Belinda Neal (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. How will the government’s reforms to pensions and family assistance benefit Australian women?

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question and particularly for her advocacy on behalf of around 24,000 pensioners in the seat of Robertson. It is the case that, from this Sunday, millions of Australian women will benefit from the government’s reforms to the pension system. It is the case that women disproportionately rely on the pension for their survival. It is the case that 57 per cent of age pensioners are women and, more important for all of us to be aware of, three out of four Australian single age pensioners are women. They in particular will benefit from the major reforms that the government is introducing, which start this Sunday.

It is the case that these single pensioners, many, many of them women, will benefit from the increase to the single age pension, which starts on Sunday. The increase, if you are on the maximum rate, will be $70.83 per fortnight—$70.83 per fortnight for those single age pensioners relying on the maximum rate of the pension. Of course, this increase comes about because of the significant increase in the base pension that was announced in the budget, the increase in the new pension supplement and the increase that is due to the new pension index that this government has introduced.

It is also the case, of course, that women represent more than two-thirds of all people who are on the carer payment. Those women in particular have already benefited from the new carer supplement, which this government introduced and made permanent for the first time—not like the previous government, who of course made these decisions for both older Australians and carers when it suited them politically. There was almost a decade of neglect from those opposite as far as pensioners were concerned. The pension was not enough for millions of Australian women dependent on it. Millions of Australian women could not survive on the pension. And for the whole time that those opposite were in government they were not capable of delivering to Australian pensioners. They did not have the bottle to deliver the reforms that we have delivered in the short time that we have been in office.

It is not just reforms to the pension that those opposite were not prepared to tackle. Take another very important matter of support for families, which is paid parental leave. Listen to what the current shadow minister for families had to say about paid maternity leave back in 2002. It will not be a surprise to some people that when he was a minister in the Howard government this is what the current member for Warringah said:

… paid maternity leave, over this Government’s dead body , frankly. It just won’t happen under this Government.

Well, Tony, you were spot-on about that.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member will refer to members by their parliamentary titles.

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It certainly did not happen under a Liberal government. Now that that government is dead, fortunately this government can get on with the job of introducing paid parental leave. We will be able to do so without any help whatsoever from the lifeless form over there that calls itself an opposition. We know how stuck in the past it is, but I must say that, even knowing how stuck in the past it is, I was very surprised to read in the Age today of the attitudes—and I am sure even the current member for Higgins was surprised to read this—of some preselectors in the electorate of Higgins. It was reported in the Age today that Higgins is:

… “not a seat for a woman because it’s a leadership seat” …

It is not a seat for women, according to the preselectors in Higgins. Apparently some of these Liberal preselectors—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. Under standing order 104, I would ask you to explain to the House how this answer could be in the least bit relevant to the question the minister was asked.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just rule on the points of order; I do not do the explanation part. The minister must relate her material to the question and she should commence to finalise her response.

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Unfortunately, the final quote from the preselectors for Higgins actually raised questions about whether or not the candidate’s marriage would even survive if she won a federal seat. This just demonstrates yet again how stuck in the past the Liberal Party is.