Pensioners won't forget the Coalition's record on the pension

This Prime Minister has spent the nine years of this government – three of those years as Treasurer, and three more as Prime Minister – trying to cut the pension. Now, he’s thinks he can pay that all back with a $250 payment.

In the 2014 Budget they tried to cut pension indexation, trying to force pensioners to live on as much as $80 less every week. Only a determined campaign by Labor and community pressure stopped them making life tougher for pensioners across Australia.

They cut $1 billion from pensioner concessions – support designed to help pensioners with the cost of living. They axed the $900 seniors supplement to self-funded retirees receiving the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. They tried to reset deeming rates thresholds to leave 500,000 part-pensioners made worse off.

As Social Services Minister, Scott Morrison did a deal with the Greens political party to change the pension asset test which cut the pension to around 370,000 pensioners by as much as $12,000 a year, and saw many part-pensioners lose their pension all together.

They also tried to cut the pension for over 1.5 million Australians, by scrapping the energy supplement for new pensioners. Their own figures showed this would have left over 563,000 Australian pensioner worse-off, with another million worse off after a decade.

The Prime Minister tried for years to raise the pension age to 70.

The Coalition haven’t stopped trying to cut the pension. They still have cuts in the Parliament.

Australians deserve our respect and should be supported to live with dignity.

Pensioners can see through the Prime Minister’s motivations with this payment on the eve of an election.

The Coalition have spent a decade eroding the pension. Pensioners will not be fooled.

ENDS

Authorised by Paul Erickson, ALP, Canberra