Government Forced to Admit Budget Bad for Families at Start of National Families Week

“The Government has today finally admitted what the Coalition has been saying since last Tuesday night – the Government’s self-described ‘Labor Budget’ is bad for families” said Ross Vasta, Federal Member for Bonner.

“The Government’s budget, which will freeze the indexation of the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A and B supplements for three years, will see a quarter of a million families worse off. Even families struggling to make ends meet on incomes of $45,000 will be hit.

“Labor has turned its back on families, who will either have their payments eroded or cancelled.

“The freezing of indexation will mean inflation and the rising cost of living will erode the non-indexed payments. At the same time, the new income limit of $150,000, means those families will miss out altogether.

“Measures such as FTB-A and FTB-B, as well as the Baby Bonus and Paid Parental Leave and important measures designed to support families, they shouldn’t be used to generate savings to sort out the financial recklessness that we are so used to seeing from this weak government.

“The admission by the Gillard Labor government tells the real story of this Budget; it’s all bad news for Australian families.” Ross Vasta said.