Joe Hockey has today slammed the opposition parties’ recalcitrance in passing the Coalition’s Budget measures:
Mr Hockey insisted the opposition start “listening” and pass the $28 billion in budget cuts that have stalled in the upper house, saying it was the “only plan on the table” to deliver prosperity and opportunity.
The cuts include the $7 Medicare co-payment, a 20 per cent to base university funding and the reindexation of fuel excise.
“There is a risk that Australians could face a fall in living standards if we are unable to implement our economic action strategy,” Mr Hockey told ABC Radio…
“We needed to lay down a credible path to get the budget back to surplus, and not for any ideological reasons…
While re-indexing fuel excise is a no-brainer, as is the need to place the Budget on a more sustainable footing, Hockey’s comments lack credibility.
Despite facing opposition from nearly everyone (including from within the Coalition itself) for being inequitable and a waste of scarce taxpayer dollars, the Coalition still intends to bring in the mother of all entitlement programs: Tony Abbott’s signature paid parental leave scheme.
In the process, PPL will blow a large and ongoing hole in the Budget, undermining the Government’s message of “ending the age of entitlement” , as well as needing to trim expenditure to overcome the so-called “Budget emergency”.
Meanwhile, the Government is intent on implementing a bunch of inequitable measures, such as jacking-up younger Australian’s university fees (debts) and under-30s’ access to unemployment benefits.
If Joe Hockey was genuine, the Government would have instead tackled the massive concessions on superannuation, negative gearing, and capital gains taxes, which overwhelmingly benefit the older generations (and the wealthy) at the expense of the young (and poor), while increasing the tax burden on ordinary workers.
