Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before the last federal election the then Leader of the Opposition promised Australians:

We offer real solutions that will help the forgotten families of Australia with cost of living pressures.

Unfortunately, less than 12 months on, those opposite have already forgotten Australian families. Despite their election promises, in the budget the Abbott government cut $7.5 billion in family payments. These cuts will mean that a single parent on $55,000, with two children, will be around $6,000 worse off. Some of these family payment cuts being advanced by the government are truly extraordinary. The most ridiculous cut being advocated by the government is their proposal that family tax benefit B should be removed for families and children aged over five years old. It is as though the government think kids get cheaper as they get older. The only way this policy will not hit families' budgets is if their kids do not grow up. This might be good for families in Neverland, but for the rest of Australia it is Peter Pan stuff.

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