Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to highlight the inconsistencies of our Prime Minister and those opposite and how they will devastate Australian families, especially in my electorate of Lalor. I want to look at it in simple terms. Tony Abbott promised no new taxes, but now Australians will be slugged with a petrol tax. He promised no cuts to health, but now Australians will be hit with a $7 GP tax and he has cut billions from health. He promised to help families with the real cost of raising children, but now he has stripped $7.5 billion in family payments, cutting $6,000 from some families' budgets.

Twenty years ago I was a single mum raising three kids and working part time with the family benefits tax supplement. What would it have meant to my budget? I was a taxpayer paying income tax and GST, but under these conditions I would not have made the mortgage payment. My children and I would have lost our home.

This will hurt Australians—not just families but small business, big business, everyone—because what those opposite fail to understand is the basic economics that taking money away from families equals less spending ability and less money in our local economy.

While Tony Abbott considers what it actually means to make a promise, whether it be 'core' or in writing, ordinary Australians will be left pondering how this budget of broken promises will impact on them. Despite saying this government would not leave anyone behind, the Prime Minister has forgotten low- and middle-income families. Labor always fights for fairness, and I will fight for my community. (Time expired)