6PR 882
Mornings with Gary Adshead
27 June 2014
11:00 am
E & OE
Subject: aged pension, state concessions.
ADSHEAD:
For those that attended the rally at Perth town hall on Friday would know that we did put out an invite to a number of Liberals, right from the Prime Minister down. We got in the end one Liberal Senator who doesn’t have any responsibility for the portfolios that we were discussing. One of the people we did invite was Mitch Fifield, he’s the Assistant Minister for Social Services and comes under the aged care portfolio as well. He was unavailable on Friday but he’s agreed to join us now, thanks for your time Assistant Minister.
FIFIELD:
Hi Gary, good to be with you.
ADSHEAD:
What pensioners want to know, the struggling pensioners that are out there and I’m not saying I’m putting everyone in the same category. But those struggling pensioners want to know one thing, why us? What are you going to tell them?
FIFIELD:????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Well, Gary I think there has been a lot of misinformation out there, particularly pedalled by the Opposition. The fact of the matter is that pension payments are increasing and they will continue to increase. The pension will continue to increase twice each year to keep up with the cost of living. In March this year the pension rate increased. The amount of the pension will increase again in September. So any suggestion that the pension is going to be cut, or that it won’t continue to increase is just wrong.
ADSHEAD:
It just won’t increase at the same level though once you make the change in, I think its three years isn’t it??
FIFIELD:
That’s right, in 2017. But yes you’re right, we’ll change the nature of the indexation. But pensions will still increase. Pensions will not be cut.
ADSHEAD:
So the question mark, the big question mark, is over the concessions that are afforded to senior citizens, and those pensioners that are really doing it hard. Now we’ve seen how the Barnett Government has dealt with it here. They’ve cut in half the cost of living rebate, which was introduced in 2009. Do you think that was a fair thing for the Barnett Government to do in order to deal with your cuts to the amount of funding that you’re providing?
FIFIELD:
I think it’s important to recognize that the funding that the Commonwealth has provided to the States and Territories around Australia for certain concessions has represented nationwide about 10% of the value of the concessions that the States and Territories provide. So the suggestion that we have significantly affected the capacity of the States and Territories to offer concessions is quite wrong. We will continue to provide the concessions that the Commonwealth is responsible for. So for pensioner concession card holders we will still provide lower pharmaceutical benefits costs. We’ll still provide general practitioner appointment cost assistance. We’ll still provide those sort of supports. But our general view is that the Commonwealth should provide Commonwealth concessions for Commonwealth programs, and the States and Territories should provide concessions for the State and Territory programs.
ADSHEAD:
But it was an agreement and it was torn up in this budget wasn’t it? It was an agreement that was going to go beyond 2016 and it’s been ripped up. What sort of a Government does that?
FIFIELD:
Well, we’re a Government that, as you know, inherited a budget deficit from the previous government. There were in fact cumulative budget deficits of $121 billion over the previous government and net government debt of $191 billion. So we’ve had to make a range of decisions across portfolios that we would have preferred not to have had to make. But we know that in order to make sure that the Federal Government is in a position to provide a good and decent social safety net in the long term, we had to make some difficult decisions in this budget.
ADSHEAD:
Yeah I mean we keep hearing that, but do you think that perhaps you’ve targeted vulnerable people when you didn’t need to?
FIFIELD:
We haven’t targeted any group in the community. There are a range of savings measures across all portfolios and we have, I think, undertaken steps that make sure we can continue to provide the good and decent social safety net that all Australians want to see.
ADSHEAD:
In WA, and I’m talking specifically WA, they have a cost of living rebate because it was deemed, and I think you’d agree with this, that Western Australia is an expensive place to live. If you’re saying that you haven’t targeted anyone then I would have to say that the Barnett Government has because they were the ones that decided that the best way to deal with your cuts was to slash in half the cost of living rebate. So whether you like it or not, pensioners are going to suffer because of your federal budget.
FIFIELD:???
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I just come back, in relation to the concession issue, to the fact that nationwide the Commonwealth’s contribution to the concessions that the States and Territories have provided is only about 10 per cent. So we have not been the major funder of state-based concessions for utilities and other state government services. So the decision that the State and Territory Government’s make are a matter for them. They have to prioritise just as the Commonwealth has to prioritise. But its 10 per cent of the State and Territory concessions the Commonwealth previously did provide.
ADSHEAD:
But it’s a four year agreement, it was there is black and white so obviously a state government thinks that it’s there. They’ve got that funding it’s locked away but that’s been torn up. If you’d have waited until after the four year period than you might have an argument, but right now you’ve just ripped up something that was planned for.
FIFIELD:
As I say, there are a range of decisions across portfolios that we would have preferred not to have had to make. But we were elected, very fundamentally, on the commitment to bring the budget back into balance. And that means that we’ve got to make some difficult decisions.
ADSHEAD:
Well I’d like to rip up my mortgage over the next four years but I’ve made a commitment to pay it so I do, don’t I? Don’t we? Don’t we? That’s what we do isn’t it? That’s what people do. Whereas you guys just play games don’t you?
FIFIELD:
We’re not playing games…
ADSHEAD:
Well you tell me where $107 million that’s been cut out of promised Federal Government funding to the States is not playing games right now with vulnerable people’s lives? You clearly don’t get it do you? In terms of the people that you have targeted in relation to this budget, whether you like it or not are vulnerable people, who are trying to make ends meet. And you can play all the numbers games you like, but there are people that hurt because of this.?
FIFIELD:
Gary, as I’ve indicated, the Commonwealth was only responsible for a very small proportion…
ADSHEAD:
If it’s so small why couldn’t you stick to it for four more years?
FIFIELD:
…of the contribution to State and Territories for the concessions that they are responsible for. Now we have, across all portfolios had to identify savings so that we, as the Federal Government, will be in a position, not just this year, but for the year after and for the decades to come, so that we will be in a position so that we can continue to have one of the best social safety nets here in Australia. So that we can continue to provide the pension. So that we can continue to provide pharmaceutical benefits support for those people who need it.
ADSHEAD:
Alright, well let’s certainly hope that the people that may have voted you in the last time will be thinking along those lines as well because from learned the other day, there’s a lot of animosity out there and that’s from your own voters. So you’ll have to deal with them at the next election, but thanks for joining us today.
FIFIELD:
Good to talk to you Gary.
ENDS
Media contact: Lydia Bevege | 0409 792 081 | Lydia.bevege@dss.gov.au