Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On 7 September last year, the Australian people went to the election and they voted. I am grateful—and I am sure everyone in here is—that we live in a democracy where that could occur. The people who voted made their decision based on what they had been told by all the different candidates and political parties that were there and made themselves available. They decided, in the majority, to support the coalition government that we have today. And that is fair enough—they voted, and that is what they got.

But what really sticks in my craw is the fact that those people were treated like mugs, because those people opposite did not stand up and say, 'We're going to the election to get a mandate to cut spending in Australia.' They did not say that. What they said—and I am assuming that those opposite support the comments made by their leader—was: 'No surprises. No excuses. No new taxes. No changes to pensions. No cuts to the ABC or SBS. No cuts to health or education.' So when the Australian people cast their vote on 7 September last year, they did so trusting that those opposite and in the other place meant what they said. They did so confident that there would be no surprises, no excuses, no cuts, no new taxes and no changes to pensions. They cast their vote confident that that would be the outcome. But, unfortunately, that is not what they got.

Senator Seselja, who has just left this place, said in his contribution that people know and people understand what the task of this government is. If he is so confident and others opposite were so confident that that was an honourable task and a task that needed to be done, why not have the courage to say so before the election?

Why not tell the Australian people: 'We believe there is a budget emergency and when we come in we're going to cut your pension. We are going to cut all the funding we promised to improve education in Australia. We are going to cut funding to public health. We are going to hit you with an extra fee every time you go to the doctor. We are going to dismantle universal health care.' They did not say that.

I got an email today from a constituent, a lady from Cygnet in Tasmania She is in shock. I will not use her name; she did not give me her permission. However, this is her plea. She says: 'When prioritising what to object to in the budget, please put the cruel cuts to support for young people before petrol tax, co-payments to doctors or the debt levy. My son has a severe learning difficulty, was on Newstart for several years but got specialised job search help. Heard of Youth Connections? He got a casual job through a family connection and then his job search people approached the employer and offered three months full wages or six-month half wages if they hired him full time. They did and he's still working there five years on. He was living in Sydney on his Newstart money until things fell into place for him. There are dozens of kids like him, with and without qualifications, who need extra help to find work and something to live on until they do get a job. I don't know how they're going to do it if they can't get it for six months. Without the support he got, my son would probably still be living at home in rural Tasmania; others would be living on the street. There are many bad things in this budget, but this is the worst of them, plus the other disincentives to young people. I do not at all appreciate the prospect of the age pension becoming just as inadequate as Newstart once the indexing is changed, but I think the attack on youth is the worst feature of this budget.'

And it is a budget that is a vicious attack on both Middle Australia and the poor. It is a budget that will hit Australians every time they go to a doctor and every time they get in their car. It will hit their local schools and hospitals. It will hit them when their kids want to go to university and it will hit them when they want to access a pension. The worst of it is that the current Prime Minister said he would not do these things. It is the most blatant dishonesty. He treats the voters of Australia with breathtaking contempt.

We know that families will get slugged. Family benefits and parenting payments are going to get slashed. At the same time, they will be hit with a new GP tax and a new fuel tax. Families on family tax benefit part B will now have their payment cut completely when the youngest child turns six or if their total household income is greater than $100,000 a year. Currently, eligible families continue to receive family tax benefit part B until their youngest child turns 16. This leaves families $2,268 worse off a year. We heard there would be no changes to benefits.

The budget freezes the rates and thresholds for family tax benefits, including the income threshold to receive the maximum rate of family tax benefit A, at $48,837. It confirms the abolition of the schoolkids bonus. How callous—eligible families losing $400 per year for primary aged children and $820 per year for secondary age children? Family tax benefit supplements are also going to be dramatically reduced. That will cost some families more than $300 a year.

What did Labor do for families? We get the pressure of the costs of living. We gave them support—record levels of assistance for low- and middle-income families at a time when they needed it most. In government, Labor provided targeted support to help ease the cost of living on families through tax cuts, worth up to $2,000 a year, and increased family payments, worth $4,000 a year. We increased the childcare rebate by 50 per cent. We brought in the new schoolkids bonus, worth $820 per year per child, and we brought in the first proper national Paid Parental Leave scheme. That is what Labor think of families; they support them.

Remember pensions. Once again, I quote our new leader saying, clearly, on the television—you could not turn around without hearing him say, 'No changes to pensions.' That is about the longest sentence that that man seems capable of speaking—'No changes to pensions, stop the boats' blah, blah, blah.

He did not tell the truth and that is becoming patently obvious. This budget slashes the current fair indexation system, which makes sure the pension keeps pace with the cost of living. Is it going to be indexed by the CPI alone, which we know will mean that pensions will fall behind the cost of living?

The government also intends to increase the pension age. The current Prime Minister has no mandate for these changes. How can he have a mandate to make such fundamental changes to the pension, when he told the people of Australia, 'There will be no changes to pensions'? He treats the Australian people like mugs. 'Tell them anything. Get their vote and then we can do what we like.' It is abominable. I hope pensioners are listening to what this government thinks of them. I personally believe they will never vote for this current leader again.

On top of this, all pensioners and state seniors card holders are set to lose valuable concessions for public transport and utilities, with the abolition of the National Partnership on Certain Concessions for Pensioners and Seniors Card Holders. What did Labor do in exactly the same space? We delivered a strong and sustainable pensions system that ensured the pension keeps pace with the rising costs of living and that was targeted at those who need it most.

Labor can think long term. That is why all those years ago Labor made sure that most, if not all, working Australians had access to superannuation. This government has already scrapped the low-income superannuation contribution and it is now going to delay the increase of the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent. Labor committed to increasing the superannuation of Australia's low- and middle-income workers by introducing the superannuation guarantee rate, increasing each year until it reached 12 per cent on 1 September 2019.

This is sensible policy, and they also abolished the maximum age limit on the superannuation guarantee from 1 July 2013 to increase the incentive for workers aged 70 and over to remain in the workforce and further boost retirement savings. It also amended the eligibility criteria for the low-income superannuation contribution to now pay individuals with an entitlement below $20. It effectively refunds up to $500 a year, the tax paid on superannuation concessional contribution with incomes of up to $37,000 per year to the people who need it most.

Then carers—more broken promises. Labor has always recognised the significant role that carers play in our community. We provided booster payments of up to $5,300 a year and a new annual $600 carer supplement on top of that. Of course, we have got the NDIS.

What has the Liberal budget done? It has cut the indexation arrangements for the carer payment from September 2017—it is shameful. It has cut the National Respite for Carers Program, which provides much needed relief to people caring for loved ones at home who are unable to care for themselves because of disability or frailty. More than 90 per cent of carers on the carer payment have no other income, because of their caring responsibilities.

May I remind people of one of the other mantras of the now Prime Minister: No cuts to health. What did Labor do with health? Unprecedented investments; strengthening Medicare; hospitals, specialist services; and historic reforms to improving the delivery of primary health care across the country. What Labor managed to achieve was the highest bulk-billing rates in Medicare's history, greater than 82 per cent nationally; increases in the workforce—over 14,000 more doctors and over 28,000 more nurses; and, between 2008 and 2018, that growth is expected to slow. In the first two months of commencement, over 84,000 children had free dental services under Labor's Grow Up Smiling program, but what do we get now?

This budget's GP tax is a cruel broken promise—remember: No cuts to health—and represents the greatest attack on Medicare and universal health care in years. This budget will also see the cost of medicines rise to $42.70 for general patients and, for concessional patients, the cost will be $6.90. Patient will also be lumped with paying a new tax on GP visits, paying for pathology and imaging and find it harder to get the services they need from public hospitals. It also makes the Medicare safety net less fair, cutting $270 million from the provision existing arrangements and transferring those costs onto Australian families.

Then we get to housing and homelessness. People understand the pressures on housing fall across a continuum. If people cannot afford to buy their own home, then they have to rent. If rents are high and they cannot afford to get into private rental, then they need to get into public housing. If public housing does not have the scope to look after them, then they fall back on emergency and crisis housing, and the worst end of the spectrum is homelessness. That is a fact.

As former housing minister, I saw the benefits of NRAS in Tasmania. It made an extraordinary difference. We have already had 14,000 dwellings completed. People need to understand that good schemes need long-term thinking and planning to build momentum and then lead to fruition. And now you are going to cut one of the best policies when it came to providing affordable housing in Australia. It is an absolute disgrace—