Greens say coalition cuts will hit poor

Date
    September 5, 2013
    The Age.

Tony Abbott will not only be bad for Australia he'll be bad for the poorest nations in the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian Greens say.      

The coalition has released policy costings which include the axing of Labor's climate programs and a $4.5 billion cut to foreign aid spending.

"We are taking over the presidency of the G20 and the UN Security Council ... and (Mr Abbott is) saying to the Asia-Pacific region that `We don't care'," Greens Leader Christine Milne told reporters in Melbourne.

"Tony Abbott is not only bad for this country, he is bad for the region."


The foreign aid spending would be reallocated to three road projects: Melbourne's East West link, Sydney's WestConnex and Brisbane's Gateway motorway upgrade.

"Spending on infrastructure at the expense of the world's poorest is shocking," Senator Milne said.

The coalition's figures on "border protection" were not believable, she said.

The costing document suggests the coalition can save $1 billion over the next four years as a "dividend from stopping the boats".

The coalition's "direct action" climate programs had now been proved to be "just a slogan", Senator Milne said.

The additional efficiency dividend imposed on the public service on top of the 12,000 job cuts would lead to a "recession" in Canberra, she said.      

Senator Milne said Mr Abbott needs to be called out for spending three years attacking Labor on debt and deficit and then presenting no plan to return the budget to surplus either.

"It just shows you that he will say and do anything," she said.

"It gets quite frightening to think what Tony Abbott might do once he is unleashed from the managed Tony."

She said the Greens will block any attempt to repeal the Clean Energy Package and will fight cuts to university funding and cuts to social programs like the low income supplement to superannuation.      

On the Murray Darling plan, she said the coalition's planned rethink on water buyback funding shows a total disregard for South Australia.

"What he wants to do is build roads and he doesn't care about the river or the hit that it will be on South Australia, she said.

"These are shocking policies in Australia when you consider the agony we've been through as a result of extreme weather events and the drought in the Murray Darling in particular."

Greens MP Adam Bandt said he wanted an explanation for the coalition plan to fund Melbourne's East West Link with cuts to foreign aid.

"Tony Abbott needs to explain which of the world's poorest people won't have access to health services because he wants to build a polluting toll road through the middle of Melbourne," he said.

"This isn't building for the future, it is demolishing people's hopes of a better life."      

The team: