Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is the first chance I have had with the Deputy President in the chair. We have just heard from Senator Coonan. She used the phrase that in our budget pensioners were ‘ignored again’. Think about that statement. She said ‘again’ because for 12 years, when you were in government, you did absolutely nothing! That is the record of your government when you were in power. You get up here and you start claiming what the Labor government did not do in its first budget. I will tell you what the government did in its first budget: it increased pensions. They will rise by $15.30 per fortnight from 20 September and by $12.70 per fortnight for partner pensions. There is also the $500 bonus to all eligible pensioners, the increase in the utilities allowance to $500, the increase in the seniors concession allowance from $218 to $500 a year and a range of other improvements for pensioners.

We know that, whatever governments can do for pensioners, we would always like to do more. And this government is about endeavouring to do more for pensioners by doing it the appropriate way—through a review of the system to get pensioners entitlements in the future onto a proper footing. You had 12 years of record surpluses in just about every budget you ran. In every budget that the then Treasurer, Peter Costello, brought down he would predict a $10 billion surplus and then, at the end of the year, it would be $15 billion. You had all of these surpluses every year, and what did you do to address the fundamental issue of getting pensioners entitlements and pensioners payments onto a proper basis and giving them some real relief? You did absolutely nothing!