Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

You are trying to move a new bill. I think pensioners listening tonight would want to know: are you offering them $30 a week and taking $20 away, so that you are offering them $10 net, or are you offering them $30 plus the $20? On the basis of what you just said, you are offering them $30 minus the $20 that you are not going to guarantee—the $1,000 worth of bonuses they received this year under the Rudd Labor government. So I think it is important. I have not heard from the minors on this question either.

If you are going to parade around the place saying that you are going to be the saviour of pensioners by making these promises that you never actually delivered in government, I think we need to be clear: what is the alternative government saying? Are you saying that you are supporting a $30 increase in the pension rate for single pensioners and veterans but that you are not going to guarantee the bonuses, or are you guaranteeing the bonuses and saying that the $30 is in addition to those bonus payments? It is a fairly simple question—it is something that we ought to know—but so far, Senator Coonan, you have given two different answers to the same question. I am sure pensioners and the Senate would like to know the answer.