Labor’s Budget reply speech is Shorten sweet: Australia’s been deceived

BILL Shorten says his party will fight the Medicare co-payment, petrol excise rises and age pension changes as he sets the scene for the battle ahead.

OPPOSITION Leader Bill Shorten tonight moved to mobilise families against the Budget delivered on Tuesday and against the Abbott government at the next election, which is more than two years away.

An average Australian household will be $6000 a year worse off when the 2016 election is called, Mr Shorten told Parliament tonight in his official response to the Budget.

BILL SHORTEN’S SPEECH IN FULL

“And this is a Budget that shows no understanding or respect for around nine million family budgets,” said the Opposition Leader.

He argued Australians would not forgive Prime Minister Tony Abbott at election time for an economic statement that would “divide our nation” and betray their values.

Mr Shorten said voters were “shocked by the brutality of the Government’s attack on their way of life” and “angry at a Prime Minister who pretended to be on their side”.

He attempted to depict Mr Abbott as a hard-right conservative who had launched “the beginning of extreme policies with an extreme impact on the Australian people”.

“This is just the beginning, turning Australia into a place most of us won’t recognise - a colder, meaner, narrower place,” the Opposition Leader told Parliament.

Labor will oppose the $7 Medicare co-payment, the indexation of petrol excise and changes to the age pension.

Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten at a doorstop after meeting with a local family to discuss the Government's Budget impact.

Mr Shorten tonight ignored demands from ministers that he outline his own plans for reducing the Budget deficit and paying long-term for programs such as pensions.

The Budget would take $1733 in 2014-15 from a single income family on $65,000 a year with two children - one in primary school, the other in high school. The addition of higher health costs would take a further $270.90 from family coffers.

By 2016, that figure will reach $5830 and the health costs will have risen to $284.60, according to modelling by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) at the Australian National University.

The Opposition Leader also took aim at Prime Minister Abbott’s personal credibility in what he called “a Budget of broken promises built on lies”.

Mr Abbott has rejected Labor charges he misled voters at the last election with promises not to increase taxes or touch pension arrangements.

“Say what you like Prime Minister. Spin as hard as you can,” said Mr Shorten.

“Australia knows a lie when they see one. They can spot a phony when they hear one. And they know they’ve been deceived.”

Mr Shorten’s strongest comments were on changes to the age pension, claiming Mr Abbott saw older retirees as “a burden on the Budget”.

The Government wants to increase the age pension by the inflation rate, which would bring lower rises than the current calculation based on wage rises.

Mr Shorten said the $20,000-a-year age pension would be $1700 a year lower had “the Prime Minister’s cuts been in place for the last four years”.

“Australians living longer should not be treated as bad news. It is good news. It should be celebrated,” Mr Shorten said.

“I make this solemn pledge to Australia’s pensioners: Labor will not surrender the security of your retirement.

“We will fight for a fair pension. And Labor will prevail.”

In reply tonight to Mr Shorten’s Budget reply speech, Treasurer Joe Hockey said: “Quite obviously, they’re not even ready to govern because they don’t believe in anything.

“All they had tonight was all politics and no policy.”

On Mr Shorten’s challenge to bring on a new election, Mr Hockey said: “We have to put up what the right policies are for the country. We have to put up policies that are going to fix the mess that Labor left. That’s what we’re doing. It’s not easy, it’s difficult, but you would think that a new Labor leader after the massive defeat they had at the last election would in fact try to redefine his party and focus on what needs to be done to make up lost ground in relation to economic credibility.

“It’s been a very long time since you’ve had a leader of the Opposition and offered absolutely nothing in the form of new policy.”

Originally published as Labor’s Budget reply speech is Shorten sweet: Australia’s been deceived