Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

The senator opposite says no, but a basic calculator will tell you that going from $5.30 to $35 is an increase of 605 per cent. I think it would be entirely accurate to say that that is a tad over 600 per cent. And those 22,000 Australians will also miss out on the lump sum payment to help pay their utilities, which was part of this government’s attempt to woo older Australians. They have said: ‘Sorry: gone. Sorry about that. I know we promised it. I know it was a mandate. But we’ll introduce legislation that effectively says that we’ve promised with one hand—and you thought you were getting it—and now we’re going to take it away with the other.’ That is a disgraceful contribution to make to this place and this is a disgraceful piece of legislation.

That $34.60 every three months would help out with the telephone bill—and they need help. Everybody acknowledges that the cost of living is difficult for everyone. But our most vulnerable Australians, who have made such a fantastic contribution, have to suffer the memories of the campaign where those opposite said, ‘We’re going to ease the household squeeze. Somebody put that in—that’ll be really good. Everyone’ll remember that.’ The Australian people said: ‘No worries; we’ll vote for them: they’re going to make our lives better.’ Sorry! That was not a good move. If these people could be trusted on their mandates, they would now come in here and deliver. Their mandate was easing the household squeeze. They said, ‘No pensioner will be worse off’—and all those sorts of things that we can remember.

Of course they did not have a mandate to come to this place and make worse the lives of some 22,000 older Australians who built this country and who raised the generations who now occupy this country and make up this great nation of ours. They have made a fantastic contribution. That is what Australia is: our forebears. Now we are saying to those who are the most vulnerable that we are going to take away the support that they had before the election. We are not going to make their lives better; we are going to make their lives worse.

Anybody who even reads the explanatory memorandum for this legislation would agree that it is an absolutely disgraceful piece of legislation. As I indicated earlier, those on the other side will be judged. This morning, I was wondering why this legislation was brought to this chamber. I can recall the President coming in and saying, ‘When we’re in this place, it is to add to the true welfare of the people of Australia.’ That is one of those remarks that remind us what we are doing in this place. So to make the lives of our oldest and most vulnerable Australians worse by a piece of legislation is not on. And those on the other side are going to somehow describe how this is going to make it better—good luck in your own electorates, because I have looked at it carefully and it simply cuts away entitlements and benefits that have already been prescribed to older Australians. It is a disgraceful piece of legislation and should not be supported by anyone in this place.