Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is correct, Senator Coonan. There will be no decision on pensions before the 2010 budget at the earliest, and, Senator O’Brien, that is creeping up towards the election. Is this what the government calls action? We, the coalition, forced the Rudd government to reinstate the lump sum seniors bonus which we had always given to pensioners, despite Labor’s attempts to scrap it in March this year. Labor’s first budget actually cuts support to older Australians. For example, changes to income tests will leave thousands of seniors without a health card when they need it most. Under the Howard government, pensions increased by two per cent above inflation every year for 10 years. Strong economic and budgetary management meant that pensioners were able to receive bonus payments and increases to a range of other support measures.

In addition to the percentage of Australians over the age of 65 who are on income support, 30 per cent of pensioners have reported having bank balances of less than $1,000. I spoke earlier of balancing the weekly budget: ‘If I buy this item this week, will I still be able to afford to buy something else or go to the movies for $15—or $9 on the pensioner concession card—or will I be able to have a counter meal at the local pub?’ Those are the sort of so-called luxuries that will have to go—many things that other Australians take for granted. Even Minister Macklin acknowledges that pensioners are suffering.

Many other government members and senators have acknowledged now and in the past that people are suffering from a higher cost of living. But what are you going to do about it? I was very sorry to see that Senator McEwen, who I admire very much, did not give one definite suggestion for what the Rudd government was actually going to do. It is fine to talk about programs and reviews that are going to take place much later in the year. That does not help people now. We need action, families need action, pensioners need action and Australians want action. So what we are trying to do here is bring this government to account.

There was an apparent dichotomy in both Senator Carr and Senator Conroy today in question time attempting to convince both the coalition and the listening public that Australia has a strong economy under them and also that Australia has a weak economy because of the depredations that the coalition government apparently wrought, in spite of what I talked about earlier. How can you have it both ways? How can business and the general community have confidence in the economy when Mr Swan, your Treasurer, talks it down so much? He says both here and overseas that Australia is virtually a basket case. How would you expect business and the general community to have confidence in our own economy? No wonder people are cutting back; no wonder they are watching prices. The general effect of government on your prices is to make them higher and higher, which puts so many items out of the reach of general Australians and makes the cost of living very difficult to bear.