Labor-held electorates hit hardest in controversial Federal Budget 2014

LABOR-held electorates across the country overwhelmingly bear the brunt of some of the most controversial measures in the budget.

LABOR-held electorates across the country will overwhelmingly bear the brunt of some of the most controversial measures in Joe Hockey’s bruising first budget.

The western Sydney seat of his predecessor, former Labor Treasurer Chris Bowen, will be hardest hit by the Abbott government’s plans to overhaul family tax benefits, introduce a new $7 co-payment for routine GP visits, and crack down on Australians who are under 30 and out of work.

BUDGET 2014: What it means to you

DIRTY NINE: Budget 2014 cuts and splurges you wont believe

A detailed electoral analysis by News Corp Australia shows that although Mr Hockey’s budget is proving unpopular with pensioners, students, families and state Premiers — it might not be an electoral headache for the Coalition.

STORIES, ANALYSIS, VIDEOS: federal Budget 2014

The biggest whack on the wealthy — the deficit levy waged on individuals with incomes over $180,000 — will primarily affect voters in safe Liberal seats, including in Tony Abbott, Kelly O’Dwyer, Julie Bishop and Mr Hockey’s electorates.

But nine of the 10 electorates where voters most frequently bulk-bill and would be hardest hit if the Treasurer’s new $7 GP co-payment makes it through the Senate, are ALP seats.

A slew of Labor seats would also be the worst affected by the government’s decision to scale back the Family Tax Benefit part B payment, by lowering the income test threshold to $100,000 and cutting families off when their youngest child turns six.

Of the 20 electorates in the country who rely most heavily on the income support payment — which goes to single income families — 16 of them are Labor-held seats.

And tough new measures to force people under 30 off welfare and back into the workforce, by making young jobseekers wait up to six months before receiving benefits, work for the dole, and receive Youth Allowance not the more generous Newstart payment until 25, would also disproportionately hit Labor seats.

Just three of the ten electorates with the highest per capita rate of youth unemployment are held by the Coalition.

But one Liberal electorate — Macarthur in Western Sydney, held by Coalition backbencher Russell Matheson — will be among the biggest election losers.

In Mr Matheson’s seat voters currently visit the doctor, without any out-of-pocket charges, around 9 times a year, another 11 per cent of families rely on FTB part B, and about 2000 people under 30 are unemployed.

Electorate hardest hit in budget ... The smile on shadow treasurer Chris Bowen’s face is unwarranted.

But it is constituents living in Mr Bowen’s electorate of McMahon in western Sydney who will feel the biggest pinch.

There, voters are accessing bulk-billed doctors about 11 times a year, more than 11 per cent rely on FTB part B to help ease cost of living pressures and more than 2,100 young people under 30 are unemployed.

It is a very different situation in Mr Hockey’s North Sydney electorate where voters only make three bulk-billed trips to the doctor a year, just under two per cent of families supplement their income with the tax benefit part B, and only about 1,200 people under 30 are out of work.

Mr Bowen, the Opposition’s treasury spokesman, said those voters in western Sydney who took a chance and voted Liberal for the first time in the last federal election are now feeling “white hot anger”.

“It is a budget which punishes low and middle income earners,” he said.

Mr Bowen said the Abbott government was “more than happy to hit families in Western Sydney” at the same time as he handed $50,000 cheques to millionaire families under his paid parental leave scheme.

In Queensland, the electorate of Rankin to Brisbane’s south, held by Labor MP Jim Chalmers, is hardest hit by the controversial new budget measures.

There, voters bulk-bill to go and see a doctor on average 7 times a year, about 12 per cent of families get income from the Family Tax Benefit part B and around 3,200 young adults under 30 are unemployed.

Dr Chalmers said people in his seat of Rankin were “absolutely furious about the disproportionate impact these broken promises will have on our community”.

“This budget will make our community and our country poorer, sicker, and less fair,” he said.

In South Australia, Labor frontbencher Mark Butler’s electorate of Port Adelaide is hardest hit by the controversial new budget measures.

There, voters bulk-bill to go and see a doctor on average 6 times a year, about nine per cent of families rely on Family Tax Benefit part B to supplement their income and 2,500 people under 30 are out of work.

Mr Butler said he has received a steady flow of calls from people within his electorate who are “very angry and very very worried”.

“I don’t know what the motivation is, if it is political or broad ideology, but it is very clear that all of the pain in this budget falls of lower or middle income Australians,” he said.

In Victoria, the seat once held by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and now belonging to Labor MP Joanne Ryan, is hardest hit by the controversial new budget measures.

There, voters bulk-bill to go and see a doctor on average 8 times a year, about 11 per cent of families rely on Family Tax Benefit part B to supplement their income and 3,500 young Australians under 30 are out of work.

Ms Ryan said the budget would deliver a high degree of pain for many families and people in her electorate.

“I think it goes to this government’s lack of understanding of the board Australian community, they don’t live in electorates like these and they don’t represent them,” she said.

Originally published as Labor-held electorates hit hardest in controversial Federal Budget 2014