Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Just because the member for Menzies got the issue of Wakefield wrong does not mean that he can try and have another go. The City of Playford is in the electorate of Wakefield. It is part of the electorate of Wakefield. All of the five areas are local government areas.

On the other question of the pauses to family tax benefits, of course the member for Menzies is well aware of the answer to this question because the opposition had a go at this in estimates, so I do not have anything further to say other than what was said by my officials in estimates. I remind the member for Menzies of the opposition's support for this measure when it was introduced in 2009. The government first paused the upper income limits on family tax benefits and the baby bonus in 2009 with the opposition's support. It is the case that we are proposing to extend that limit pause by another two years. The critical thing that I want to remind the member for Menzies of, if he needs a reminder, is that the responsible shadow minister at the time, Mr Abbott, now the Leader of the Opposition, said that he considered that these pauses were—to quote him—'too soft'. Two years ago the now Leader of the Opposition said that these pauses were 'too soft'. The opposition supported them two years ago, and I hope that, in the interests of making sure our family payment system is sustainable, the opposition will support them again. These measures are important for the sustainability of the family payment system, and that is why we are introducing them in this budget.

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