Abbott's child care blackmail already in senate trouble

The gov has lurched itself into a new senate budget crisis.

Abbott simply won't give up last year's failed budget measures. He should have thrown the lot out and started again from scratch. Now his much lauded budget "centerpiece" has already hit a senate brick wall before even the entire budget is announced; his child care package. 

Why? Because he's linked it to passing cuts from last years budget that didn't get through the senate. Specifically cuts to single income families when their child turns 6. Who makes this shit up? Kids get more expensive as they grow older, not less. And how cruel. It's well known that single income families run a much higher risk of child poverty. Again, the gov cuts money to the most vulnerable Australians whilst leaving the big end of town alone.

So the Greens and Labor have already said they won't be blackmailed into voting for a childcare policy to be paid for on the back of single income parents, already struggling to make ends meet. What's more members of Abbott's own gov are not ruling out crossing the senate floor over it. 

It's mutiny on Team Titanic! What a fuckin mess, again.... This lot could organise the proverbial fuck in a brothel, with money in their hand.

Canavan and fellow Nationals, including senators Bridget McKenzie, Barry O’Sullivan and John Williams have previously demanded the government abandon the cuts to family tax benefit B (paid to single income families) which are worth almost $2bn over five years and which the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and the treasurer, Joe Hockey, say are essential to pay for their new childcare package. 

The Nationals senators want families earning one income to be allowed to split those earnings between two parents for tax purposes, in order to claim the tax-free threshold twice – something that would cost the budget $1.5bn a year. 

And with the government setting up a Senate showdown with Labor and the Greens over the family tax benefit savings, Canavan did not rule out crossing the floor to vote against them. 

“I’m not ruling anything in or out,” he said. “We’re not going to get walked over, but I don’t take that kind of decision lightly either.” 

“I’ll have my say in the party room, but there is a very, very strong level of support for the idea that we should be looking after single income families,” he said. 

The package was already hitting resistance in the Senate, with Labor insisting it will not back the cuts to family tax benefits that the government says are the only way to pay for the new childcare plan. 

“Any package which assists with cost of living and workforce participation, making it easier for parents to participate in the workforce, is welcome, and we’ll have a look at that, but for the government to link this to cuts to family payments is disingenuous and cruel,” Bowen, told the ABC’s Insiders program. 

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the tactic of linking the childcare payments to the family tax benefit cuts amounted to “blackmail” and low-income families needed childcare to look for a job. more