Letter from Shane Neumann

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

I'm a liberal.

No, I haven't gone strange. There is a substantial difference between a 'l' liberal and 'L' Liberal. A liberal believes in the principles of liberty and equally (equal rights, free trade, civil rights...) a Liberal is a member of a conservative political party. I am not a conservative. I am not a Liberal.

I don't blindly believe the policies and statements from one party to the exclusion of the other. Neither do I agree with every policy from the party I ultimately voted for. I did do the VoteCompass on the ABC website and my results were fairly as expected:
Australian Greens 83%
Australian Labor 74%
Liberal / National 33%

In order in keep my promise of positivity from my last blog, I will not discuss negative aspects of the coalition, but rather what I support. Not all of these are policies of the Labor or Greens but I think after reading you will know where my allegiances lie. These are my beliefs though, not any party doctrine.

* I support a carbon price and a move from environmentally harmful energy sources to climate friendly ones.
* I support better conditions and freedom from detention for asylum seekers.
* I support a National Broadband Network.
* I support workers rights and their right to participate in a union and for unions to negotiate contracts.
* I support equal marriage.
* I support women's rights .
* I support disability care.