Page 1453 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
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I am sure those opposite remember well what the former Prime Minister Mr Abbott promised in the lead-up to the last federal election. He said that there would be “no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions … and no cuts to the ABC or SBS”. Subsequently, the federal Liberal Party did exactly the opposite. They ripped $80 billion of funding out of health and education from the states; cut Indigenous programs; attempted a GP co-payment; supported reducing pension indexation; and cut funding to the public broadcasters, resulting in job losses and a less informed public. They also cut the national partnership agreement on concessions for pensioner concession cards and senior cardholders. The ACT Labor government, by contrast, has filled the shortfall in funding for that program, as we have in many other areas.
Canberrans were rightly outraged at Mr Abbott’s duplicity, and they continue to be outraged at his successor, Mr Turnbull, for not reversing the unbelievably short-sighted decisions that took much-needed funding from our schools and our hospitals. What we saw in last night’s budget is a shocking case of wrong priorities, deeply out of touch with the hopes and expectations of ordinary Australians. Ordinary Australians know that a fair go and greater equality of opportunity improve our economy and our society.
The Liberal government is still attempting to ram a $2 billion higher education cut through the Senate, which is incredibly short-sighted given the importance of education to our future as a nation. It is also particularly bad news for Canberra, with education being one of the most important sectors in Canberra’s economy and a sector that this government, the ACT Labor government, has been actively growing.
The Liberal government will further damage Canberra’s economy by increasing what they term “efficiency dividends” on the public service. We saw the decimation of Canberra’s economy with the Howard cuts, compounded by the Abbott cuts and freezes to public service recruitment. Now we can expect further harm to our economy and our community from the Turnbull government, it appears. On top of this the federal Liberal government still refuse to commit to a proper needs-based funding model for our schools.
All of these cuts will disproportionally impact on Canberra and Canberrans. They do this in the name of tax cuts, which are poorly targeted and damaging to the interests of Australian families. The tax cuts announced in last night’s budget do little to support Australian families. In fact, three-quarters of Australian taxpayers receive absolutely nothing by way of tax cuts, while individuals who earn the most get double tax cuts. Someone on a million dollars will get a $16,715 tax cut while a single mother with an income of $87,000 per year with two children in high school is $4,463 worse off.
Can somebody tell me why the Liberal Party hates Canberra? Is it because the Liberal Party exist in a bubble? The economic Darwinist party they have become never has had, and never will have, any commitment to truly being part of the community. Do they exist on a different planet where the poor do not drive cars and getting your first home is as simple, as the last failed Treasurer said, as waking up and getting a high paying job?
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