Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

There are two immediate challenges facing our country. First, no matter where you live, whether it be in our cities, in our suburbs, in our regional towns or in our rural and remote communities, Australians are facing the very real challenge of meeting cost-of-living pressures. Food and beverages are up two per cent, clothing and footwear is up 3½ per cent, fuel is up 4.2 per cent and housing is up 2½ per cent, yet there is no relief in sight.

The second challenge is again being experienced everywhere across our country—on farms, in our cafes and restaurants, in garages and service stations and on building sites everywhere. Australian business is being crippled by a lack of workers. The labour shortages are strangling the enterprising spirit of small and medium-sized businesses everywhere across our continent. Just today, the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry released its Regional pulse report, which said over 80 per cent of WA's regional businesses cited workforce issues as a significant challenge.

The combination of inflationary pressures and severe labour shortages is real, and it's immediate. At a time when there are almost 500,000 job vacancies across Australia, more than 62,000 of them in Western Australia, the Albanese government should be looking to implement urgent reforms to enable pensioners and veterans to work if they want to. Let people work more if they want to, Mr Albanese.

Australians have waited too long for a plan from Labor. So who does have a plan? I'm proud to say it's the coalition. Today I'll introduce a private senator's bill, the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Pensioner and Veteran Workforce Participation) Bill 2022, which will remove some of the disincentives that make it harder for older Australians and veterans who want to improve their living standards by working or increasing their hours of work. This initiative will have the added benefit of making it easier for small businesses across Australia to meet the challenges of worker shortages in their communities. This is an important reform.