Dear Ms Randolph
Thank you for contacting me to express your concern about the Abbott Government’s mooted changes to the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and other pension payments. Please accept my apologies for the delayed reply.
I share your concern that the cuts to pension payments the Government is enthusiastically flagging will hurt the most vulnerable. Pensioners and carers in Ipswich and the Somerset region are right to be worried they will be the next to be hurt by the Prime Minister’s attack on pension payments.
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews stated several times in an interview last week that the Abbott Government believes that the rate and indexation of the pensions needs to be slashed, and that there will be more cuts to come.
“There’s a growing gap between the amount of money that people get on pensions and the amount of money they get on, for example, Newstart. That’s because they’re indexed at different rates and it creates a perverse disincentive for people to want to get onto, for example, the disability support pension.”
- Kevin Andrews, ABC AM, 21 January 2014
“The Commission of Audit has a remit to look at virtually anything.”
- Kevin Andrews, ABC News 24, 21 January 2014
Labor believes that our pension system is a vital safety net for Australians with disability, carers and the elderly.
Already, the Abbott Government has moved to cut the Schoolkids Bonus, the Income Support Bonus and the Low-Income Superannuation Contribution, which will leave millions of Australians worse off. But they still want to cut some more, and it’s people living on low incomes who are still on their chopping block.
The contrast between the Abbott Government spruiking cuts to pensions while designing an inequitable and extravagant Paid Parental Leave Scheme is jarring.
It was Labor that better targeted the family payments system to those that needed it, abolished the baby bonus and means tested the private health insurance rebate – all sensible reforms to keep our welfare system sustainable for the future.
The Abbott Government’s only answer to welfare reform has been to start cutting the pension.
Only Labor can be trusted to deliver a fair and sustainable welfare system that provides the necessary support for those who need it most.
I can offer no assurance that the Abbott Government won’t force people with disability onto Newstart, or slash their allowances, or push them to unreasonably and repeatedly justify their eligibility for their DSP.
I can promise that Labor will fight these cuts tooth and nail.
Yours sincerely
Shayne Neumann
Member for Blair
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