Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

It will come as no surprise to this chamber that the coalition will be supporting the Social Security and Veterans’ Entitlements Legislation Amendment (One-off Payments and Other Budget Measures) Bill 2008. I would like to identify a number of issues that I believe the Senate needs to be aware of. This legislation has been introduced only after intense pressure brought by the coalition earlier in the year. The pressure arose from some senior-sourced reports in the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald which said that the carers bonus and one-off bonus were going to be axed under the guise of fighting inflation. On 7 March, the Australian reported a senior source stating that payments would be scrapped. This made us—the party who care for carers and veterans—incensed, as were many veterans and carers.

When the government was challenged on this issue, there were no flat-out denials. There was some hedging. The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Ms Macklin, refused to rule anything in or out in the budget, which was a great shame. I ask: if the government had been committed all along to paying these bonuses, why were these very well-sourced reports appearing in two credible journals, and why did the minister not say that the government was totally committed to paying the bonuses when she was given the chance?

I would like to make it absolutely clear that I believe, the coalition believe and the public believe that this government is paying these bonuses reluctantly. It is paying these bonuses because the coalition and the lobby groups out there were incensed and outraged at the callous heartlessness of the government in intending to cut them. These bonuses have been part of the former government’s policy platform for the past four years. When the current government reluctantly adopted the bonuses, it said that the bonuses were going to be committed for the future. Unfortunately, the budget papers make light of this story, because there is no assurance whatsoever in the budget papers that these bonuses are going to be paid in future years. So we are going to have to dance around this issue concerning those who are among the most vulnerable in our society every year until this government is prepared to put its hand up and say, ‘Yes, we are going to help carers, we are going to help veterans, we are going to help those on pensions alleviate the rising cost of living.’ While the pensioners of this country are doing it tough, this government is washing its hands of the issues that matter to them.

After four budgets where the Howard government paid these bonuses, the reluctant Rudd government has put them forward for only a single year. We certainly support this legislation. We believe that, in a very real sense, we are the original authors of this legislation. If not for us, this legislation would not be before this chamber right now. We are very pleased to have fought the good fight on behalf of the carers and pensioners of this country. I can assure them that we will not give up this fight. We will try to make sure that the Rudd government honours the commitments that are important to the preservation of the standards of living of those who do it so tough.