Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Services and other Legislation Amendment (Seniors Health Card and Other Measures) Bill 2014, and I acknowledge the member for Jagajaga, who would normally be speaking on this bill directly but who unfortunately has lost her voice. But it is with great pleasure that I speak on this bill.

Labor will be opposing this bill, and we will vote against it both in this House and in the Senate. This bill extends eligibility for the Commonwealth seniors health card by indexing the income threshold currently set at $50,000 for singles and $80,000 for couples. This means that people earning above these thresholds will gain access to the Commonwealth seniors health card. This is an expansion of entitlement to the Commonwealth seniors health card—so much for ending 'the age of entitlement'. Over time it is expected that this bill will expand access to the Commonwealth seniors health card by about 20,000 people. The Treasurer and the Liberals are not ending the age of entitlement; they are ushering in an age of hypocrisy.

Let me be clear. Labor does support the Commonwealth seniors health card. The Commonwealth seniors health card was established by the Keating government in 1994 to give low-income self-funded retirees access to similar Commonwealth concessions as holders of the pensioner concession card. We accept that many holders of the Commonwealth seniors health card are not rich and that the assistance they receive as a result of the card significantly assists them with their costs of living, especially the costs of pharmaceuticals.

But it is important that we look at this bill in the context of the current budget—it cannot be taken in isolation. The bill before the House today is an extension of entitlements for people on higher incomes at a time when those at the bottom are having their income support dramatically reduced. That is why we will not, and cannot, support this bill. At the same time as the Abbott government is ripping money away from pensioners and seniors, it is expanding entitlement to people at the top. That is just not right.

Let me be very clear about what the Abbott government is cutting. It is cutting the age pension. It is cutting the disability support pension. It is cutting the carer payment. It is abolishing the seniors supplement. It is abolishing the pensioner education supplement. It is increasing—and did so in this House yesterday—co-payments for pharmaceuticals, making medicines more expensive for our older Australians. It has already cut $1.3 billion in Commonwealth funding for concessions for pensioners and seniors. It is abolishing the schoolkids bonus. It is abolishing the income support bonus. It is abolishing the low-income superannuation contribution. It is slashing support for young job seekers. And it is slashing family tax benefits.

This budget is a savage attack on low-income Australians, and senior Australians will be amongst the hardest hit. This budget represents a cruel betrayal of Australia's 3.2 million pensioners, who were promised by the Prime Minister before the election that there would be no changes to their pensions. These cruel cuts to pensions will see the living standards of age pensioners, disability support pensioners, veterans and carers dramatically decline. The budget is disastrous for all Australians who believe in a fair, tolerant and compassionate Australia.

The changes in pension indexation arrangements in the budget are a cut. They are a very direct cut to the living standards of Australia's 3.2 million pensioners. The pension is benchmarked to wages for a reason—so that pensioners' standard of living keeps pace with the standard of living of the working population more broadly. John Howard knew that—that is why he legislated for it. Indeed, the current minister explained to this House in 2011 how the wages benchmark enabled pensioners to keep ahead of cost-of-living increases.

According to the Australian Council of Social Services, pensioners will be $80 a week worse off within a decade because of these changes. This is a cut in anyone's language and about as big a broken promise as you could get. The Council on the Ageing, COTA, understands this. In a media statement released following the budget, COTA said:

Moving to CPI as the only indexation of the pension takes the pension back to the Fraser government of earlier. From September 2017 the value of the pension will decrease every six months.

But that logic does not seem to make sense to the Abbott government, those opposite, or the Abbott government's inept Treasurer, who declared that this government is 'the best friend Australian pensioners have ever had.' What an absolute joke. What an insult.

The Liberals are such good friends to pensioners that they did not even turn up to a Fair Go for Pensioners rally at the Perth Town Hall. No fewer than 20 Liberal senators and MPs were invited, but they refused to attend that rally. None of those 20 Liberal senators and MPs wanted to explain why the Abbott government is cutting pensions by $450 million. They did not have the guts to front up to pensioners about what they are doing to the indexation of the pension. Some friends they are.

The budget also seeks to increase the pension age to 70. It is clear that the Prime Minister's only plan for older Australians is for them to work longer and to retire with less. How else would you explain the government's decision to abolish the low-income super contribution, a measure that reduces the tax burden for 3.6 million Australians who earn $37,000 or less a year—two-thirds of whom are women? How else would you explain the government's decision to further delay the increase in superannuation from nine per cent to 12 per cent and, at the same time, reverse the proposed changes at the top to tax earnings of over $100,000?

Measures in this budget will see more people being reliant on the pension in the future. And it is not just pensioners who are bearing the brunt; self-funded retirees have been betrayed by this budget, too. Hundreds of thousands of senior Australians who have worked hard all of their lives— (Time expired)

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I thank the honourable member for Ballarat. The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour.