Budget

The majority voted against a motion introduced by McMahon MP Chris Bowen (ALP), which means it failed.

Motion text

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the member for McMahon moving the following motion immediately:

That the House notes that:

(1) after six years of cuts and chaos under this Liberal government, Australia is doing it tough;

(b) in last night's budget, the Treasurer delivered an energy payment which left out thousands of Australians who rely on government payments, including Abstudy, Austudy, double orphan pension, Newstart allowance, parenting payment partnered, partner allowance, sickness allowance, special benefit, widow allowance, wife pension, youth allowance and veteran payment;

(c) on radio this morning, less than 24 hours after he delivered his budget, the Treasurer caved in to pressure from Labor and back flipped, saying that Australians on Newstart will now receive the energy supplement;

(d) in just a few minutes, the government will introduce legislation that now extends the payment to all the people the government had previously left out in its budget;

(e) the government's backflip has already blown an $80 million hole in the budget; and

(f) the government's budget is unravelling less than 24 hours after it was delivered; and

(2) therefore condemns this government for:

(a) six years of cuts and chaos, which has only continued in the last 24 hours; and

(b) only looking after the top end of town and treating vulnerable Australians as an afterthought.