Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, the member for Warringah, before he was Prime Minister, actually said it was a big con. We have had to drag them along kicking and screaming, but we still see—they are not willing to come out and still say it is a con, but they will give a little sidekick to it every now and again, hurt those who are most vulnerable and ensure the delay to go from nine to 12 per cent means that so many people will miss out.

It is not only low-paid workers that this government is out for, it is also our most vulnerable. These include those on a disability support pension. I have many people in my electorate who are on a disability support pension. We know when the coalition were last in government that they refused to provide bonus payments to those on a disability support pension. They have come along again and, a couple of weeks into government, they have gone straight for those on disability support pensions and other payments by abolishing the low-income superannuation contribution. That has been a really important element that many low-income workers and those who are on things such as the disability support pension payment have relied on, and this mean-spirited government is taking that away.

Then we come to the Schoolkids Bonus. We know that those on the opposite side have always been against the Schoolkids Bonus. In fact, I remember the debate in this House when many of those on the other side lined up to say that parents would waste this money: parents would not spend it on their children, they would not spend it on anything sensible; they would probably go and spend it on alcohol or other things. Member after member of the then opposition got up and said that parents would not spend this money properly. They did not have trust in Australian families. What we on this side of the House know is that this money was really, really important to parents to pay for things like uniforms, books, excursions, swimming lessons—a whole range of things. This mean-spirited government once again is going to rip that away from many families. I ask the government to rethink this and to not continue on with this mean-spirited policy.

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