Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Older Australians have worked hard their entire lives, making a significant contribution to our nation and its prosperity; and older Australians need to know that they will be supported in their older years. I am so proud to be part of a government that has taken action in this latest budget to support older Australians, whether that is through improving and enacting the recommendations of the royal commission into aged care or, indeed, taking action on responsible cost-of-living reforms for older Australians. This has been welcomed by many locals in my electorate, and I'd like to thank Sharon from Seaford Meadows for her encouragement. She sent me a message expressing her thanks for all the hard work our government has been doing, particularly in supporting older Australians. I'm pleased that we are delivering on our commitment to Australians like Sharon and that we have introduced a comprehensive seniors package not only for aged care but also to reduce the cost of living.

I'm particularly pleased that the benefits of expanding eligibility for the Commonwealth seniors health card are now flowing through. These important changes, passed by the parliament last month, see the income limit increased to $90,000 a year for individuals and $144,000 a year for couples. These reforms will support an additional 50,000 older Australians, and they've had a positive impact on many in my electorate, including John and Cynthia from the Reserve retirement village in Woodcroft, who welcomed these change, saying: 'We are certainly impressed that the new guidelines for eligibility for the Commonwealth seniors health card came to fruition in such a short time.'

Our government continues to take action, and there are number of measures that I hope will be passed by the Senate this week, including changes that support pensioners to downsize their home and the one-off credit to the work-bonus income bank, which is before the Senate now. This builds on our freeze to the current social security deeming rates for two years, which came as a real relief for many pensioners facing cost-of-living increases. These reforms have been welcomed by residents like Carol, from Elkanah Retirement Village in Morphett Vale, who said to me: 'Thank you so much for your hard work. Congratulations. You are achieving great support from pensioners across the board.'

I am committed to continuing to work across government, with our government, to deliver a better outcome for older Australians, and that commitment will continue to show through.