Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why on earth is the Prime Minister cutting support to the children of veterans who have been killed or injured, including children who have been orphaned? Will the Prime Minister now reverse his callous decision?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The support in question comes through a much larger benefit, which is made available to many tens of thousands of people. We were up-front with people before the election that this particular benefit would be removed, because it was a benefit that was supposed to be paid for by the mining tax, and the mining tax is not raising any money. I accept that this will be unpopular—no-one wants to lose a benefit. But we cannot go on spending money that we do not have. We cannot go on being generous with borrowed money, and this is the problem. This leader of the opposition is trying to embarrass the government because the government is keeping its commitments. That is the whole point—we are prepared to commit to tough policies up-front, before an election, when the people have a choice. We were elected on the basis of these policies, and, unlike this leader of the opposition, if we commit to something before an election, we keep that commitment after an election. It is as simple as that, and I think that the Australian people are big enough to understand that yes, some tough decisions do need to be made. We promised tough decisions, and they will be as tough and as fair as they need to be.