Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, we saw the most outlandish justification for the government's budget of broken promises yet. The latest justification for the government's swingeing cuts to health and education, their attack on the pension and the Americanisation of our higher education system is that they are necessary to restore fairness to Australian society. That is what the Treasurer recently told the Sydney Institute—that the budget of broken promises was necessary because we have too many 'leaners' and not enough 'lifters' and that:

This year the Australian government will spend on average over $6,000 on welfare for every man, woman and child in the country.

He then asked a question you do not often hear from Liberal treasurers:

Is this fair?

Given they are new to this whole 'fairness' caper, it is no surprise that the Treasurer missed the point.

When you actually look at where the Treasurer's $6,000 in welfare goes, the largest recipients by far are our veterans, our seniors and our carers. That is right: the Treasurer seems to think that those who have worked until retirement age, people who look after those with disability and people who have served our country in war are 'leaners' and that it is not fair for society to support them. These are people who have worked harder than most for our way of life and deserve better than the Treasurer's cheap contempt.

The facts just do not support this government's fairness fantasy. Contrary to the Treasurer's insulting 'leaner' rhetoric, the Melbourne institute research shows that welfare dependency has decreased over the last 12 years. The number of households primarily dependent on welfare payments has decreased by almost 30 per cent since 2001. No matter how the Abbott government try to sell it, the Australian people just are not buying their budget of broken promises. They did not vote for it and they do not want it.