Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is again to the Prime Minister. If it is the Prime Minister’s position that someone must suffer in the fight against inflation, why has he decided that carers and pensioners should be the sacrificial victims? If it was right to pay carers and seniors lump sum payments last year, when the surplus was $12 billion, why is it wrong to do so this year with an even higher surplus? Will these lump sum payments be made: yes or no?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In response to the honourable member’s question—from the new party of compassion opposite: given the longstanding commitment that they have to bonuses for carers and pensioners, it is pretty interesting when you look at the actual forward estimates produced in the last budget. Where do you see any commitment on the part of the previous government to the payment of this one-off bonus? Next year? The year after? The one after that? In fact, it is missing in action; it is not there. If you go to the fine print of the previous government’s position on this, it was, ‘We don’t rule these one-off payments out for the future, subject to economic circumstances.’ Such is the depth of the continued commitment of compassion on the part of those opposite. I return to what I said before: when it comes to bonus payments to carers and pensioners, they will not be a dollar worse off as a consequence of the upcoming budget.