Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Services and other Legislation Amendment (Seniors Supplement Cessation) Bill 2014 and I am glad to be able to speak against cuts put forward in it as they will greatly negatively impact senior citizens in Australia. Cutting the seniors supplement is only one of a number of measures outlined in the Abbott government's budget that targets senior citizens in our country. We know that older Australians are being saddled with a disproportionate burden in the Abbott government's unfair budget.

The axing of the seniors supplement was part of legislation containing the harshest of the social services budget measures recently abandoned by the Abbott government. It was abandoned because the Labor Party and others in the Senate understand the terrible impact these harsh measures will have on all Australians. We understand the impact on older Australians, who have spent their lives contributing to Australia's economic and social wellbeing. We understand that Australians are distressed by the government's attack on vulnerable people, an attack which equals an attack on Australian values—the value of equality, opportunity and a fair go. Like my colleague Senator O'Neill, I am proud to stand with Labor and the Australian community against these cruel cuts—cuts and changes that pile burden after burden on those most vulnerable.

Unfortunately, the government in this bill are now reintroducing some of their most savage measures. They continue to dismiss and ignore the community discontent regarding their cruel legislative agenda. They continue to show that they do not value equality and fairness. They believe they can reintroduce these unfair bills to the Senate and miraculously get a different result. Well, my Labor colleagues and I will not back down. We will continue to fight hard to ensure that low- and middle-income Australians do not bear the brunt of this government's immoral cuts.

The seniors supplement supports self-funded retirees whose income is less than $50,000 a year. It was designed to support Australians who have worked hard throughout their lifetimes and managed to save some money for retirement but who still experience financial pressures on a day-to-day basis. The supplement was designed to help them pay bills such as rates and land tax, so they can continue to afford to live in their family home. It was designed to support them to pay motor vehicle registration so they can continue to drive. It was designed to help provide this hardworking group of people with some income security to get them through their retirement.

Axing the seniors supplement will impact a huge number of older Australians. It will leave some 300,000 Australian seniors almost $900 a year worse off. In my electorate in the ACT, more than 12 per cent of those over the age of 65 rely on this supplement to help them meet the cost of living. I cannot support cuts that will hurt so many people. These Australians have worked hard all of their lives to save for their retirement and proudly so as self-funded retirees. We have had many a debate in this place where self-funded retirees have had a vocal and omnipresent place in the debates. They are highly respected for the work that they have done in saving for their own retirement.

But all of this did not stop the Prime Minister describing payments for Australian seniors as a 'cash splash'. I wonder if the Prime Minister and Mr Hockey consider these hardworking Australians to be 'leaners', not worthy of this targeted support that helps them get by. The issue of 'leaners' is an interesting one, because this government seek to characterise those in need in our community, those who are in receipt of this kind of supplement, as somehow leaning on the rest of us. I do not think anybody could describe self-funded retirees as leaners in any way. But the government have taken the same approach to cutting this supplement as they have to other welfare cuts—to others that they have called leaners. So it is a reasonable extrapolation on my part to assume that this government think this group is a bunch of leaners as well.

I do not like the term; it is pejorative in the extreme. It characterises the way in which this government approaches the task of implementing a series of draconian cuts. Why not cause a bit of fear? Why not cause a bit of concern or a bit of angst in the community? Why not imply that some in our community are less deserving than others? And why not use that as the political device to underpin the government's justification, which will no doubt come, for this ridiculous and unfair bill? Let's see what those opposite have got to say. I am interested to know whether the government thinks self-funded retirees are leaners—in their parlance—and are somehow therefore deserving of this cut. Let's see what they have to say.

I would put it to the chamber that these Australians, who have worked hard all their lives, are not leaners. They deserve the support they get. The support that they get helps to ensure they maintain a decent quality of life in their retirement years and can continue to contribute in an enormous way to our social and economic wellbeing. Mostly, I have to say, this is through volunteering. Here in Canberra we are in a month where volunteering is being celebrated and acknowledged through 25 days of volunteering, which I had the pleasure of participating in last week when I worked for a short time—I am very humble about this—at the Villaggio Sant' Antonio in Page. It is a wonderful aged-care facility, where I met a whole group of employees and volunteers who spend their days making sure that the residents of that facility are happy and healthy. I am sure many of the volunteers that I met would have been self-funded retirees and I suspect—although I do not know—that some of them may well be standing to lose this $900 a year as their supplement is cut.

Axing the seniors supplement is just one of a number of cuts in this budget that will impact older Australians. This government has already cut $1 3 billion in funding from the National Partnership Agreement on Certain Concessions for Pensioners and Seniors Card Holders. The concessions funded by this initiative helped to reduce the cost of public transport, the cost of power bills and the cost of water bills. For many seniors, these concessions are the difference between being able to pay bills or face disconnection of critical services. I applaud the ACT government—under the inspired leadership of Katy Gallagher—who recognise the importance of these concessions to seniors in our community and who have made it a priority to absorb the loss of this funding in their budget. However, the enormous cuts to states and territories in education and health make it very difficult for states and territories to continue to protect their citizens from the federal government's cruellest cuts.

It is important that we examine holistically the impact this budget will have on older Australians. Not only is this government seeking to axe the seniors supplement and not only have they removed $1.3 billion from the National Partnership Agreement on Certain Concessions for Pensioners and Seniors Card Holders but they also seek to introduce a $7 GP tax and increase the co-payment for prescription medication by $5 per script. Older Australians, who are—I think it is reasonable to say—likely to face age-related illnesses, will bear the brunt of these costs.

Using the Australian Department of Health's Medicare annual statistics, we can determine that Australians aged 65 or older are almost three times more likely to require Medicare services such as GP services, specialist services, pathology services and diagnostic imaging. This is an indication of the disproportionate impact a GP tax will have on our older Australians. Even more concerning is the impact on older Australians of the increase in the co-payment for prescription medication. Department of Health data shows us that Australians aged 65 and older are approximately nine times more likely to require a script than other Australians. Clearly—and I think the evidence is there—older Australians are being targeted by the government's GP tax and increased co-payment for prescription medication.

Details have emerged that the government's plan to cut the rebate to radiologists and abolish the safety net for high-cost diagnostic imaging services will further impact on the cost of healthcare services. Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association has said that the cuts to rebates to radiologists will mean that it will be untenable to raise the cost of these services by only $7. Under Medicare rules, any patient charged these higher fees must pay the entire amount upfront. So Australians will be forced to pay hundreds or even thousands in upfront fees for some diagnostic services. For many people, these upfront costs will be a major barrier to accessing the tests they need. For older Australians who are facing huge increases in the cost of medication and GP visits this could prove an insurmountable barrier.

How will these cuts and taxes impact on older Australian citizens? How will they impact these hardworking Australians whose contributions over a lifetime have supported Australia to prosper both socially and economically? International evidence has shown that when forced to make a choice people often have to choose to go without medical care. They have to choose to stop taking certain medications. They have to opt out of preventive care and they have to opt out of follow-up care. The Chief Executive of the Councils on the Ageing in Australia says that out-of-pocket health expenses are already a barrier for older people to visit their doctor, with many telling their COTA representatives that they delay seeing a doctor or just do not go at all, because of the cost.

We are not talking about luxury expenses. Older Australians who forgo health care will be sicker and their quality of life will be further eroded. For me, knowing the impact the government's cuts will have on the quality of life of these valued members of our community is enough to know that they are a bad idea. Perhaps, however, this is not enough to convince the government. So, beyond the health issue, I urge the government to consider the economic impact of their proposed changes. If compassion and empathy for the health of older Australians is not enough, let's look at the economics. Forcing our older citizens to make choices that negatively impact their health will not result in savings. It will increase the cost to our healthcare system. People will become sicker and will need more expensive hospital care. Our hospitals will be under more pressure as they tend to a sicker population and they will find their emergency rooms filled with those who cannot afford to go to their GP.

Unfortunately, up to now the government do not seem to recognise the economic impact on our healthcare system. They want to combine a GP tax, an increase in the costs of prescription medication and an increase in the cost of diagnostic tests with the removal of $3 billion dollars from our public hospitals. So, as our citizens require more urgent hospital care and head to hospital emergency rooms because they cannot afford to go to their GP, our hospitals will have considerably less resources to support them. This leaves our healthcare system in a terrible place, but it is a terrible place that has been consciously constructed by an irresponsible government that is incapable of caring for those most in need. The combined effect of all of these measures is to erode the quality of life of older Australians and, most markedly, to erode the quality of life of low-income older Australians. It reflects the government's lack of concern for notions of equal opportunity and fairness, in particular as they apply to our older citizens.

Let us not forget that this is a government that is also determined to change the indexation of the age pension. I think this is absolutely worth mentioning in the context of this debate and the points I have been making. This will leave older Australians who rely on the age pension $80 a week worse off within 10 years. The Treasurer himself has accepted the Parliamentary Budget Office forecast that if this legislation is successful it will result in $23 billion less being spent on the age pension. That is $23 billion less going into the pockets of ordinary Australian pensioners.

Despite this acknowledgement by the Treasurer himself, recently in the ACT, Liberal Senator Zed Seselja sent out letters to seniors in Canberra deliberately misleading them about the impacts of his party's budget on pensioners and self-funded retirees. In the letter he tells seniors that the age pension will continue to rise twice a year. What he does not tell them is that the changes his government is trying to impose mean that the rise will be less than it otherwise would have been. He does not tell them that the value of the age pension will be eroded over time in relation to the cost of living, to the tune of $80 a week. He also makes absolutely no mention of his government's intention to get rid of the seniors supplement, removing almost $900 from the pockets of many Australian seniors.

The legislation before the Senate today is just one part of a range of changes the Abbott government is making that will hurt older Australians. All of these changes will make it difficult for seniors in our community to enjoy the pleasurable things in life. More ominously, they will require some seniors to make the choice to forgo preventive care, to forgo follow-up health care and perhaps, most disturbingly, to forgo health care at all. This government is trying to reduce the quality of life for older Australians who have put in a lifetime of hard work, and they ought to be condemned for it. Labor will not be supporting the legislation that seeks to facilitate this. We will fight against increasing the co-payment for prescription medicines, we will fight against the GP tax, we will certainly be fighting against axing the seniors supplement, and we will fight these together with the community as we seek to have fairness and what we all understand to be Australian values restored.