notable reform we've seen to the scheme in recent years was through the modest changes made by the Turnbull government in the 2018-19 budget. These changes include expanding eligibility to full-rate pensioners and self-funded retirees, increasing the maximum fortnightly payment rate under the Pension Loans Scheme from 100 to 150 per cent of the full pension and the reduction of the interest rate from 5.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent. We supported these changes as they meant that more senior Australians, including full-rate pensioners, could increase their income. These changes expanded the way in which older Australians were able to access the scheme and the amount of money available to them through it.

The bill before the House further expands the scheme. This bill introduces more financial safeguards and greater payment flexibility, allowing two annual advance lump sum payments to help participants with larger expenses. In the lead-up to the election, in 2021, the government finally gave up on one of its long-term efforts to improve the budget bottom line on the back of pensioners by reducing the interest rate to 3.5 per cent—something that has obviously been necessary for some time to bring equity to the system. However—there's always a 'however' with his government; there's always a 'but'—it has become predictable with the Morrison government that this bill and the government's effort focuses more on marketing effort than actual substance. The Pension Loans Scheme and the safeguards that our country puts in place to ensure the dignity and safety of Australians as they move through the latter stages of their lives require more than just a marketing strategy.

The Pension Loans Scheme, an important Labor legacy that is crucial for older Australians to have access to income, requires more than just a new name in order to be sufficiently reformed, and provide a benefit to older Australians that it was intended to create. However, as happens so often with this government, the needs of older Australians are not considered or legislated for beyond the PR benefit that the Morrison government can achieve through announcements. It is crucial that older Australians have the capacity to live out their lives with dignity, and with access to basic services and quality of life.

The government have repeatedly failed to fulfil this requirement, and their failure for older Australians has been even more stark throughout the course of this pandemic. A lack of care for older Australians and aged-care residents is endemic to the Morrison government. We have seen time and time again, throughout this pandemic, their sheer disregard for the lives and the wellbeing of older Australians and aged-care residents. The botched vaccine rollout for aged-care residents and staff, and the ongoing lack of support for those within the aged-care sector—through lack of PPE, lack of booster shots and lack of support for staff—send a clear message from the Morrison government that the needs of older Australians are not a priority. Throughout their time in government, particularly through the course of the pandemic, the Liberal-National coalition have failed to listen to the stories and the experiences of older Australians and their families. The coalition have failed to legislate the very real changes which are necessary in order to reform the way in which this government treat those Australians who have retired and are moving on through the later stages of their lives.

The government's failure to truly address the needs of older Australians in this country extends far beyond this bill. One of the great examples of the failure of older Australians by this government is in the current state of the aged-care system. The government wants to claim to have put forward a plan that reforms the aged-care sector; but, beyond the smoke and mirrors, the government's response to the royal commission and to the mounting criticism of the current crisis within the aged-care system does not even fall short. It fails completely.

The government's proposed policies fail to deliver the enduring forms and improvements necessary to address the crisis in the short and the long run. Labor's criticism of the Morrison government's response to the aged-care crisis is not politics. It is not about political mudslinging; it is about facts. The Morrison government have delayed or outright rejected many of the crucial recommendations that the royal commission put forth as necessary changes for the reform of this industry. Throughout the omicron wave of this pandemic, day after day, we've been hearing stories of understaffed aged-care centres, of patients being left unattended—in many cases without access to even the basic medical treatment and care—and of the overworked and exhausted staff who are doing their very best in a broken system. The government have done very little to truly address these issues facing older Australians.

In aged care, the government's plan includes none of the recommended workforce and workplace changes that the royal commission outlined as necessary aspects of addressing the growing crisis within the industry. There's nothing to improve wages for the overstretched and undervalued aged-care workers. Similarly, with regard to the Pension Loans Scheme, which is the subject of this bill, there is very little done to address the core constraints faced by Australians in accessing the pension loan scheme.

While Labor welcomes any changes that have the capacity to improve access of older Australians to a reliable income and financial security, the bill proposed by the Morrison government does not do enough to reform a fundamentally broken system which has been created under this government's watch. Older Australians face a myriad of challenges in accessing adequate care and quality of life. It is disappointing that the government has procrastinated on so many issues facing older Australians. The budget and MYEFO changes, which are the subject of this bill, come two years too late. Participants have been paying higher interest rates than almost any mortgage, a saving measure for the budget off the back of senior Australians, including full-rate pensioners. Having such high interest rates has acted as a disincentive for many older Australians to access the scheme, and Labor believes that this scheme allowing people to unlock their housing assets to improve their retirement income should be fair and easy access for all senior Australians. As I said, the government has again missed an opportunity to introduce real change.

Labor knows the government needs to address outstanding cultural barriers to see real change in the take-up rates. The Morrison government needs to do better in addressing the issues which continue to bar many Australians from accessing the Pension Loans Scheme. Many tens of thousands of Australians live in land lease communities. These Australians own their own home, but, because they do not own the land, they are unable to access the scheme. This is unfair. The government must look at this issue and make further changes and open the scheme for these Australians. There are also many known cultural barriers that inhibit some Australians from accessing the scheme, yet the Morrison government has done very little to address these issues. Older Australians will not be fooled by these well-timed changes made by the Morrison government in this bill. Although there are positive changes to the loan scheme within this bill that provide some benefit to older Australians, cutting the pension is in the Liberals' DNA.

The Liberal-National coalition have tried to cut the pension and increase the pension age to 70 in every budget, including the three budgets where the current Prime Minister had the job of Treasurer. In the 2014 budget they tried to cut pension indexation. Had they been successful with that cut, it would have meant that pensioners would have been forced to live on $80 a week less within the next two years. This unfair cut would have ripped $23 billion from the pockets of every single pensioner in this nation. In the 2014 budget the government tried to cut $1 billion from pensioner concessions—support designed to help pensioners with the cost of living. They axed the $900 seniors supplement to self-funded retirees receiving a seniors health card, and they tried to reset the deeming rates threshold—a cut that would have seen 500,000 part-pensioners made worse off.

In 2015 the government cut the pension to around 370,000 pensioners by as much as $12,000 a year by changing the assets test. In the 2016 budget they tried to cut the pension to around 190,000 pensioners as part of a plan to limit overseas travel for pensioners to six weeks. They also tried to cut pension for over 1.5 million Australians by scrapping the energy supplement for new pensioners—a supplement which actually helped pensioners keep their homes warm during winter and cool during summer. Why you would want to go and attack pensioners is beyond me, but that is the DNA of this government. The government's own figures show they would have left 563,000 Australians currently receiving a pension or allowance worse off. Over 10 years, in excess of 1.5 million pensioners would be worse off under this Liberal-National government.

If all those attempts to cut the pension and diminish the quality of life for older Australians weren't enough, the Liberal government has spent five years trying to increase the pension age to 70. Of course they waited four years before adjusting the deeming rate for age pensioners, despite the Reserve Bank continually reducing its rate at the same period. On top of all that, the Morrison government has repeatedly taken steps aimed at phasing the cashless welfare card into use for the age pension. It is an offensive and dehumanising step, further robbing older Australians of dignity in autonomy.

Older Australians need a government that truly has their best interests at heart. Spiralling out-of-pocket healthcare costs are a big concern for older Australians, because of the Medicare freeze put in place by this coalition government. Pensioners know they cannot trust Liberal governments. As I said, cutting the pension is in the DNA of the Liberal Party, and ignoring the needs of older Australians—whether that be with regard to the pension, aged care or health care—is the Liberal Party's core belief. While the modest changes to the Pension Loans Scheme contained in this bill are being accepted by Labor, they are not enough to ensure the quality of life and security of older Australians. For that, we need a government that cares more about pensioners than about marketing.

The Pension Loans Scheme is a legacy of one of the great Labor governments, and Labor's ongoing support for this legislation is a reflection of our well-established history of legislating for the interests of older Australians. Older Australians deserve respect, compassion and care. Once again, the Morrison government, in this bill, is failing to provide that for them. It has never been more clear that an Albanese Labor government is what this country needs and what Australians, especially older Australians who helped to build this country, deserve.

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