Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

No, they should get it. That is exactly my point, Senator Ronaldson. They have largely been ignored and they should get it. But what happens next year to the battlers—the basic age pensioner receiving about $13,700 a year? A pensioner came into my office a few weeks ago with a rate bill for $1,200. She owned her own home but was sadly widowed. She was really battling to pay the rate bill. It is $500 one-off, but what happens next year and the year after? If there is a logic to paying the battlers like the full age pensioner $500 because they are doing it tough—and I think they are doing it tough—what happens next year when there is no one-off payment?