Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What an extraordinary start to the parliamentary term for this year. On Monday we had the Prime Minister declare that 'good government starts today'—from then! I guess that begs the question: what have we had for the last 17 months? Let me tell you what we have had: a government which has been characterised by being unfair, cruel and out of touch—especially for the people in my electorate of Fowler.

My electorate, apart from being very multicultural, is one where families are on average earnings. They have been directly targeted by the unfairness of this government, particularly by their budget—which they still cannot sell. For families with two kids and on a single income of $65,000 a year, it means a $6,000 cut—that is almost 10 per cent—as a consequence of this government and its budget. In my electorate there are 15,500 families who are on family tax benefit B. They have cut the support for children from 16 to age six and have also made unfavourable changes to the indexation.

I am not sure about all of those on the other side, but I know families in my electorate really valued the schoolkids bonus. It meant $410 per primary child and $824 for a high school student. This government has acted to make life more difficult for working-class families—

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