Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. I am addressing the social security bill, because these are important steps. It is about protecting and looking after our self-funded retirees. That is what this bill is about, and there is nothing more we could do to help our self-funded retirees than to get rid of this most toxic tax. The threshold for this tax is currently $50,000 for singles and $80,000 for couples. So we know what would actually happen if we did not bring this indexation in: 30,000 Australians, many of them living in my electorate of Hughes, would simply miss out on getting that Seniors Health Card.

In the remaining time I would like to make some comments about other issues that were raised in this debate, firstly by the member for Ballarat. The member for Ballarat, in her contribution to this debate, whined on and on about so-called cuts to health and education. I know the Labor Party believes in their DNA that if you repeat a lie enough times people will eventually believe it. The fact is that this coalition government is not cutting health spending. We are increasing—repeat, increasing—health spending by nine per cent this year, nine per cent next year and nine per cent the year after. For education we are increasing—again, I repeat, increasing—health spending by eight per cent this year, with another eight per cent increase next year and then a further eight per cent increase. So, if members of the opposition want to come in here and whine about spending on health and education, they must say how much above those annual increases of eight and nine per cent they want. But most of all, where is the money coming from? There is no money tree out in the parliamentary courtyard. Every single cent of money that we raise must come from the taxpayer. Alternatively, it can be borrowed. It can be borrowed like it has been for the last six years. And when you borrow money, not only do you have to repay it sometime but also you have to service the interest along the way.

So, this financial year, this government must find $12 billion—that is 12,000 million dollars—just to service the interest. That is $1 billion every single month we have to service. And we have the member for Ballarat coming in here during her contribution to the debate whining about why Australians are worse off. We are worse off—the entire nation is worse off—because we have had six years of Labor government waste and reckless spending. Worst is that just to service the interest alone it is $500 for every man, woman and child in this country. Every man, woman and child in this country is $500 worse off every year. A family of four is worse off $2,000 every year just to pay the interest on the debt that these guys racked up.

So we have to take steps to try to wind back that debt, to make those interest repayments and to try to get this budget under control. But instead we see the opposition in complete denial. The member for Bendigo, in her contribution, continued on with this reckless scare campaign, scaremongering and trying to frighten pensioners. This is a disgrace, and we are seeing it repeatedly from members of the opposition, coming into this parliament and making statements in the media—completely false—entirely for the purpose of scaring pensioners. The truth is that there are no cuts to pensions. Pensions rise twice a year for the next three years, and they rise by the equivalent of average weekly male earnings. After that, they will still rise twice every year, and they will rise by the CPI. So we just cannot have members of the opposition going around scaring pensioners and old people. It is an absolute disgrace.

They are entitled to make whatever political points they want, but they should not tell falsehoods for the sake of their own political expediency by scaring older Australians. This bill should have the support of the opposition. But, sadly, the 30,000 Australians who would otherwise have missed out on getting that Seniors Health Card—30,000 over the next four years—in the next couple of minutes are going to see members of the opposition vote against this. So I hope that in the last couple of minutes maybe they might have a last-minute change, because the coalition and myself commend this bill wholeheartedly to the House.

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