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

I thank Senator Arbib for the question. Next week is an important week for Australian pensioners, carers and working families and also for Australia’s economic future. From next Monday, the government’s Economic Security Strategy will deliver $10.4 billion extra into the economy by providing extra support to four million pensioners and 1.9 million families. It is a vital economic strategy to give Australians help with cost-of-living pressures and to sustain economic growth.

The payments to pensioners are a down payment on our pension reforms. The government know that pensioners are doing it tough, so we are providing a down payment to give the pensioners support now. We will make a $4.8 billion down payment through lump sums paid to age pensioners. Single pensioners will get $1,400 each and pensioner couples will get $2,100 per couple. The payments will begin next week, from Monday, 8 December. They will arrive in bank accounts on around the individual’s regular payment date, although not necessarily on the same date.

These payments will provide additional support in the nine months between now and when long-term reforms are introduced from next financial year. That will assist pensioners to cope with cost-of-living pressures, and it will provide a very strong stimulus to the economy. We think it is a win for pensioners and it is a win for the economy, and it builds on the support we provided in our first budget. We think it is a very important part of assisting age pensioners and ensuring that we provide as much stimulus as we can to the Australian economy in these difficult economic times.