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

It is extraordinary that twice in question time today the Minister for Social Services was given the opportunity to talk about the impact of the government's cuts on families. At no time could even the word 'family' cross his lips. At no time could he actually show any interest or any regard for the impact of this government's very harsh cuts on all sorts of different families in Australia. We will have the opportunity today to give him 10 whole minutes to see if once, just once, he could say something that demonstrates he understands and this government understands just how harsh these cuts are and what they will mean for Australian families.

It is nearly two months since this Prime Minister deposed that other Prime Minister who now sits over there. He has had two months to come up with a new agenda. He has had two months to actually think about the cost of living pressures that Australians are under and to come up with a new agenda that he says would all be about fairness—new ideas about how to introduce fairness for families and a fair go that we know over the last two years has been completely lacking from this Liberal government. Yet, in this two-month period, all we have heard from this Prime Minister is that they intend to deliver more cuts to Australian families, more pressure on Australian family budgets and more unfairness.

What we know from this government is that this will leave millions of Australian families thousands of dollars worse off. We also know—because they want to have this debate or conversation—that they want to increase the GST to 15 per cent. One thing we know from these Liberals is that they never give up—they never, ever give up—when it is about hurting Australian families. Let us just look at the detail, because the Minister for Social Services refused to answer the question from the member for Parramatta and the member for McEwen about what these cuts would mean. So I will tell the Minister for Social Services and, of course, the Australian parliament: this Prime Minister's cuts to family payments will mean that 130,000 single-parent families and 3,900 grandparent carers will be worse off. One and half million families will lose their FTBA supplements—that is, $726 per child. If you have two or three kids, $726 for every single child will be cut from those family budgets. Around 500,000 of these families earn less than $50,000 a year. Do you think this Minister for Social Services has got any idea of what it is like to live on $50,000 a year? And he is going to take thousands of dollars out of the pockets of these families. An average two-parent family, with two children in school, will be more than $2,600 a year worse off. A typical single-parent family will be more than $4,700 a year worse off. The Minister for Social Services does not want us to count the schoolkids bonus.

Opposition members: No!

Who cut that? Which government cut the schoolkids bonus? We gave it to families to help them with the cost of going to school. This government wants to take it off them. This government wants to take it off families. So, of course, we are going to make sure that families know what the total cost of the cuts of this Liberal government is proposing to family budgets.

We have the Prime Minister saying in an interview earlier this month that fairer is what it is all about. That is what the Prime Minister said: fairer is what it is all about. Yet, he is taking $4,700 out of the pockets of a single-parent family. He also says that fairness means 'the burden'—and this is quoting the Prime Minister—should be 'borne by those best able to pay it'. Yet this Prime Minister and this Minister for Social Services want to cut the family payments that help Australian families with the cost of raising children. That is what family payments do. They help families put food on the table. They help families pay the rent. They help make sure that families have got shoes for their children to go to school. That is what family tax benefits are paid for, and families are going to have a lot less of that money to help with the cost of raising their children.

They say fairness is a priority, yet they want to take thousands of dollars out of the pockets of grandparent carers. They say fairness is what it is all about, but of course all they want to do is introduce a regressive tax called the GST. How fair can it be to take $4,700 out of the pockets of a single-parent family? How fair can it then be to add on top of that a higher GST, increasing the cost of groceries, possibly a new tax on health care, on education and on fresh food? How can any of this be fair? You cannot just say that you believe in fairness. You cannot just say that is what it is. You actually have to deliver the policies that are fair. Once you get beyond the spin of this Prime Minister—I don't know if you can say that the Minister for Social Services is into spin—all he can talk about is something that has absolutely nothing to do with families.

What we do know, though, is that all of this is going to lead to a much harder life for families. I want to remind the Minister for Social Services of what the actual dollar amount is for the loss of the schoolkids bonus—$842 for each secondary school child. That is what families will lose. Those children are not in child care; they are in secondary school! Those families will lose $842 as a result of cutting the schoolkids bonus. Of course, for each primary school aged child, $422 will be lost. Add to that what the government wants to do to paid parental leave—we have not heard of that for a while. It means that 80,000 new parents each year will be worse off. It was a cut that was described as 'a rort' and 'a fraud' by those opposite.

We have launched a new campaign today: we are calling on this Prime Minister to give families a fair go—to stop increasing the cost of living for families; stop the unfair cuts; stop the plans to increase the GST. With all of these cuts—whether it is the schoolkids bonus, whether it is the GP tax by stealth—all Australians know a very simple truth: as long as there is a Liberal government in power the cost of living for Australian families will go up. All the Minister for Social Services can go on about is the state of the budget and all the concerns about the government's budget, but he completely forgets about the impact on family budgets—one and a half million family budgets are going to be affected by these cuts. It will happen in Gippsland as much it will happen anywhere else. Don't worry: I will be making sure that the people of Gippsland understand—

Mr Chester interjecting—

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