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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 3153 ..

MS REILLY (continuing):

because some older people are important, active, contributing members of our community. In some cases they may have reduced incomes that can cause problems, and some of them may need different and appropriate services to assist them to live valuable and active lives in our community.

The problem at the moment is that government policies are not acknowledging the diversity and needs of older people in our community. The impacts of conservative policies from the ACT and national governments are eroding the lifestyles, the incomes and the conditions of older people in our community. As I mentioned earlier today, older Australians were forced to take direct action by coming to Canberra by bus - they had to come by bus; they cannot afford to fly in and fly out, like some of our politicians - to bring to the attention of the Federal Government the cuts to the Australian Pensioners and Superannuants Federation. We are talking about an amount of $290,000. This would be less than the cost of upkeep for John Howard's empty Lodge in Canberra, but these funds have been cut.

The APSF has been an important advocate and lobbying organisation for older people throughout Australia. It has been particularly important in helping those on low incomes to get their message across. These are some of the impacts of the changes in government policy. Pensioners with little or no extra income have been hit by higher medicine costs, reduced rent assistance for sharers and the removal of public dental services, and older unemployed have been hit by the inclusion of superannuation assets held by those on income support and over 55 but under the pension age. The new nursing home rules will also mean less choice for older Australians with fewer resources.

The APSF has been important in bringing out the impacts on people on lower incomes. One can only ask: Has its funding been cut because the Federal Government has been concerned about how effective it has been in getting its message across? It has been highlighting all the losses being experienced by older Australians across the country, including the ACT. The APSF has mentioned quite a number of changes - things like the changes to the social security deeming rate, the introduction of the nursing home accommodation bond, higher fees for nursing homes and hostel residents, higher fees for home and community care services such as Meals on Wheels, cuts to public housing, the cost of pensioner prescriptions, and the abolition of the Commonwealth's dental health program - one we know about here. The bonus for those who defer taking up their pension does not help people on lower incomes. These are a number of the impacts that have affected older Australians in the ACT and in the rest of Australia.

You cannot dismiss these things by just merely saying these are the Federal Government's cuts, because these affect income here and affect access to services here in the same way as in the rest of Australia. The ACT has more than 22,000 people who are over the age of 65 years. This group is growing as the ACT is becoming an ageing population, similar to other communities in Australia. It also has an increasing group of people who are over the age of 80. Why are these people now being forced to worry about their future?

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