Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Seniors Supplement Cessation) Bill 2014. My colleagues Senators Lundy, O'Neill and Lines quite beautifully articulated how upsetting this bill is and the effect it will have on our senior citizens in Australia. They also spoke about the many broken promises of this government and the pain that this legislation will cause across Australia. I rise to speak predominantly about my backyard, the Northern Territory.

Seniors in the Northern Territory already face the highest cost of living in Australia. Every price increase, every tax increase, every cut by the Abbott government hurts more in the Northern Territory. Every cut by the Abbott government to the assistance that people in need receive hurts more in the Northern Territory. The new fuel tax hurts more in the Northern Territory, where we already have the highest-cost fuel in Australia. Acting Deputy President Sterle, you would know how expensive it is for fuel in remote places. In some places, we pay between $2 to $3 a litre, which is absolutely outrageous for people in the community at large.

The new GP tax, as we have already heard, will hurt more in the Northern Territory because we have lower bulk-billing services than the rest of Australia. More people will be forced into our overcrowded emergency departments, which are the busiest in the nation. The cut to the Defence pay increase will hurt most in the Northern Territory, where we have the highest proportion of Defence personnel in the country. The cuts to hospital and school funding will hurt the most in the Northern Territory, where we have the lowest education and health outcomes in the country.

Seniors and our elderly in the Northern Territory are extremely concerned by the plans to sell the Territory Insurance Office—known as the TIO—which are backed by the Abbott government. Right now, seniors and all Territorians fear the inevitable: that the sell-off of the TIO will increase insurance premiums, given our history with floods and cyclones. Right now, Territorians are hurting. The Abbott government has made our future infrastructure funding dependent upon the TIO being sold. This legislation, right now, that ends the seniors supplement—which is money that our pensioners depend on and money that our pensioners account for—will hurt so much in the Northern Territory. These are our elders. We should be looking after our elders. Where is the love and where is the respect for our elders and for the senior citizens of this country?

That is why seniors right around the Northern Territory are leaving. The Northern Territory economy is booming—everyone says that we are open for business—but our population growth is amongst the lowest in the country. That is because our cost of living is so ridiculously high. When I meet with seniors in the Northern Territory, as I do regularly, they tell me time and time again that their friends are packing up and leaving due to the cost of living. According the latest population statistics, the number of people who are leaving the Northern Territory for down south has jumped dramatically. In fact, our net interstate migration is up 150 per cent in the last year, despite our booming economy—so more people are leaving the Territory than are coming. Our seniors are leaving in droves and this bill will make it worse.

This bill attempts to end the seniors supplement. This is a cut of the $999.4 million that supports 300,000 older Australians. Again, where is the respect and the love for our elderly? These are people who currently get the seniors supplement that is available to Commonwealth seniors health card and Veterans' Affairs gold card holders. It is paid annually, as we have already heard today, and is currently at a rate of $886.60 for singles and $668.20 for each member of a couple. The latest data shows that there is modest 767 senior Territorians who are recipients of this seniors supplement. This might sound dramatic, but this could be the breaking point for these 767 seniors in the Northern Territory. This will be the thing that pushes them over the edge.

Acting Deputy President Sterle, I am sure you have heard me talk in this chamber many times about the power bills in the Northern Territory, which have gone up 30 per cent in the last 12 months. Many seniors now have to live without air-conditioning as we move into the hottest time of the year. They are already struggling and this will tip them over the edge, as I have already said. Without this assistance, they will not be able to pay the bills for the very basics in life. This is what this supplement is supposed to do. It is currently paid to older Australians, our elders, to help them pay regular bills, such as power, rates, phone and car registration. These four things are the things that are going up in the Northern Territory and this is hurting the senior citizens of the Northern Territory.

The previous Labor government brought in this supplement to assist our eligible seniors with the cost of general living expenses. What the coalition government has done is to increase costs and it is now cutting this assistance. The member for Solomon promised to make life easier for our elderly Territorians and our seniors, yet she has voted to increase these costs for our seniors. She simply has voted to take this assistance away from our seniors who simply cannot afford it. She has promised our seniors no nasty surprises and then she has hit them with one of the nastiest surprises of all.

I condemn this legislation. I feel sorry for the 767 seniors in the Northern Territory who simply cannot afford this legislation.