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

Senator Bernardi did not read the first part of his question, which was about the cost of living and which I am trying to address in the two minutes available to me. But I am happy to have supplementary questions, Senator Bernardi, because the other thing I wanted to mention to you is the largest increase ever in the pension for age and disability pensioners. Talk about the cost of living! I will tell you about the cost of living for people reliant on the pension. There was a huge increase in the pension which, in 13 years, governments had not delivered, but this government delivered huge increases in pensions. That impacted on their cost of living. It gave them the opportunity to live in decent standards.