Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak in opposition to the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Seniors Supplement Cessation) Bill 2014. I begin by saying it has been a tough week in the Senate so far, as the government has tried to get its harsh, cruel budget through the Senate. I wonder, as we head to the end of 2014, if indeed we will be here in 2015 defending our great Australian psyche—part of our culture of a fair go. When will the Abbott government get the message that there is not a voter in this country who is on a low income, has a family or is a single person aged under 30 who supports this harsh, cruel budget? Today we have had to defend against the paltry pay offer to the Australian defence forces in this place. I brought to the Abbott government's attention its disgraceful lack of bargaining in good faith with the CPSU, who now have in the Department of Human Services, the biggest government agency, a 95 per cent vote for industrial action, and somehow the government labels them as being irresponsible.

What we have seen over and over again from the Abbott government is this blame-shifting going on. They try and blame Labor or they try and blame the unions, or they try and blame anybody but themselves. The Abbott government have now been in power for more than 12 months. It is time they stood up to their own decisions and were honest about the sorts of policies and the type of Australia that they want to create—and it is one of dog-eat-dog; it is, 'You are on your own; your family looks after you or you look after yourself, because it is not the federal government's responsibility.' I note the number of times that Labor senators have heard government senators and government MPs say, 'We do not run hospitals; we do not run schools,' therefore somehow trying to abrogate their responsibility towards schools, health and education. But quite clearly the government have responsibility when it comes to senior Australians. Yesterday in this place we had a bill before us—most were sensible moves that the Labor Party had indicated months and months ago that we would support. But no: the Abbott government indicated they wanted to wrap them up with other harsh, cruel measures which Labor have been very clear from day one that we would not support.

Despite us saying 'no' over and over again, the government obviously tried through its new approach—its backdoor deals—to get the bills approved. But it has failed in that, and so now what we are seeing is this mishmash of bills coming through with the little bits that are agreed and the other bits—the harsh, cruel pieces—still there. It is still the intention, as we understand it, of the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, Mr Hockey, to try to ram those bills—those harsh, cruel measures—through our parliament at some time in the future. Whether it is the next sitting period or next year, apparently it is still their decision to do this, despite what must be an overwhelmingly negative response. The government seems to think the best way forward is to just plough on with its harsh, cruel measures.

Yesterday in this place I informed the Senate that I had held a very successful meeting of seniors in the electorate of Swan, the electorate that I live in in Western Australia. More than 100 people came along, and they were very, very alarmed. Some of them were self-funded retirees who were very concerned about the loss of the seniors supplement that the Abbott government has stolen from them—we could not really even call that one a broken promise, because it completely came out of the blue. Australia's seniors, whether they are dependent upon the pension or are self-funded retirees, must be wondering how much more the Abbott government can take from them. Seriously, they are one of the groups the Abbott government has absolutely gone after in our community.

These are senior Australians who have paid their debt to society, who have raised families, who have taken on responsible jobs, who have taken out mortgages when they have bought their homes or who have been in rental accommodation. These are upright citizens who continue well after retirement to add value in our communities through the volunteering that they do, through looking after grandchildren if they have them and through all of the services they provide, whether it is the Red Cross in our hospitals or whether it is the local Meals on Wheels. Nobody in this place would dispute the role that seniors play in our society—except the Abbott government, which shows them no respect at all. It shows them no regard—just complete disrespect, by making their lives as tough as it can. After all, it was the Prime Minister who, before the election, promised Australian pensioners that there would be no cuts to pensions, and on the issue of the seniors supplement he was completely silent. Yet the Abbott government has not only cut pensions; the Abbott government intends to cut, with this bill, the Seniors Supplement.

The Seniors Supplement was introduced by Labor in 2009. We had got the message from seniors. Many seniors had protested throughout the country, and we had actually listened to what seniors were saying, unlike the Abbott government, who get emails from seniors protesting, and who no doubt in electorates get confronted by seniors telling them how difficult these cuts are going to be for their lives but, no—no consultation, no discussion; just a secret cut. We introduced that supplement in 2009 as a support for senior Australians, because we recognised that from time to time seniors need help to pay regular bills such as power, gas and phone, and to buy petrol and pay for car registration. We have all heard those horrible stories of seniors living in our community not turning their lights on or going without turning their heaters on in winter. Those are not things that those of us who are responsible participants in our community want to foist onto seniors, and that is part of why Labor introduced that supplement—to give some comfort to seniors.

Cutting the Seniors Supplement will hit 300,000 Australian households, and they will be $886 a year worse off. That is not a big figure for the Abbott government, but it is a big figure for someone on a fixed income. It is a big figure. It is money they now have to find. And of course what the Abbott government has not thought about, in its usual slash-and-burn approach with this harsh, cruel budget, is that taking that money not only forces seniors to find that additional money—almost $1,000 a year—but also hits local economies. It hits the local deli and the local shop. It hits the local greengrocer. It hits the cafe where once a week perhaps seniors like to meet with their friends and have a cup of coffee, because seniors will now have to make up, from their fixed budgets, that missing amount of $886 a year, which means, in small communities, rural communities, that seniors will spend less in local shops, and that will make a difference.

In the Western Australian electorates that I have responsibility for, this is quite a hit. In the south-west, in the electorate of Forrest, seniors will be hit. Along with the loss of the Seniors Supplement, if the GP tax goes through they will be hit with that. If they need specialist services—and we know that our seniors do have a greater use of our health system, and that health system should be available for them to make use of—there will be additional hits on specialist services. There will be increased costs for pharmaceuticals. After the secret deal that the Abbott government did last week, from 10 November they have been hit with an additional fuel tax—a hike in the cost of fuel which, of course, in the south-west communities of Forrest, where seniors need to drive sometimes 100 kilometres or 80 kilometres to the bigger towns, that will be a hit on their budgets as they are now having to pay a higher rate for fuel. We already know that, in our remote and regional communities, fuel is often more expensive. And I know that Senator Peris can tell us horror stories of the cost of fuel in the Northern Territory.

So, along with all of the cuts that I have outlined, there have been other harsh cuts to the budgets of these seniors imposed by the Prime Minister. Many small rural towns in the electorate of Forrest—towns like Collie, Augusta, Nannup and Donnybrook—will be hard hit as seniors have less money to spend in their local economies, in those small towns where the local deli and the local greengrocer rely on seniors coming in to buy their bits and pieces. They will be hit in the electorate of Forrest. This cut to seniors in the Forrest electorate is almost $2 million: $1.95 million has just been taken out of that electorate, without a care from the Abbott government. People in one of my other electorates, Canning, for which Don Randall is the member, will be hit to the tune of $1.69 million. That will be taken out of that electorate of Canning. In the electorate that I live in, the electorate of Swan, the hit on senior Australians will be $1.5 million—$1.5 million. And what have the Liberal members in these seats said about the loss of this supplement to seniors? Absolutely nothing! I have not seen it in any of the pamphlets that Mr Irons puts around. Nothing—complete silence. And why would they spout it? It is hardly something to be proud of. There is nothing they can say. It is just another mean attack by their Prime Minister and their government.

Of course these cuts are just the beginning for seniors. For seniors getting the supplement, many of whom do hold a Health Care Card, there is a double whammy, as the federal government has also cut the funding it provided to states for concessions. The federal budget cut $107 million over four years from Western Australia's seniors concessions, with WA set to lose $25 million this financial year. That supported pensioners' and seniors' discounts on local government rates, vehicle registrations and water charges—now all under threat.

Premier Barnett has said that he was very surprised about the decision. I thought mates—Liberals being Liberals—kind of kept each other in touch, but obviously that is not the case, because he was surprised by that decision. But he has insisted that the state government will not step in to make up the shortfall. And why would Mr Barnett step in, when he has made such a mess of the state government finances in Western Australia? He lost the AAA credit rating. He has not been able to open our premier hospital; it has been 18 months overdue and has cost the state millions and millions of dollars. He has shown himself to be absolutely incapable of managing anything—probably even a household budget. So of course he is not going to make up the shortfall.

And, of course, Premier Barnett abolished the private vehicle rebates for motor vehicle licences on 10 July—no phase-out, just bang, gone. Seniors and pensioners were hit hardest by the removal of that benefit, with increases of up to 212 per cent, but Premier Barnett does not care—and nor does the Abbott government. The private vehicle rebate last year was worth $72. Again, that is not a big-ticket item for state governments but it is a huge amount to a senior's or pensioner's budget. These Australians have worked hard all their lives to save for their retirement, to be responsible, to be self-funded. They have, no doubt, made sacrifices along the way to ensure their retirement is a comfortable one. They do not deserve this punishment from the Abbott government for all their hard work over a lifetime.

And who are these folk? It is certainly not rich seniors who are receiving this supplement. Single seniors need to have an annual income of less than $51,500. Day after day in this place we hear from the Abbott government about not incurring debt and not passing debt onto children and grandchildren. You would think the one group in our society the Abbott government would seek to look after are the self-funded retirees. So why on earth would they take away the seniors supplement if it enables those self-funded retirees to continue to fund their own retirement? I would think that would be a win-win all round. But, again, the ideology of the Abbott government always gets in the way; their Tea Party right-wing ideology stops them from seeing the sense in keeping such things as the seniors supplement.

These people are not Australia's ageing millionaires. They are everyday Australians. They are my neighbours and your neighbours. They go on contributing to our communities in their retirement. Many of the services in our communities simply would not work without the volunteering that seniors do—contributing to their small local communities with their hard earned retirement savings. My neighbours in Swan will lose the money that pays their power bills. They will share this pain with almost 2,000 seniors in the electorate Swan.

The Prime Minister promised there would be no cuts to pensions, education, health, the ABC and the SBS. The Prime Minister cannot be trusted on his word. It is a year and a couple of months since he took office, and this is his legacy. With the sad passing of Gough Whitlam, many of us on this side of the House spoke about the proud legacy that Gough Whitlam has left. Well, Prime Minister Abbott will leave a legacy of broken promises and further cuts such as the seniors supplement. This cut was not mentioned anywhere—it was a secret attack—but obviously it was already costed and hidden away in the secret portfolio entitled 'The Real Liberal-National Coalition Plan'. As senior Australians can testify, Mr Abbott never mentioned this hit on their household budgets before the election. He never mentioned that the seniors supplement was under threat. The Prime Minister has described these payments for seniors as a cash splash. Again, Mr Abbott shows just how out of touch he is.

We have now heard almost a book full of these sorts of clangers from the government. Mr Hockey made the ridiculous statement that poor people do not have cars or do not drive very far. They are absolutely out of touch. To say to a single, self-funded retiree on $51,500 that the seniors supplement is just a cash splash is an insult. The cash splash comment by the Prime Minister is an insult to someone who has saved for their own retirement income, someone who has said, 'As a citizen, I'm taking responsibility for my own retirement.' Seniors have a right to feel betrayed by the Prime Minister and the whole of the Abbott government because there was no mention of this before the election. I give a guarantee to Australian seniors and pensioners that, every day until the next election, Labor will fight this harsh, cruel budget. Neither we nor the Australian voters will let Mr Abbott get away with the deception of these broken promises.