Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, would you clarify something for many people in my electorate who have been receiving and expressing great concern about some Labor Party material that was circulated, focused on the pension in particular. I understand there have been some flyers put out by Labor Senator Cameron saying, quite inaccurately, that pensioners will lose the seniors supplement. That has now been clarified as not true in that they do not even receive this supplement.

Obviously, it is an appalling campaign and the misinformation has caused great concern. It really does reflect an opposition party with no ideas for the future, no clue, no platform of their own and no alternative budget. We know that pensions will continue to increase twice every year and into the future, even with the re-indexation changes in 2017 locking them into the cost of living, but the scare campaign evidently has had its effect. It has caused great concern about the impact on the pension supplement. Could you confirm the status of that supplement in the budget and whether it will be increasing at all in the future?

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