PORTER TWO-FACED ON PENSION

06 March 2017

The Minister for Social Services, Christian Porter is completely two-faced when it comes to looking after Australia’s pensioners. 

Mr Porter wants praise because the automatic indexation of the pension will see an $11 a fortnight increase for a single age pensioner. 

But Mr Porter fails to mention that the Liberals want to scrap the Energy Supplement for new pensioners - a cut of $14.10 per fortnight to single pensioners or $365 a year.

If Mr Porter gets his way new couple pensioners will be $21.20 a fortnight worse off or around $550 a year worse off if the abolition of the Energy Supplement passes the Senate.

Mr Porter is giving with one hand and taking away with the other.  

Malcolm Turnbull and Christian Porter should stop trying to fool Australians into believing the Liberals care about pensioners and drop their unfair cut to the Energy Supplement.

Last week at Senate Estimates the Department of Social Services revealed for the first-time that 1.7 million Australians will lose the Energy Supplement by 2020.                          

Before the 2013 election the Liberals promised “no cuts to pensions”.

Then in every single Budget the Liberals have tried to cut the pension. 

In the 2014 Budget they tried to cut pension indexation – a cut that would have meant pensioners would be forced to live on $80 a week less within ten years.

In 2015 the Liberals did a deal with the Greens to cut the pension to around 330,000 pensioners by changing the pension assets test. 

The Liberals still want to increase the pension age to 70 – meaning Australia would have the oldest pension age in the developed world.

On top of all that around 190,000 pensioners will have their pension cut as a result of Malcolm Turnbull’s plan to limit overseas travel for Australian pensioners.