Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hope that satisfies the process aspect of this, Senator McLucas. But let us talk about those figures from the National Seniors Association. For instance, at present almost 800 Australians turn 50 every day, and by 2020 closer to 900 Australians will be turning 50 every day. This means that in the very near future there will be more people who are over 50 than under 50 in Australia. People over 50 will face the prospect of living a further 38.8 years, if women, and a further 34.4 years, if men. Let us look at those figures again—between 35 and 39 years after they turn 50. Let us go back to the sort of information that pensioners and others were giving us. It is going to be a very, very long 35 and 39 years if this government does not stop inquiring and start acting. Empathy is all very well, but it does not achieve anything if it does not help the people who we already know need help. It is very obvious that there is a case to be made for assisting pensioners and others on fixed incomes, particularly single pensioners, who currently receive 56 per cent of the couples pension. That has been obvious since the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs inquiry was completed in March and will continue to be obvious whether or not we get a result out of this inquiry.

Let us look at some of the other inquiries we have going on which are part of the good old empathise and ignore strategy. We are going to set up Fuelwatch. That will be great, won’t it! Yes, the government wants to set up Fuelwatch so that it can standardise prices across Australia, with no opportunity for business initiative and no opportunity for anyone to drop prices. Probably the end result will be to drive independent stations out of business and therefore to put up prices.

Let us look at ‘GroceryWatch’. That is going to be a great winner! Almost no-one is using ‘GroceryWatch’—they had a quick look at it, decided it was useless and have given it away. But when the website was first established, I, like many others, got online to see what information I could get. There were four prices for four various baskets of grocery items in Queensland. I did not find it particularly useful to know what the average price of an item in Mt Isa or Cairns was, or what the average price of an item between Longreach and Gladstone was. Without specific useful information, it has achieved nothing. It is completely useless and it will not assist anybody—so more and more smoke and mirrors, and it goes on and on.

The empathise and ignore strategy has worn thin already, as I think has been pointed out by the comments that have been made here. The people of Australia want action on the cost-of-living pressures and they want the government to rightfully accept blame for the inaction that has been going on to date. Stop going through processes, stop inquiring, stop looking—just do something.