Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk, very specifically, about Labor’s neglect of the regions. In particular, today I want to talk about the far North Coast of New South Wales and the Tweed region. I spend quite a deal of time on the far North Coast, and in July this year I met with a local couple up there, Don and Nancy Morgan, who particularly wanted to raise with me the plight of pensioners. Obviously they were talking specifically from their North Coast aspect, but they were talking about pensioners in general. I know there has been a lot of discussion around pensioners and their ability to cope in these days of rising fuel and grocery prices—which, I might add, the Labor Party said they would bring down during the election campaign and obviously have not—on the very small amount of money they receive on the pension. Don and Nancy are obviously on a couple’s pension, but what really struck me is they were even more concerned for the single pensioners who are trying to cope on the amount of money they receive.

I, along with many of my colleagues, have been listening to the stories of Don and Nancy Morgan, who represent many, many pensioners out there in our elderly community, and took to heart very closely what they were saying. It is the work of the Don and Nancy Morgans of this country that has resulted in a coalition bill being brought forward to raise the pension by $30. For those people, that is an extraordinary step forward if only it could be implemented. And what have we seen from the other side? We have seen absolutely nothing. We have seen the Prime Minister, Minister Swan and Minister Gillard each say that they could not possibly live on $273 a week. But what has happened? Nothing. Not a single thing. They stand there and admit that it is impossible for these elderly people—these people who have built this country—to live on that amount of money and yet they move not a finger to try to do something to address it. It is appalling for elderly people in this country to be in this situation where the government is completely ignoring their needs.

This bill is coming forward. I implore Labor senators on the other side and Labor members in the other place to support the bill. As far as I am concerned, this is Don Morgan’s law. He is representative of all of those pensioners out there who need us to help them and who need us to address this situation immediately.