The Abbott Government will today move to silence debate on a number of its unfair Budget Bills in the House of Representatives, as it once again seeks to ram through legislation that will slash family payments and leave young people with nothing to live on for six months.
Despite Labor forcing the Government into an embarrassing back down on these measures in the Senate just three weeks ago, the Government is intent on pushing ahead with its cruel plans to leave millions of Australians worse off.
Tony Abbott is making it harder for Australians who are already struggling to make ends meet.
The Bills the Government is trying to ram through today include around $11 billion worth of cuts, including:
- Abolishing Family Tax Benefit B for families with children over six
- Leaving young people with no income support for six months
- Shifting young people under 24 from Newstart to the lower Youth Allowance, leaving them around $2,500 a year worse off
- Abolishing the Seniors Supplement, leaving seniors nearly $900 a year worse off
- Abolishing the Pensioner Education Supplement
- Abolishing the Education Entry Payment
- Freezing Family Tax Benefit rates for two years
- Reducing Family Tax Benefit end of year supplements and ceasing indexation
- Applying an interest charge to certain student debts
- Replacing student start-up scholarships with income-contingent loans
These Bills are an attack on families and low income Australians. They deserve to be properly debated.
But the Government would rather avoid proper parliamentary debate than stand up and defend its own Budget.
Labor will vote against these three Bills, in the House and in the Senate.
And Labor will continue to campaign alongside families, senior Australians and young people across Australia until the Government drops these measures for ever.
WEDNESDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2014
MEDIA CONTACT: LEADER’S OFFICE MEDIA UNIT – 02 6277 4053
ALISTAIR WEBSTER (MACKLIN) – 0413 779 348
