TO hear polling indicates that “Tony Abbott has stormed back into contention on the back of a softer and “fairer” federal budget ...” (The Border Mail, May 18) amazes me.
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Since gaining office the Liberals have doubled deficit and the debt.
We are also being mislead.
Mr Abbott informs us the daily interest paid on our loans has dropped from $133 million a day to $96 million due to his good governance when in fact it’s only because interest rates have fallen to record lows.
Budget unfairness remains. The unemployed are being asked to wait four weeks for dole and it is proposed to remove Family Tax Benefit B from low income families and use the savings to fund child care for those who work and are presumably better off.
At the same time government members’ wives claim paid parental leave from both their employer and the government and accuse others, who do the same, of double dipping.
Even our own local cabinet minister, Sussan Ley, has seen fit to cut $80 billion from hospitals and education. Meantime local schools and hospitals go begging.
Generous superannuation tax concessions remain for the well off to assist them “save for their future.” The well off don’t need help to save. Besides, the subsidies cost taxpayers around $30 billion a year and will soon cost more than we pay out in pensions themselves (around $40 billion).
We don’t appear to be hearing from Liberals concerned about debt and deficit now that Abbott is in power. And it seems we can forget about fairness too.
—GREG OATES,
Huon Creek