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

I thank the senator for the question. I think we had best show respect for seniors and for pensioners, more specifically, by actually addressing their concerns seriously and by looking to tackle the issues that underpin their financial status. Quite frankly, pensioners I have spoken to are not impressed by political stunts. They know that the opposition is committing a fraud on them by saying that they are going to immediately increase pensions by $30 per week. It is a fraud and it is a stunt—they know that. They know that the government understands that they are doing it tough. Senior spokesmen from the Prime Minister down have made it clear we understand that the financial pressures on pensioners are growing and that the adequacy of the age pension is being questioned. We have accepted that.

In our first budget we have made a down payment to those people most affected—not just by focusing on single age pensioners but by focusing on all pensioners, including couples and those on disability pensions and veterans pensions. We have actually said that we need to provide some relief. That is why we delivered that relief in our first budget. We delivered more than $5 billion in extra relief for those pensioners. That is what you do when you treat them with respect—you deliver. We also acknowledged that there were fundamental structural issues with the pension. That meant that there was an argument that came out through the Senate inquiry process, which did a good job in exploring these issues, that, in effect, more fundamental change needed to occur. So we had a look at the basic structures underlying the rate of pension and the other allowances that relate to it.

So we said we would take on that serious public policy work—and we are. Under the broad guidance of the tax review, Dr Harmer, who is the secretary of FaHCSIA, is actually undertaking the work directly focusing on the adequacy of pensions and the other payments that impact on those people. So we are doing the serious public policy work.

We reject the stunt. We have said consistently that we are not interested in stunts from the opposition. And, quite frankly, the Australian public understand that those now in opposition had 11 long years to do something, yet they did nothing. They had 11 budgets. Senator Minchin and Senator Coonan were at the cabinet table when Minister Brough said, ‘Let’s do something for the pensioners.’ And what did Senator Minchin and Senator Coonan do? They said: ‘No, we don’t care about the pensioners. We will do nothing.’ For 11 years they did nothing.

The pensioners of Australia know that the Howard government in 11 years through 11 budgets did nothing to support them. But they know that this government is actually committed to addressing those fundamental structural issues that underpin the pension and the payments associated with it and to looking at long-term solutions to their needs. But in the budget we did put down a $5 billion down payment. We increased the utilities allowance from $100 or so to $500. We did spread the payment more broadly. We have invested in carers and others—and not just picked one group of pensioners—who were ignored under the Liberal proposition. We are serious about it and we do treat those on fixed incomes and income support with respect. You do that by doing the hard public policy work rather than pulling stunts. (Time expired)