Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

It is extraordinary, isn't it? We know the Liberals want to hit families and pensioners with very severe cuts to their cost of living. We also know that they will let off millionaires. They might have up to $10 million in their superannuation balances, but, no, they are not going to have their tax concessions cut, not under a Liberal government. We understand how important it is to be fiscally responsible, but we also know that you have to be socially just, that you have to make sure that those who are paying their contributions into the budget are those who can afford to do so: those who have these huge superannuation balances, who, under Labor will see those tax concessions reduced.

We know how important it is to make sure that multinational corporations pay their fair share, but we are not going to take that money out of the pockets of families. That is what this Liberal-National Party want to do. Remember before the last election the Prime Minister said, 'No change to pensions,' and 'Families will be better off'—both complete and utter fabrications. We know the truth of what is going to happen if your legislation gets through the parliament. A family on $65,000, a single-income family with two children at school—lots of them in Bass, lots of them in Hindmarsh—is going to be $6,000 a year worse off. The government are going to protect those at the top—those with $10 million in superannuation balances—but, for a family on $65,000 with two children at school, the member for Hindmarsh and the member for Bass have already voted to cut that family's income by $6,000 a year, each and every year. That is exactly what those opposite will do.

Just so we have got an idea about how many families are affected: the Prime Minister and each and every member of the Liberal and National parties want to kick around 570,000 families off family tax benefit B when their youngest child turns six. Which family thinks that children cost less once they turn six? How out of touch can the government possibly be? All those 570,000 families will be worse off.

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

The analysis that the Leader of the Opposition was talking about today shows that 1.4 million families in total will be worse off because of the government's cuts to family tax benefits and to child care. We hear the member for Bass over there making a lot of noise. We know there are a lot of struggling families in Bass, and he is going to have to face the wrath of all the families in Bass because he is going to take $6,000 out of the pockets of single-income families where they are doing it hard already. I suppose you could not be surprised by this, from a Treasurer who says that poor people do not drive cars and, if housing were unaffordable, nobody would be buying it. That is the sort of Treasurer that this country has.

We have seen today that the government want to gag the debate on pensions. They do not want to face the wrath of pensioners. They want to get this debate out of the parliament as quickly as possible—gag everyone, make sure nobody is actually facing up to the anger that pensioners have. Three hundred and thirty thousand pensioners are going to have their pensions cut. Pensioners who are single are going to lose up to $8,000 each year. For pensioners who are in couples, it is $14,000 each year. That is what all of you are doing. (Time expired)

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