Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I will very briefly address this amendment. Senator Evans referred to this being a ludicrous situation. I do not really know whether he meant to say that. I think that Senator Evans is a well-intentioned person and I would not want to attribute to him a meaning he did not intend. But he said that this was a ludicrous situation. It is clear to me that the 928,834 needy Australians who will be the immediate beneficiaries of this additional payment of $30 per week over and above the base pension certainly do not think that $30 a week is ludicrous. I am fortified in my view that people do not think it is ludicrous by a press release today from National Seniors Australia. National Seniors Australia Chief Executive Michael O’Neill said he welcomed the bill, despite claims about the speed with which it was introduced et cetera. He said:

Older Australians are pleased that by introducing this bill into the Senate the pension issue is finally firmly on the national agenda.

He continued:

Single age pensioners living off $281 a week are struggling to keep their heads above water as food, fuel, rental and medical costs soar.

And I would refer to the costs that have gone through the roof since the Rudd Labor government came into office, unaddressed by the government despite promises that they would keep a lid on cost of living increases. Mr O’Neill went on to say:

For these older Australians, an immediate increase represents more than a steak, rather than baked beans, for dinner.

He also said:

It is very much a matter of social inclusion and providing older Australians with the support they need to live their old age productively.

Then he went on to say:

Despite declaring the single age pension inadequate only two weeks ago, Treasurer Wayne Swan has clearly stated a pension increase will only be made in the context of next year’s budget.

I actually agree with Senator Brown on this issue—how can that be fair? We can only assume the government are actually competent enough to manage a budget and to provide for the most needy Australians—let’s make that assumption. So how can it be that they cannot even look at it or make any commitment without not one but two reviews? This government is addicted to reviews—absolutely paralysed by inaction, incapable of making a decision about anything. We have the Prime Minister absent, swanning around the world stage, and we have needy Australians here looking to the Rudd Labor government to do something about the plight they are in. And what sort of answer do we get from Senator Evans tonight, who is trying to defend the indefensible? ‘It’s complex. We need to look at it and do it properly.’ That is no excuse, I say.

We have to—all of us, collectively—do something for pensioners before two years elapse, which is what we are looking at. The Harmer review will not report until February next year. It is said that that will then feed into the Henry review on tax. So we are looking at something like 2010 before we actually get some serious comprehensive attention to the plight of pensioners. I do not think that is good enough. Quite frankly, it is a very good thing that we are debating the need to do something for these needy Australians and holding the government to account. We can talk here for hours on end rhetorically about who did what and when, but the point is the government are now the Rudd Labor government. They are in the driving seat. They are sitting on an inherited surplus this year of $21.5 billion and $94-odd billion over the next five years. If they cannot manage their priorities to do something for the most needy Australians, they should not be in government.

It is important in the circumstances that we address this bill and that we bring this debate to a sensible conclusion. I say to Senator Evans, who is the minister representing Ms Macklin and who obviously has some input, history, capacity and ability: make a real change, get on with it, do it, do not talk about it, do not blame anyone else and just fix it.