The budget and Lalor

According to NATSEM, families in the Prime Minister's own electorate will be $144 worse off every year because of his unfair budget; but families in my electorate of Lalor will be $578 worse of every year.

The 60,000 families of Lalor earning an average of just over $2,000 a week will be $578 worse off while the 40,000 families in Warringah earning on average just over $3,000 a week—that is $3,000 compared to $2,000—will only be $144 a week worse off.

This stark contrast shows us clearly that the Abbott government is privileging the privileged and punishing the rest of us. The young, the old and the families in Lalor ask me: Joanne, is it just that the Liberals don't know anyone like us or is it that they just don't care?

Not only this: Lalor families will be hurt by all the other cruel budget measures—the cuts to schools, the cuts to pensions, the cuts to child care, the introduction of the toxic GP tax, and the cruel youth job seeker measures.

Contrary to what those opposite say, this callous inequity will not assist our economy; it will stymie economic growth. I rise with my colleagues today to tell the Prime Minister: We are not leaners; we are— (Time expired)