Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

The government has made it clear that there will not be a change without going to an election first. That is the same principle that was adopted in relation to some other significant measures under previous—

Senator Wong interjecting—

I am referring to the question from Senator Polley in relation to pensions. The government has made clear that it will not make a change to the pension without first taking that to an election. I want to nail this idea that the government will be seeking to target in the budget particular sections of the community. Far from it. We recognise that the task of repairing the budget requires a contribution from across the community. Part of the reason for that approach is to make sure that we can provide appropriate support to people on low and middle incomes. That is the whole purpose. That is the whole idea: to make sure that we continue to have the capacity to provide a social safety net, which everyone in this chamber agrees is important. We know that if spending were to continue government wide on the trajectory established under the previous government, it would compromise the capacity of future governments to provide the supports that everyone in the community believes should be in place. We are seeking to make sure that governments have the capacity. That is something that would have been compromised if the previous government had been re-elected.