Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tasmanians awoke yesterday to a special feature in the Sunday Tasmanian: 'Thousands endure a life of struggle.' It tells the story of life for age pensioners in Tasmania, and it is heartbreaking. More than 1,000 Tasmanian pensioners participated in the newspaper's survey, which reported that 59 per cent said life on the pension is difficult or very difficult, 74 per cent said that they run out of money before the next pension payment is due and 90 per cent believe the age pension should provide a reasonable standard of living, not just the bare minimum.

A single pensioner receives $400 a week and the poverty line is $426. The fact that age pensioners live below the poverty line in one of the wealthiest nations in the world—a wealth they helped create—is shameful. One couple, Sue and Brendon, reported that they buy an $8 pack of supermarket sausages and divide it into portions to last three nights. The response of Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz was: 'We need to balance the obligation not to leave their grandchildren with a huge burden of debt.' When we fail the most vulnerable in our nation we fail as a nation. If this government argues that it can afford a $50 billion handout to banks and corporations, it is not a matter of fact that it cannot afford a better deal for pensioners; it is merely a matter of priorities.