Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Things are pretty dire for savers when interest rates hit a record low of one per cent. Our growth is slow and wages are stagnant. No wonder household spending is weak. All we see is inaction by this government. Unfunded tax cuts for high-income earners in five years time is not a plan. We need to see low- to medium-income earners getting tax cuts now. It needs to be Labor's plan. Small businesses in Macquarie, in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, need this to flow through to our economy.

Part-pensioners in particular are feeling the brunt of one per cent interest rates. Since 2015, as the Reserve Bank slashed rates five times, part-pensioners have struggled because the government assumes that they're earning at least 3.35 per cent on their savings. Clearly, that's not happening, not for anyone anywhere in Australia and definitely not for part-pensioners in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury. The amount of pension they receive is based on a fantasy and yet there has been no action by the Liberals in the last four years. Every day this government delays cutting deeming rates is a day it keeps part-pensioners struggling to cope with their power bills. Every day it delays is another day of ripping off part-pensioners. Every single day this government delays it should be ashamed for what it is doing to part-pensioners across this country.