2016 Federal Election: Rolling coverage of the campaign, Day 33

SHORTEN has announced a raft of budget savings it will make in government, including this lead balloon for parents.

BILL Shorten has announced a raft of budget savings measures Labor will make in government, including changes to the Family Tax Benefit.

Families on more than $100,000 will lose half their annual bonus payment, and taxpayer-funded private health insurance rebates will no longer be available for natural therapies if Labor is elected on July 2, Mr Shorten announced.

The new savings measures total $920 million over four years and $6.1 billion over the decade, Labor claims.

In other campaign trail news today, former independent MP Rob Oakeshott has confirmed he will contest the seat of Cowper, and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has been accused of pork barrelling his own electorate by moving a government agency from Canberra to Armidale.

Bill Shorten was flanked by Chris Bowen and Tony Burke today when they announced cuts the party would be making. They include:

FAMILY TAX BENEFIT

Families on more than $100,000 will lose half their annual bonus payment under a Labor change-of-heart to family tax benefit cuts.

The opposition has backtracked on its resistance to cuts to the yearly family tax benefit Part A supplement, committing to slashing the $726 bonus.

That will save $505 million over the forward estimates and $2.1 billion over a decade.

The policy has similarities and differences to the coalition’s, which aims to reduce the supplement before abolishing it entirely. The coalition plans to cut the Part A supplement to $300 and Part B to $153 in July 2017 before phasing it out entirely.

The reversal could be a tough sell for Labor, which has consistently railed against cuts to family payments.

.@Bowenchris Labor will reduce family tax benefit part A by 50% for families with an income over $100,000 #ausvotes https://t.co/eVBEKNbnxM

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) June 10, 2016

PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE REBATES

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen announced on Friday that from July 1, 2017, taxpayer-funded private health insurance rebates would no longer be available for natural therapies.

The measure would save $180 million over four years, and $704 million over the decade.

Mr Bowen was quick to insist there was nothing wrong with seeking natural therapies like aromatherapy, herbalism or iridology.

“I myself use them from time to time — my personal favourite is the Bowen treatment, I can recommend it to you,” he said.

“But in times of difficult budgetary situations, it is not appropriate for taxpayers to have to fund and subsidise private health insurance cover for these treatments.”

Mr Bowen also announced Labor would continue the threshold freeze for private health insurance rebates for another decade to 2026, saving $2.3 billion.

HIGHER EDUCATION

The opposition announced it would tie the higher education indexation program to the consumer price index.

Graduates will also have to pay back debt sooner, with the threshold for study loan repayments being reduced from $54,126 to $50,638.

WHERE LABOR PLANS TO CUT AND SAVE ALREADY ANNOUNCED

* Cracking down on the tax multinationals avoid — raises $5.9 billion over a decade.

* Not proceeding with the government’s emissions reduction fund — raises $453 over four years.

* Negative gearing changes — raises $37 billion over a decade.

* Foregoing tax cuts for businesses with more than $2 million in turnover — raises $4.4 billion over four years and $50 billion over decade.

* Retaining the budget repair levy on high-income earners — raises $4.2 billion over four years and $19 billion over decade.

* Capping vocational education loans to $8000 — raises $380 million over four years and $7.9 billion over decade.

NEW SAVINGS

* From July 1 2017, the private health insurance rebate will not be available for natural therapies — raises $704 million over decade.

* Freeze on private health insurance rebates for a further five years — raises $2.3 billion.

* Reduce the family tax benefit A supplement by 50 per cent for families with an income of more than $100,000 — raises $505 million over the forward estimates, $2.1 billion over decade.

THE SO-CALLED ZOMBIE CUTS FROM THE 2014 BUDGET

* Support reduction in research and development tax incentive — raises $2.8 billion.

* Backs reducing the repayment for HELP student loans from $54,126 to $50,638 — raises $129 million.

* Indexing funding for higher education — raises $3.7 billion.

BUDGET IMPACT

* New savings total $920 million over four years and $6.1 billion over decade.

* Labor would introduce a new fee category on January 1, 2017 for publicly listed companies filing for particular matters in the Federal Court and the Federal Circuit Court, set at 1.5 times the fees for other corporations. This measure will improve the budget by $23.5m over the forward estimates and $67.2m over the medium term.

TREASURER TRASHES LABOR APPROACH

Scott Morrison addressed the opposition’s announcements, labelling them a “song and dance” with no real substance.

“They change their position so often,” Morrison said in a statement.

“They remain in a big black hole. They threw a few pebbles in it today but gone nowhere near filling it.”

He said the “great mystery” from today’s announcement is how “they pretend to end up in a budget balance by 2021”.

“What we saw today was frankly embarrassing. No wonder they put it out on a Friday. It was embarrassing.”