Opposition Continues to Delay Alternative Flood Package

08 February 2011

Australians are still waiting for Tony Abbott to produce alternative savings measures to fund the flood recovery.
Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne told ABC Newsradio this morning: I assume today theyll be announced.
His colleague Senator Eric Abetz this morning said on the doors that the savings measures would be announced in due course.
And Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey when asked about the delay in his doorstop today: Well get there, dont worry, be calm.
Australians are entitled to ask when they will see details of Mr Abbotts alternative savings measures.
Two weeks ago Mr Abbott boasted that finding billions of dollars in budget cuts could be done easily and we would see an announcement within days.
If savings are so easy, why are the Liberals and the Nationals fighting over what savings to make?
If savings are so easy, why are we still waiting two weeks later?
If savings are so easy, why did Treasury and the Department of Finance find a $10.6 billion hole in their costings?
Both Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey have repeatedly promised over the past fortnight to release their savings measures before Parliament resumes.
On 27 January, Mr Abbott said: "We will certainly have more to say in coming days about where the Government could find the $1.8 billion other than through this new tax."
On 28 January, Mr Hockey said: We will outline in detail before the Parliament resumes how we fund these initiatives.
Yet we are still yet to see an alternative plan from the Opposition, all we see is Tony Abbott doing what he always does opposing the Governments proposal.
Mr Abbott is not serious about finding genuine savings and he is not serious about putting forward a credible alternative plan. His is focused on his own political interests, not the interests of those Australians affected by the floods.
This is a time for all Australians to work together to help flood affected areas, not a time to score political points.
The Governments package to rebuild flood-affected regions is the right thing to do and we will introduce the necessary legislation into the federal Parliament this week.