Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I can name a few on the Central Coast. A lot of them live in my street. And in the seat of Mackellar, 4,000 people are going to lose their concessions. In the seat of Macarthur, 890, and in the seat of Warringah, where they really should have known better because that is where they could have got the truth from the fellow himself, there are 3,877 people who have been lied to by this government. In the Prime Minister's own electorate, there are 3,877 people who he is trying to convince he is not dudding. There are thousands and thousands of seniors right across this country who believed that little blue book. It was a pretty slick production; you have to give that to them.

I did a lot of doorknocking before the last election, which should not surprise the Acting Deputy President sitting in the chair. I can remember seeing these blue books, these lovely glossy books saying how wonderful the world would be, that all we had to do was to vote in the Abbott government and the world would be set right. But what we set in train was a litany of lies. Today we see the legislation that proves it. 'No changes to the pension.' You have to be joking. This is a disgraceful change. This is a devastating change which will materially impact the lives, the health and the wellbeing of seniors right across this nation.

I can only think that the Prime Minister must have a very low opinion of the intelligence of pensioners if he thinks that they cannot work out what he is doing. But it is not just the Prime Minister. He has a few friends in this place, more in number than us, sadly. Otherwise, this would not be happening. I have to report that the Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Mitch Fifield, visited the Central Coast last week to peddle some form of misinformation about the good news the government has for seniors. Of course, the seniors are a wakeup to this mob. The minister was met by concerned locals, who were waving placards demanding a fair go for pensioners—a fair go, the signature of Labor and clearly something that is hated by those opposite. Otherwise they would not be inflicting these social service budget changes and they certainly would not be going after retirees, self-funded retirees and pensioners with this piece of legislation.

The arrogance of the assistant minister thinking he could go up there and pull the wool over the eyes of my local community was astounding. The elderly are not just angry; they are worried sick. They are certainly a lot smarter than this PM is giving them credit for and I think their voice is going to become stronger and stronger. This is the voice of a Central Coast resident who summed up her dire circumstances in correspondence to me:

As a person who has been very careful to make ends meet on the pension, I am not sure how I would manage if my income was reduced in any way.

I understand that the proposed changes to the way the pension is index, for example, would mean a cut of $80 a week over 10 years to the single pension, which seems like a huge amount when it is already a stretch for me to pay my bills, buy my groceries and get to important appointments.

And the most devastating part of her letter was the final sentence, where she signed off:

I just don't have any way to make up that difference.

Let us have a look at what is happening. The gap between what we do in this place and how it impacts people's lives is sometimes an interminable distance. People do not get the sense that these things are connected. But today we have to be really, really clear. There was a promise made by an incoming government that there would be no cuts or changes to the pension. That promise has been absolutely and totally broken.

Pensioners will feel the hit if the government is successful in getting this legislation through and they will feel it very, very quickly. They know that they cannot tighten their belts any further because, as this woman wrote to me, they just do not have any way to make up the difference. Can you imagine what it would be like to be an age pensioner who is trying to pay their rates and do the right thing, who has budgeted in anticipation that the seniors supplement would be part of their budget for this year, who finds come Christmas that they cannot make that budget work anymore? They will care. They will be anxious. Their families will be anxious for them. They have been deceived and they are being materially impacted by the meanness, the slipperiness and the disgraceful intent of this piece of legislation.

That was just one voice of the millions of pensioners who have suddenly found out about this terrible broken promise. It is a contrast to Labor's historic pension increase, where we delivered a $33 increase to the single age pension, the disability support pension and the carer payment. We brought in the biggest increase since the Whitlam government that raised pensions by 10 per cent. He did that in 1972. If Tony Abbott's CPI pegging was in place from 2009, that significant increase to pensions would well and truly have been wiped out now. Australian pensioners have every right to feel completely betrayed by that little glossy, blue book and all the nonsense that they have read in the papers that were the promises of this government prior to coming to power.

I know that Australian pensioners and seniors have worked hard all their lives. They deserve the dignity of a secure retirement. That is why with my colleagues on the side of the chamber, I will fight as a Labor woman for Australian pensioners and seniors, and fight for their rights to a dignified retirement, free of stress and anger at broken promises that are flowing through every single day in the areas of health, education and financial support. It is writ large in Mr Abbott's cuts to pensions, to welfare, to our universal healthcare system, to education and to refugees that he is a prime ministry of arrogance. When it comes to the less fortunate in society, they are beyond his gaze. (Time expired)