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

I thank the senator for a very important question. Yesterday’s announcement of the economic security package was a $10.4 billion investment in strengthening the Australian economy in the face of the global financial crisis. It will strengthen the economy and support households. Given the risks of a global economic slowdown, we thought that early and decisive action was important, and, judging by the reaction of commentators and the Australian public, they accept that we have acted in the best interest of Australia.

Yesterday we acted to support pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, veterans and families—those most in need of support; those most vulnerable to any downturn in economic conditions. We know that for 12 years the former government failed to act on pension reform, and the recent opposition cries ignored the needs of millions of pensioners. In 12 months this government has done more for pensioners than the current opposition did in 12 years in office. As part of the Prime Minister’s announcement, $1,400 will be paid to single pensioners and $2,100 to couples as part of that package. These payments recognise the additional costs single pensioners face relative to couples. But we will not pitch pensioner groups against each other and we will not exclude two million carers, people with a disability and married pensioner couples from this payment ahead of longer-term reform. This is a comprehensive and serious policy response. For the first time, lump sum payments have been extended to include disability support pensioners, and that is a fantastic development. I had calls last night in my office from people surviving on the disability support pension acknowledging and expressing their gratitude to us for including them in these measures. In May this year the budget delivered $900 in total for single pensioners and $1,400 for couples. So, in total, this year single pensioners have received an additional $2,300 and couples have received an additional $3,500. That is in the first year of the Rudd Labor government—an enormous contribution to meeting the needs of those people.

What we are also committed to is long-term reform. That is what was missing in any of the opposition’s positions. They failed to acknowledge that long-term reform of pensions is needed. While we received enormously positive feedback from the pensioner and carers groups, one of the things that were interesting was that they all acknowledged the need for that long-term reform. They welcomed the payments; they were highly congratulatory of the government, but they recognised that our commitment to long-term reform was vital and that we ought to move into a situation where we fundamentally address the needs of pensioners with a reformed pension payments system. We think that these measures will assist pensioners in dealing with difficult financial times. We know that they are under economic pressure, and a total payment of $2,300 for singles and $3,500 for couples will be provided by this government through the initial budget down payment and through the economic security package we announced yesterday. (Time expired)