Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

My goodness! In this MPI, let us have a look at a few facts of what has actually happened under the life of this government. Unemployment is at a 13-year high. How shameful that so many Australians are out of work because of the dysfunction and chaos of this government. We have seen this government take the absolute sledgehammer to this budget. I want to go through some of the facts of what this means for Australian families. There have been $5½ billion worth of cuts to family payments. Whose pockets do you think this is coming out of? The pockets of Australian families—the people whom you all suggest that you might like to represent. Go down to the High Street and talk to your families. Talk to a single-income family, earning $65,000 a year, with a couple of kids at school. Your government is taking $6,000 a year out of the pockets of those families. It is only the Labor Party who is stopping you from taking that money out of the pockets of families. That is what you want to do to families. And don't worry, we will be telling families what you intend for them every day between now and the next election.

We will also be making sure that pensioners understand what it is that you want to do to them. Only this government would consider doing this—not the Howard government. This cut was never considered by the Howard government but it has been considered by this government; in fact, the legislation for it has been through the House of Representatives. You all voted for a cut to the indexation of the age pension and the carer payment. Have you told carers that it will be out of their pockets? That is where the money is coming from. Have you had the guts to say to carers that you are going to take money out of their pockets?

The Australian Council of Social Service has estimated this is worth $80 a week. Every member of the Liberal Party and every member of the National Party want to take $80 a week out of the pockets of age pensioners, disability support pensioners and people on the carer payment—all those carers who do an extremely important job. Every single member of the Liberal Party and every single member of the National Party want to take that money out of the pockets of those pensioners. The Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated this is worth $23 billion. That $23 billion will come out of the pockets of pensioners and out of the pockets of carers. Shame on every single member of the Liberal Party for attacking pensioners in this way.

Of course the most shameful cut of all is what this government want to do to young unemployed people. They are saying to young unemployed people that they want to put them on nothing for six months. They want them to have nothing to live on at the same time, of course, that they are cutting emergency relief. So the emergency relief providers in suburbs and towns all around Australia are facing the cuts that come from this government's budget. They will not get any food from emergency relief because of the cuts of this government. And of course they are saying to young unemployed people: 'You'll have nothing to live on for six months. You can go on Work for the Dole for a while. If you still cannot find a job, you'll be on nothing again for another six months.' That is what they are saying.

If you want to talk about chaos and dysfunction, this government are all chaos and dysfunction. All we see week after week are leaks from that side of the parliament instead of concentrating on the people who deserve all of our support—the families, the young people who are unemployed and the pensioners who have worked so hard. We know how important it is that we maintain support for these people in our community. All the government want to do is destroy their opportunity for a decent life.

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