Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not quite sure how to answer this, because clearly you don't understand the difference between an additional expenditure and when additional expenditure doesn't occur. I have told this chamber on so many occasions in the last two days that we have made an additional $3.2 billion available to Australians in the first three months of the next year. I don't know how you can actually couch that in any other terms but additional funding. You can't say that you've cut something that was never there in the first place, Senator. What we have done is made the announcement that we are going to extend the supplement—that is, $3.2 billion over three months.

It is really important that we let Australians know that the economy is starting to recover. It is starting to open up; jobs are being created. In fact, the Reserve Bank said that the measures that have been put in place by this government have actually been part of the reason we're recovering.