Page 3021 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 2013
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Mr Barr: I am not making fun of it. I am just pointing out that they are not in your motion.
MR DOSZPOT: I have spoken about it. If you had listened to what I had spoken about—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Gentleman): Order members! Mr Doszpot, could you take a seat for a moment. Mr Barr, please do not interject across the chamber. Mr Doszpot, you need to address your comments through the chair.
MR DOSZPOT: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. I have made it very clear in the debate so far that I am standing up for all of the Canberra constituents who have come to me on this. They represent a fair number of our retirees, our self-funded retirees and our long-term retirees. They cut across all political boundaries. There are some things that are available to standard pensioners, and I quoted those issues, but Mr Barr seemed to find that absolutely hilarious; he was having a good chuckle over there.
All of the people that we have spoken about are doing it tough. Mr Barr in his previous discourses in this chamber regarding the effects of the GFC has made it very clear how, according to him, his task was made all that much harder because of the effects of the GFC. Mr Barr, I have not heard you accept the fact that if you have found it tough, how hard it is for the self-funded retirees—those who also felt the effects of the GFC with the drop in international share markets and the effects on their superannuation. Have you recognised any of those issues, Mr Barr? Have you recognised any of those issues, Minister for Ageing, Mr Rattenbury?
These are the points that we brought to your attention here today. We have brought these here on the basis of calling on this government to recognise the difficulties that current cost of living pressures are causing older Canberrans. We are asking you to join us to stop the tax reforms which are tripling rates for older Canberrans, and we are asking you to join us in writing to the Prime Minister to highlight the uncertainty caused by federal Labor policies on older Australians who choose to retire in Canberra.
If these are partisan issues, Mr Rattenbury, I would like you to point out where they are partisan issues. These are all things we should all be able to agree to, to support the people in our community who need our help.
As far as I am concerned, I think we have covered this motion in a fair bit of detail. Mr Barr is again having a good chuckle. I do not expect anything more of him, but I did expect a little bit more of the Minister for Ageing than the way he answered this motion.
Once again, I repeat that my motion calls on the government to recognise that we have discrimination against a significant portion of older Canberrans, and it is time that it stopped. We call on this government to recognise the difficulties that current cost of living pressures are causing older Canberrans, to stop the tax reforms which are tripling rates for older Canberrans, and I am asking you to join with us to write to
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