Around $13 billion worth of Budget savings measures remain stalled in federal parliament, blocked by senators Jacqui Lambie and the Nick Xenophon Team. Meanwhile, Treasurer Scott Morrison claims the support of crossbenchers would be unnecessary if the Labor Party backed the Government’s fiscal policies. From The Australian:
There are 15 measures stuck in the parliament worth $12.2bn, nearly half of which are from the former Abbott government’s controversial 2014 budget.
The amount of “zombie” savings measures increases to $13.2bn when other unlegislated budget repair measures are included.
An examination of Senator Xenophon’s voting records in the previous parliament and public comments shows he has rejected or criticised all of the measures the government claims are necessary for budget repair…
Abbott-era cuts opposed by senators Xenophon and Lambie include higher education reforms, a four-week wait for the dole for young people and increasing the age at which Australians are eligible to receive Newstart and sickness allowances…
Without the support of Labor or the Greens, the government needs to win over nine of the 10 crossbench senators to pass its legislation.
There’s a reason why the Coalition’s Budget ‘savings’ measures remain blocked: because they are seen by many as fundamentally unfair in that they target the more vulnerable segments of society while leaving the wealthy largely untouched.
If the Coalition wants to cut spending, it needs to identify those areas that will gain support of the majority of the Senate and throw its ideology out the window. Until it does that, these measures will remain in purgatory, as they have done since the 2014 Budget.
