Clive Palmer says PUP will oppose all budget measures on social services

Date
    September 20, 2014


Clive Palmer has declared the Palmer United team will oppose "everything" in the government's social services budget bills that are due to be debated in Parliament this week, setting his party on another collision course with the Coalition in the Senate.      

Parliament will resume on Monday.

The bills contain some of the budget's most controversial measures, including the government's plans to make people under 30 wait six months before they can receive the dole, indexing pensions at a lower rate and raising the pension age to 70.      

They bills will also make changes to family payments, limiting Family Tax Benefit Part B to families with children under six years of age instead of 18, and reducing the income test for the primary earner from $150,000 to $100,000.

The passage of the social services budget bills will rely on the PUP block, including Motoring Enthusiast senator Ricky Muir, given vocal opposition from Labor, the Greens and other crossbenchers to many of the measures in the package, including the wait for the dole, changes to pensions and family payments.

Mr Palmer told Fairfax Media his party would not support anything in the bills.    

"We're just against everything," he said. "We will be voting negative to the lot."

When asked if he had had discussions about the social security package, he said it was "up to the government" to organise a meeting.

The Australian Council of Social Service has called on the Senate to "reject outright" the proposal to extend the waiting period for young people to access Newstart or Youth Allowance.

"Living on between $29 and $37 a day on Youth Allowance and Newstart isn't easy – being forced to live on absolutely nothing would be devastating and will do nothing to bring young people closer to work," the council's chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said.      

Dr Goldie said making young people wait for six months, or even one month, "will only cause hardship and homelessness".

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/clive-palmer-says-pup-will-oppose-all-budget-measures-on-social-services-20140920-10jn2w.html#ixzz3DtIDJF90

Thank heaven for the good people in the senate.      

Armchair_Politician wrote on Sep 21^st, 2014 at 7:04am:

Keep believing that if it makes you feel better.

We can fix the budget by undoing some of Costello's largesse, abolishing the wasteful and unsustainable private health insurance rebate, cutting back or abolishing concessions to contributions to superannuation, abolishing tax concessions on capital gains, abolishing depreciation and other similar double dipping, and taking a good hard look at other rorts enjoyed by the top end of town.

Extorting coins from the poor isn't the way to achieve a surplus.

Quote:

Shorten is not in government. He doesn't have to advance ideas if he is not in a position to implement them.

Abbott will throw in another sweetener that benefits Clives business interests and he'll do his usual backflip and vote the lot through

Bam wrote on Sep 21^st, 2014 at 10:52am:


That just about sums it up Bam!