Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
3:00 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. The Treasurer has told Australians to 'go out and spend big'. So why on earth, in this Prime Minister's last parliamentary act before Christmas, is he trying to ram through his attack on pensioners? Why is the Prime Minister's Christmas present to the pensioners of Australia an $80 cut to their entitlements, in the future, per week?
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Honourable Members:
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
I will call the Prime Minister, and there will be silence for the answer.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
3:01 pm
Yet again, that is an utterly false statement by a Leader of the Opposition who cannot help himself—he is always playing false. The member for Grayndler did not like Mark Latham being quoted in this place, but the member for Grayndler and every member opposite wanted that person to be Prime Minister. So he was good enough to be supported to be Prime Minister, and let me just read his views on the gentleman who is currently the Leader of the Opposition: 'When I first became leader, Bill Ludwig and little Billy Shorten pledged AWU support for me, but you can't trust them as far as you can kick them.' Well, you can't trust anything that this Leader of the Opposition says. That is the truth.
Jenny Macklin Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments
Speaker—