Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

In answer to the Leader of the National Party's question: I am very concerned to be working with Australian families on their cost-of-living pressures, which is why we provided the Schoolkids Bonus, a benefit provided by Labor to help with the costs of getting the kids to school. If you have two kids going to school, across their schooling careers it will make a difference of $15,000 for a family. And who wants to take that away? None other than the Leader of the Opposition.

Then, of course, we are working with Australian families on cost-of-living pressures that they face—for example, the historic increase in the pension that this government has delivered because we understand that for Australian pensioners it is hard to make ends meet. And who wants to take a pension increase away? None other than the Leader of the Opposition.

Then, of course, there are the supports that this government has put in place for child care: moving from the system of the former government, that the Leader of the National Party was involved in, and increasing the childcare rebate so that there is more support for childcare expenses for Australian families than there has ever been before. And there is the Leader of the Opposition saying that he is going to have a scheme for nannies that he is going to fund from that money that currently goes to families. All that means is that there are going to be cutbacks for families that are getting childcare benefit and childcare tax rebate now.

Then, of course, we work with families too on cost-of-living pressures by ensuring that families get the benefits of tax cuts through increasing the tax-free threshold to $18,200, taking a million Australians out of the tax system and giving millions more tax relief. Because of the structure of this tax-free threshold, this is a benefit that makes a difference particularly for working women; particularly for women, for second-income earners, who are seeking to combine part-time work with caring for children. And who wants to take that benefit away, and ensure that those low-income Australians—those working women, predominantly—pay more tax? None other than the Leader of the Opposition. Then on my statements about support for—

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