Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I was a kid, the big football battle was between Wests and Manly—yes, Max Krilich versus Tommy Raudonikis, the beach versus the 'burbs, the fibros versus the silvertails. I thought those days were gone, but they are back in this budget. We have been saying for months how unfair this budget is, and now we have the evidence that proves it. This NATSEM report shows that the poorer you are, the more you have to pay. If you have a look at the report you will find that in the Prime Minister's electorate, in Manly, the average family is $144 worse off. But in my electorate, in Western Sydney—not far from Lidcombe Oval, where those great battles used to take place between Wests and Manly—the average family is $990 worse off. That means that the people in my electorate are seven times more worse off than the people of Manly. This mob on the other side say that that is fair. I represent some of the poorest people in this country and they are hardest hit by this unfair budget.

We have the Treasurer saying everybody has to pull their weight, but that is not what is happening. They are slugging the people of Western Sydney, they are slugging the people of my electorate—the Howard battlers, Tony's tradies; they are the people that this budget is kicking in the guts. So I issue this challenge to the Prime Minister and to the Treasurer: if you have the guts, come to my electorate and look the people in the eye and explain to them why this budget is fair.