Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

If they are not sitting on our side and they are not sitting on your side, just which side are they sitting on? There are only two sides. Let me go through, again, some facts. Where have we spent the money?—hang on! We lifted the age pension, the largest single increase in the age pension, for those most in need in our economy—our older people who really need a boost.

Opposition members interjecting—

They are still arguing against it! They still do not want older people to get an age pension increase. They really hate that. It is disturbing. Was that a waste of money? I do not think it was. I think it is something good we did and is something that will outlive us as a government and hopefully outlive you, whenever you might be in government.

We saved over $3 billion by means-testing the private health insurance rebate to ensure it was fairer and more sustainable into the future. We understand the need to get the balance right between spending and saving. We have saved over $900 million by targeting family payments in a better way, making sure the baby bonus works in the way it is intended. We have saved over $1.9 billion by better targeting the tax concession for living-away-from-home allowances. We have saved over $900 million by reducing tax concessions for very-high-income earners. People have called for a long time for the lifting of the tax-free threshold. Why should it only be $6,000 before you pay tax? This government listened. We have lifted it not twice but three times, to $18,000. That is where we have spent the money.

Go and tell everyone out there that you want to take it back off them, because that is what you are saying by everything that you do—I was going to say in policies, but there are not any.

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