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

The member for North Sydney interjects. Of course, the member for Reid will be able to inform his electors that if the member for North Sydney gets his way they will claw back every single cent of the money that the member for Reid made sure they get.

This government has introduced a price on carbon and we have done it, as the Prime Minister has indicated today, because we do want to build a strong, clean economy, not just for today but for the future. I want to acknowledge the students from Loyola College in my electorate that are in the gallery today. This is all about making sure that young people, in the future, have the opportunity to live in a clean economy. We are of course also delivering to millions of other Australians. We have made sure that 6.7 million households receive extra assistance, whether it is pensioners, students, self-funded retirees or other people on low incomes. They are all able to use this money to help with everyday costs, whether for groceries or electricity. One of the other major changes that this government has delivered is to make sure that seven million Australians have received a tax cut. People earning up to $80,000 have received a tax cut from this government.

So, six weeks in from the introduction of the carbon price, we see that the sky has in fact not fallen in. Families are still getting up every day, making sure their children go to school and going off to work themselves, and they have been getting the extra help from this government. What we know from the Leader of the Opposition is that he has a very, very clear plan to claw this money back from those families and those pensioners. (Time expired)

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