Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

An immediate flip-flop, Senator Sterle. And yet, several months later, we do have it as policy. I wonder what we will have tomorrow when Mr Turnbull, the new leader, decides what he is going to do in this area. What I worry about in the interim, though, is the quality of the opposition in comprehending the complex issues that are involved here. If we have, as we did yesterday, the spokesperson in this chamber, Senator Bernardi, addressing the issue, you would think that all it related to was parliamentary catering. You see no substance in what he offers this chamber or indeed what the opposition generally is offering to this debate—no substance but a very simplistic stunt to suggest that a $30 increase would be appropriate. Well, we know from the pensioners that a $30 increase is often going to be almost immediately absorbed into the other arrangements that apply to their circumstances—pensioners in nursing homes, for example, pensioners in public housing. Most of these increases will simply be absorbed into other arrangements. This opposition seems to not understand anything about effective marginal tax rates. Certainly Senator Bernardi in his contribution yesterday, again referring to this pensions issue, offered no viable alternative.

More worrying than that, if you look at all the questions asked today, they do not seem to be able to grapple with any of the serious issues. Senator Coonan sensibly referred again to the consequences for people’s superannuation arrangements with the economic crisis that is developing, and that was a significant question today. We had the question about the pensions stunt, and we had an important question about delivering hospital services and beds and difficulties associated with state and federal government arrangements in delivering some of these services. We had another stunt question about the Prime Minister’s travel, and we had a question about Cairns building demolition. But there was no question of any substantive nature about what would deliver genuine benefits to people on pensions. Nothing of any substantive nature came forward from the opposition other than the stunt about a $30 increase, which anyone who has been informed of the policy debate in this area for longer than half an hour understands is just a stunt. (Time expired)