Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House:

(1)notes that:

(a)after six years of cuts and chaos under this Liberal Government, Australians are doing it tough;

(b)in last night's Budget, the Treasurer delivered an energy payment which left out thousands of Australians who rely on Government payments, including: ABSTUDY, Austudy, Double Orphan Pension, Newstart Allowance, Parenting Payment Partnered, Partner Allowance, Sickness Allowance, Special Benefit, Widow Allowance, Wife Pension, Youth Allowance and Veteran Payment;

(c)on radio this morning, less than 24 hours after he delivered his Budget, the Treasurer caved into pressure from Labor and backflipped, saying that Australians on Newstart would now receive an energy payment;

(d)in just a few minutes, the Government will introduce legislation that now extends the payment to all the people that the Government had previously left out in its Budget;

(e)the Government's backflip has already blown an $80 million hole in the Budget; and

(f)the Government's Budget is unravelling less than 24 hours after it was delivered; and

(2)therefore, condemns this government for:

(a)six years of cuts and chaos, which has only continued in the last 24 hours; and

(b)only looking after the top end of town and treating vulnerable Australians as an afterthought.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the member for McMahon moving the following motion immediately:

That the House notes that:

(1) after six years of cuts and chaos under this Liberal government, Australia is doing it tough;

  (b) in last night's budget, the Treasurer delivered an energy payment which left out thousands of Australians who rely on government payments, including Abstudy, Austudy, double orphan pension, Newstart allowance, parenting payment partnered, partner allowance, sickness allowance, special benefit, widow allowance, wife pension, youth allowance and veteran payment;

  (c) on radio this morning, less than 24 hours after he delivered his budget, the Treasurer caved in to pressure from Labor and back flipped, saying that Australians on Newstart will now receive the energy supplement;

  (d) in just a few minutes, the government will introduce legislation that now extends the payment to all the people the government had previously left out in its budget;

  (e) the government's backflip has already blown an $80 million hole in the budget; and

  (f) the government's budget is unravelling less than 24 hours after it was delivered; and

(2) therefore condemns this government for:

  (a) six years of cuts and chaos, which has only continued in the last 24 hours; and

  (b) only looking after the top end of town and treating vulnerable Australians as an afterthought.

Mr Speaker, I've seen some budgets unravel in my time—as you would have in your time here in this House, Mr Speaker—but never before have I seen a budget unravel quite as spectacularly or quickly as this.

I have a copy of the budget here. The ink is a bit smudgy, because the ink is still wet—the ink is not dry on the budget—but it is nevertheless my copy. It says at page 159 of Budget Paper No. 2 that the government will provide $284 million over two years to make a one-off energy assistance payment of $75 for singles and $62.50 for each member of a couple. The budget makes it clear that the qualifying payments are the age pension, the carer payment, the disability support pension—and it goes on. I'll tell you what doesn't appear in the budget delivered last night, a little over 12 hours ago, by the Treasurer. The budget doesn't say Newstart, nor does it say Abstudy or Austudy. This is the explanatory memorandum of a bill that will be introduced to the parliament in a few moments time and it says it will pay a one-off energy assistance payment to recipients of the age pension, the disability support pension, Abstudy, Austudy and Newstart allowance and it says the cost is $365 million over the forward estimates. Last night it was $287. Now it is $365 million. I've heard of inflation, but it is a bit ridiculous. That inflation rate is Venezuelan in its proportions. If that is the budget blowout over the last 12 hours, if they can't keep the budget until the next morning of parliament, God knows what the budget will be like in 2024 when they are promising tax cuts.

They simply forgot some of Australia's most vulnerable people. The Treasurer likes to quote two people. There are two major people he likes to quote—himself, in his main speech, and Robert Menzies, his predecessor as the member for Kooyong. He takes photo shoots next to a polished bust of Robert Menzies and he quotes 'The Forgotten People'. Well, this member of Kooyong has forgotten people as well; he forgot the recipients of Newstart and Austudy and Abstudy. This is a Treasurer who has forgotten the most vulnerable people in Australia. This energy supplement is no small thing. It was the centrepiece of their budget drop on Sunday. It was on the front page of various newspapers around the country as their big pitch for Australians. 'They have learnt the lessons of the last six years of cuts and chaos'—that was their pitch. 'Forget about the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison years; they didn't happen. 'Look at this budget.' The energy supplement was on the front page of the papers, so proud were they of it. They just got it wrong and forgot Australians on Newstart, Austudy, Abstudy and other important payments such as the double orphan pension. These aren't people who you would regard as the top end of town that you are considering whether support is necessary for; these are people who really need the energy supplement. Senator Sinodinos was on Q&A earlier in the week arguing for an increase in Newstart 'if only he knew someone who could do something about it'—but he is a member of a government that can do something about it. But here we have this big reset of the government's narrative and it is falling apart before our eyes.

I have here the budget papers that were printed less than 24 hours ago. I have some advice for the Treasurer. Next time, put the budget in a ring binder and then you can just take pages out. You can bring it in here and table the latest update on an hourly basis!

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