Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak on the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Seniors Supplement Cessation) Bill 2014. Labor opposes this bill, just as we oppose so many of this government's cruel attacks and broken promises. At every turn and around every corner, it seems that there has been another attack on older Australians by the Abbott government. We should not forget that these are the people who have helped build the social and economic wealth of this country. They deserve our respect and they deserve our support. But what are they getting from this government? Disregard and broken promises—that is what they are getting. The Abbott government has set out on a concerted campaign to keep people working longer and ensuring their quality of life is lower when they do retire.

The bill before us today seeks to abolish the seniors supplement, which is paid to 290,000 self-funded retirees in Australia. This billion-dollar cash grab will take away nearly $900 from Commonwealth seniors health cardholders each year. Perhaps those opposite do not understand what $900 could mean to someone on a relatively low income. Back in the real world, this is going to hurt. With rapidly rising rates for utilities and accommodation, self-funded retirees will find it harder and harder to make ends meet. These are people who have worked their whole life to build a nest egg to support them through retirement. These are people who did not have compulsory superannuation for much of their working life. These are people who saw their savings devastated by the global financial crisis. Despite all this, they have managed their money in order to secure a more independent future for themselves, and now the government just wants to hit them again. For years, Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party pretended they were the best friends of Australian seniors, and yet, as soon as they got into office, all they did is punish older Australians. We did not hear a whisper from the Liberals about this brazen cash grab before the election, nor was anything said about their plans to cut the deeming thresholds.

Older Australians, who have amongst the greatest healthcare needs in our community, were never warned about the government's small minded plans to jack up the cost of going to the doctor. While $900 might be a drop in the ocean for those opposite, most older Australians have to be very frugal to ensure that the money will be able to support a decent standard of living for the rest of their lives. The reality is that most self-funded retirees who are eligible for the seniors supplement are living on an income of less than $50,000 a year. On this sort of income a $900 cut is a big hit to the household budget. For this government to make such changes without giving any warning to allow older Australians to make plans is just unfair.

The truth is that older Australians have every right to feel betrayed by the Abbott government. Those who are forced to rely on the pension are particularly hard done by, in direct contradiction to what the government promised before the election. Not too long ago our Prime Minister had the audacity to suggest that Australians were somehow at fault for not understanding his pre-election promises on Gonski. On this issue he told Andrew Bolt:

We are going to keep the promise that we actually made, not the promise that some people thought that we made, or the promise that some people might have liked us to make.

In case I am accused of not listening to or understanding the Prime Minister I thought I would put on the record just a few of his many quotes, before the election, about pensions—as many others have done. On 28 August last year, Mr Abbott promised the people of Western Sydney that there would be 'no cuts or changes to pensions'. He said that at the people's forum in Rooty Hill. On September, in an interview with Sabra Lane, he said:

… I can assure your listeners that there will be no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to pensions, no change to the GST ...

He continued the theme on the night before the 2013 election, when he told the SBS that there would be 'no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS'. So we can see this was not a slip of the tongue in the heat of the moment. This was solid, focus-group-tested Liberal Party election mantra.

After the election, the government changed their tune. After the election, they revealed their true plans to make changes to the indexation arrangements, which will see Australian pensioners $80 a week worse off within 10 years. They also set in place moves to increase the pension eligibility age to 70, which would make the Australian pension age the highest in the world.

It is not surprising that a recent analysis by the Australian Financial Review found that those opposite have broken more promises than they have kept. This government is not only breaking promises but is eroding the trust of the Australian people in the processes and principles that underpin our democracy.

And pensioners are not the only ones in the crosshairs. This is a government that has waged a concerted attack on the most vulnerable people in our communities. Let's not forget that the poorest 20 per cent of families, with earnings of less than $35,000 a year, will lose $2.9 billion over four years as a result of the Abbott government's cruel budget. But those who have a family income of $88,000 or more after tax will only lose $1.78 billion—a full 40 per cent less than low-income families.

It is also interesting to note that the government has been very careful not to place the burden of their budget cuts on communities in their own electorates. In fact, recent analysis undertaken by Australia's premier modelling outfit, NATSEM, laid bare the rampant self-interest at play in this government's cruel budget. In this study, NATSEM found 15 of the 16 electorates hardest hit by this cruel budget are held by Labor. In contrast, four of the five electorates that will be least impacted by Tony Abbott's budget are held by the Prime Minister himself and senior government ministers. What a surprise!

In Mr Turnbull's electorate of Wentworth, residents will see a decline in income of $69.50—or 0.1 per cent of disposable income—as a result of this government's budget of twisted priorities. But in the Jason Clare's Western Sydney electorate of Blaxland, residents will see an average $990 hit to annual incomes by 2017-18. For families with children this will more than double.

Clearly, this is a government that consistently attempts to put their own jobs ahead of compassion and treating Australians with dignity. They are barefacedly ripping funds away from the poor and the vulnerable, while leaving those on high incomes barely scathed. However, what the government did not count on is that the majority of Australians do not share this brazen self-interest. We do not want a nation that is unfair. We like the fact that equality is a key principle of Australian society, and we support a strong safety net for those who encounter times of need.

We celebrate the fact that the ideas of compassion and a fair go are deeply embedded in our national identity. We believe that government has a clear role in helping to open the door to opportunity for all Australians, regardless of income or the challenges that come from circumstance. And we will not support these fundamental features of our nation being ripped apart.

If there has been any good to come out this sorry budget, it has been the widespread support for the existing Australian social contract and the clear rejection of the government's attempts to tear it up. But, clearly, this government is not listening. Instead, they are belligerently ploughing on with their cruel cuts to the poor, elderly, sick and unemployed, while at the same time squirrelling away billions for their pet projects.

The absolutely nonsense of this government's argument comes into sharp focus when they use one breath to say that we cannot possibly afford proper health, education or a strong safety net, and in the next breath promise $50,000 cheques for wealthy women to have babies. Both of these things cannot be true, Mr Abbott. If we do not have the money to pay for programs that support Australians to be the best that they can be, then we certainly cannot afford the wasteful spending programs the government has been embarking on in other areas. Australians are not stupid. They see this, and they recognise the rank hypocrisy at play. They see through a government that is fearmongering over the so-called budget emergency while axing viable and lucrative sources of revenue. They recognise that the government is only concerned about saving money or increasing revenue, when it is the poor and the vulnerable who are going to foot the bill.

The legislation before us today is another example of the disregard that this government has shown for older Australians. It is nothing more than a blatant cash grab. We on this side of the chamber understand that Australian seniors have worked hard all their lives and have saved for their retirement. Older Australians do not deserve to have their pockets raided by Tony Abbott in their retirement. Labor will continue to stand up for Australian seniors and pensioners by opposing this bill and the rest of the Abbott government's savage budget cuts.