Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A political party which campaigned on cost of living at the last election has delivered a blow in their budget to Australia's earning below average incomes and the Australian people know it. It is a budget built on fundamental unfairness and above all built on prejudice against working people, prejudice against people who dare to vote for the Australian Labor Party.

That is what we saw from the government in their budget. In Western Sydney we see it. In capital cities right across Australia we see it, and in rural and regional Australia we see it. And the Liberal Party and National Party are not standing up to people on low and middle incomes.

In my own electorate of McMahon in Western Sydney, we see the impact of this budget on the people—$596 worse off as a result of this Prime Minister and this Treasurer. This Prime Minister and this Treasurer have bought down a budget which is not hard at all on their own electorates. They are tough on the weak but they are weak when it comes to standing up for fairness in Australian political life.

They are full of rhetoric about lifters and leaners, but we know who they think the leaners are: the leaners are the working families of Australia who dare to vote for the Australian Labor Party; the leaners are the workers of Australia who commit no crime but save for their future through superannuation. This is a government built around prejudice—prejudice against working people.