Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Disability Reform) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair for his question and all the work he does for the families and pensioners in his electorate. It is the case that this Labor government is doing everything we possibly can to make sure that jobs are created. We are managing the economy in the interests of jobs. On this side of the House we know that the most important thing for any child is to see mum or dad, or both, going out to work every day and bringing home a pay packet every week. Those 700,000 extra jobs that have been created by this Labor government have meant so much to those families and to the children in them.

We also recognise that there are many pensioners who want to work and it is this Labor government that has introduced a new work bonus to support those pensioners on the age pension who want to work. Just today, we have introduced changes that will encourage people who are on the disability support pension to take on work or do more hours. It is this Labor government that has made sure that we do everything we can to help those households make ends meet, whether it is with the cost of child care by increasing the childcare rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent to help with out-of-pocket costs. It is this Labor government that has helped with the cost of teenagers. Those on the other side of the House seem to think that the cost of teenagers goes down when they hit 16. Of course, those on the other side are totally out of touch with the real life of working families and it is this government that has made sure that we have provided additional assistance to families of teenagers, increasing family tax benefits by up to $4,200 a year per child, to help those families with the cost of children and to make sure that those children are encouraged to stay on at school. What a contrast we see from those opposite. What is it that we know that this Leader of the Opposition can absolutely be guaranteed to do? We know there is one thing he can be guaranteed to do, and that is to give a tax cut to some of the wealthiest people in Australia. The other thing he can be guaranteed to do is to claw back money from the pockets of pensioners and the pockets of families.

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