Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am proud to be part of a team working to make life easier and more affordable for those living on the pension. My electorate of Gilmore, on the New South Wales South Coast, has the second-highest number of age pensioners in Australia. Almost 28,000 local people are receiving this payment every single week. That is huge. And that is just the age pension. In fact, if you were to calculate each government payment being received across Gilmore, it totals more than 156,000. While some people may be receiving more than one payment, this is still a hugely significant number, so it is no surprise that I am truly passionate about this topic. The Albanese government is the first government in more than a decade to take serious action to support those receiving government pensions.

In September, our government oversaw the largest indexation increase to government payments for pensioners in more than decade and the largest indexation increase to allowances that so many people rely on in more than 30 years. This pay rise saw pension rates rise by $38.90 per fortnight for singles and $58.80 per fortnight for couples combined. It has also seen those receiving the JobSeeker payment receive an extra $25.70 a fortnight. I know what a difference this will make in the lives of local people.

When we have a housing crisis growing out of control, and every day I have people contacting my office and telling me they can't afford their rent, an increase in the rent support payment is going to make a difference. When more and more people are struggling to afford their medicines, bringing the price down by more than 29 per cent and increasing the threshold for the Commonwealth seniors health card will give 50,000 more self-funded retirees access to cheaper medicines and medical care. This is real action to address the rising costs of living for the more vulnerable people in our community. And it is great news for our community.

Before the Jobs and Skills Summit in September, I conducted a survey across my community to ensure that local people could have their voices heard. Traditionally, the South Coast has been an area of high unemployment. But, like most places right now, we have worker shortages across a range of key industries. There are many outcomes of the Jobs and Skills Summit that I like to say have come about because of the input of local people in Gilmore. But probably the most influential were comments about supporting older Australians to work. With almost 28,000 age pensioners, it is little wonder this is a big concern for many people.

I recently met with Michael. He is a retired teacher who wants to return to work to supplement his pension and help him maintain a suitable standard of living. We are in dire need of teachers across the country, but people like Michael have been disincentivised to return to work. Michael is not alone. In my Jobs and Skills Summit survey, people like Sandra suggested we incentivise older Australians to work more hours per week without it impacting their pension. Ian said we need to encourage older Australians back into the workforce. Ian's wife is on the disability support pension, and, when he works, her pension is reduced by 25c in the dollar, reducing her independence. Felicity told me:

We have an untapped resource in employment of the pension aged members of our community … Many have skills, capacity and desire to work in retail, hospitality, but a major disincentive is the loss of benefits applicable should they work more than very minimal hours per week … With many of our businesses unable to operate for full opening hours or days and a significant older population in this region, surely this is a potential solution.

Felicity, Ian and Sandra were among many who made this suggestion. So I wrote to the minister, and the government agreed.

We have introduced legislation to strengthen incentives for age pensioners to work. If this passes, from 1 December, pensioners over age-pension age will benefit from an immediate $4,000 increase in the maximum work bonus income bank balance, which they can access until the end of December 2023. This will mean that pensioners will be financially better off if they work, helping to address labour shortages and helping to support pensioners. Thank you to everyone who continues to make suggestions about how we can better support older Australians in our community. We are doing so much to support our pensioners, and I will keep working every day to make sure that you get a better deal under an Albanese government.

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