Transcript by The Hon Scott Morrison MP

Doorstop, Geelong

E&OE

MINISTER MORRISON:

It is great to be here with Sarah Henderson in Geelong and to be meeting up with some of the locals and talking about the many issues that are impacting on older Australians and today we have an important announcement in that the pension once again is rising. The pension has risen by more than six per cent since the last election when the Abbott government was voted into office and pensioners today are better off than they would have been under Labor because not only has the pension increased by over six per cent but we have been able to abolish the carbon tax and maintain the compensation package that went with the carbon tax. That means $14.10 for single pensioners and $21.20 for a couple pension increase that was related to the compensation package. So they’ve kept the compensation and in addition to that, there has been a six per cent increase in the pension. Now that sort of increase means that we’ve been able to keep pace with the cost of living, but it also puts a lie to Labor’s claims that the pension is going down. The pension is not going down. The pension is going up as the pension should. It goes up every six months and it goes up to ensure we maintain a good standard of living for those in their retirement. Now no-one pretends that the pension is a lavish payment, but it is important that we can continue to provide that support to older Australians in their retirement and that it continues to keep pace with the cost of living and that’s what the Government has delivered again in this latest six month increase and it means that pensioners are now particularly holding on to the carbon tax compensation and having abolished the carbon tax then they have had the added bonus of what this Government has been able to introduce.

I’m going to invite Sarah to make a couple of comments now and talk about our day here in Geelong and the sort of feedback we’ve been getting.

HENDERSON:

Thank you very much Minister, good afternoon everyone. It’s great to have the Minister for Social Services, Scott Morrison, here in Geelong. We’ve had a terrific day. We’ve had a childcare forum in Grovedale, talking about the government’s focus on delivering more affordable and more flexible childcare and as the local member here in Corangamite, I have a very strong focus on getting out into the community and listening very much valuing the feedback of local residents and it’s been fantastic to get that feedback when we have the Minister here in Geelong today. The Minister has also opened a childcare centre at Waurn Ponds and that’s been another indication of this wonderful growing part of the country and seeing how we are supporting families right across Corangamite and again today, here at the bowls club, it’s been wonderful to hear from pensioners and to hear some of the cost pressures on pensioners and the best feedback that I’ve had today is that one of the biggest issues for pensioners is utility costs. So I certainly think there is no doubt that our government’s focus on abolishing the carbon tax, for pensioners, for small businesses and also for manufacturers because of course we are a great manufacturing city and the carbon tax did cost manufacturers $1.1 billion every year, that has been received very, very positively. Our focus on driving down the cost of living and on addressing the issues that people really care about. So thank you very much Minister, it’s so great to have you here because of course this is the best electorate in the country, as you well know, but it’s great to have your support.

MINISTER MORRISON:

Thanks, Sarah; it’s been wonderful to get that feedback. Also I think it’s very important today that we mark what is a very sad day for the country but also for the Liberal Party in particular and to note the passing of Malcolm Fraser and our deepest sympathies go to the Fraser family and Tamie in particular and I would like them to know that they have the deepest concern and sympathy for them from the entire Liberal family and I think from Australians more broadly. Malcolm Fraser as a Liberal Prime Minister was the best friend that Australia’s migrant communities ever had as a Prime Minister. It was Malcolm Fraser who introduced the SBS, ethnic radio, settlement services for new migrants. It was Malcolm Fraser who introduced the Special Humanitarian Visa and increased the intake that we had for people coming into the country in that appropriate way. English language services; these were all landmark policy reforms of Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister and he will always have the Liberal Party’s great respect for the work he did as our Prime Minister and his leadership of the Liberal Party and our deepest sympathies to his family.

JOURNALIST:

Minister in later times fair to say that you both didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the asylum seeker policy.

MINISTER MORRISON:

Well there is no doubt that Mr Fraser had different views to the party’s policy on a number of areas and that’s not uncommon. The Liberal party is a broad church and it’s a broad church that Malcolm Fraser led. He is the third longest serving Prime Minister and he has done – he has a great reputation in terms of his support for migrants to Australia and the rich diverse multicultural society that we have today. We may not have agreed on every point but I have always respected him greatly.

JOURNALIST:

What are your personal views?

MINISTER MORRISON:

I only actually met Mr Fraser on one or two occasions and the first thing you always saw about Malcolm was the huge physical presence. He was a big man and it was one of the first political biographies that I ever read was of Malcolm Fraser and the strength of character he showed both as the leader of the Opposition and really rewrote the rule book on that and the strength of character he showed to take the Liberal Opposition into government in 1975 and then successfully lead the country is something that I think has earned him his place in history – he just wasn’t occupying the office. The reforms that he put in place, particularly for migrant communities in Australia were simply outstanding and a part of the Liberal party’s rich legacy when it comes to supporting immigrant communities around the country.

SARAH HENDERSON:

I wouldn’t also just mind saying as a fellow Victorian MP. I saw Malcolm Fraser only a matter of months ago and he talked to me about the things that he use to do as a local member of Parliament and the importance of making sure that constituents were looked after and how he use to chase Ministers down corridors when correspondence wasn’t addressed and he gave me some wonderful advice and I would just want to echo your sentiments. It is a very sad day for the Liberal party. He was a great Prime Minister, a great Victorian, and deep condolences to Tamie and the Fraser family.

JOURNALIST:

Sarah I think it would be fine for people to say he wore out his back doing laps of the Wannon electorate, just next door to Corangamite.

SARAH HENDERSON:

He was – absolutely – he was the member for Wannon of course for many years. He was an incredible local member and as I say he gave me some great insights. I first met Malcolm Fraser when I was twelve and my sister was ten and she had a broken arm and he signed her plaster cast and my mother said – and he was Opposition leader at the time – and my mother said that could be a very valuable plaster cast one of these days but he has been a great part of our Liberal history, a great part of our Liberal family. For me personally he was a real inspiration and as I say a very, very sad day.

JOURNALIST:

Minister one of the pensioners here today saying to the [inaudible]

MINISTER MORRISON:

Look one of the things that was being fed back and I get this around the country is that there are a lot more pressures on grandparents today than there may have been previously with families on two incomes working, keeping up with the mortgage, grandparents being called on more and more. Having an active role in looking after children and supporting their kids families financially as well. So the pressures on grandparents are increasing and we want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to ensure that they are able to draw down as much as they can on what resources they have to support their cost of living but to ensure that the pension keeps pace with the cost of living and it has a sustainable future and we will obviously continue to pursue positive reforms in that area and listen carefully to what they have to say about the direction of those reforms.

JOURNALIST:

Are they saying their better off?

MINISTER MORRISON:

Well the situation they find themselves in today is I think there’s a lot of pressure but there’s no doubt that people appreciate very much that the carbon tax gone, there is an appreciation that the pension has increased by more than six per cent, which is higher than wages. It’s important to note that had the pension only increased by Male Total Average Weekly Earnings since the election, that pensioners today would be more than $20 per fortnight worse off than they are now. So the pension increases we’ve had over the last 18 months or so combined with getting rid of the carbon tax and keeping the carbon tax compensation which I remind you is $14.10 a fortnight for singles and $21.20 for couples, that is assisting with what is already increasingly a difficult role in life that grandparents are now facing.

JOURNALIST:

Are you saying they’re better off now than they would have been for the sake of budget review, why are you changing it?

MINISTER MORRISON:

If Labor had been re-elected they would have had the carbon tax and they would have been worse off by basically $14.10 a fortnight if they were singles and $21.20 for couples, but we need to make sure the pension is there for the long term and the discussions we’re involved in with the pension are an ongoing one and they don’t have any fixed view in mind at the end of the day of what those reforms should be. We have a measure on the table, we are open to conversation and discussion and other alternatives and we are engaging with people who want to have that discussion. The Labor party doesn’t want to change anything and if that’s the case they will run the pension off the edge of the cliff and it will be not sustainable for future generations. The status quo is not an option, all other options need to be considered and the government is very open minded about how we can take this forward, and the feedback we’ve had today is important to reflect on as we do that.

JOURNALIST:

Are you still confident you can get the crossbench on board?

MINISTER MORRISON:

Well at this stage the measure hasn’t even been introduced into the Parliament and any measures that are under consultation won’t come into effect until 2017 so there’s plenty of time for us to actively work through these issues to make sure the pension is sustainable but adequate and the feedback we’re getting from people on the adequacy of the pension I think is really critical to our thinking on that and the more though that we can encourage people who are healthy and able and wish to, to work longer, it’s good for them, it’s good for the country, and it’s good for the grandkids at Christmas time and also where they have assets and other resources where we can make it easier for them to access and support their cost of living then we’d like to do that as well.

JOURNALIST:

The Centre for Independent Studies said that the pension shouldn’t be ring-fenced from the budget repair job. Do you agree with that based on [inaudible].

MINISTER MORRISON:

Well pensioners through their entire life have worked hard and had a deal with the government when they left school which said if you work hard then there is a pension at the other end, now this government is going to honour that deal but equally we need to make sure we honour it for future generations who will need it. For generations coming through there has been a much stronger focus on superannuation and that’s the right thing and we want to keep that focus on superannuation but for those pensioners now and the pensioners of the future we have to make the right decisions. I don’t want to see future pensioners disadvantaged by a status quo policy which will deny them an adequate pension in future. It has to be fair to those who are on it now, it has to be fair to those who are going to rely on it in the future.

Thanks very much for your time.