PENNY WONG, ACTING OPPOSITION LEADER: I just wanted to respond today to the Prime Ministers comments on household budgets and on women. First on women, I think we can safely say that time and time again, over and over again, Tony Abbott just reminds us how out of touch he is with the lives of women in modern Australia. When it comes to household budgets I'm very happy to have a discussion with Tony Abbott about household budgets. We're very happy for him to tell Australians about the Fuel Tax that they are already paying, or the GP Tax he wants them to pay, or the $100,000 degrees he wants them to cough up, or the tax hike on the superannuation of millions of Australians, particularly women, that he's imposed since the Budget. And the reality is this is a Prime Minister who has cut pensions, who is imposing a GP Tax, who has already put in place a Fuel Tax, all of these impacting on the household budgets of Australians. So if hes really serious about family budgets, he needs to go back to the drawing board on his policies.
REPORTER: He said that cutting the carbon tax though helped reduce household bills?
WONG: Let's have a look at household bills. Let's have a look at the bills he wants to increase. He wants to increase how much it costs you to take your child to the doctor, how much it costs you to give your child a university education, hes cut a billion dollars out of child care. We all know how important it is and how hard it is for parents to get the child care they need, let alone the cuts to pensions, and the cuts to schools and hospitals. So if Tony Abbott wants to talk about household budgets perhaps he should start changing some of his policies which are already hurting Australians.
REPORTER: Just on the reshuffle, are you worried that Scott Morrison's going to be just as effective in his new job as he was in immigration?
WONG: I think a lot of Australians will be worried about Scott Morrison being in charge of pensioners and people with a disability. He's in charge of policies for pensioners and people with disability in this country, and I think the one thing you can always say about Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison when it comes to social security is we know they'll go too far.
REPORTER: If he's going to be just as effective though do you worry it might show Labor up?
WONG: I think Scott Morrison, even in the way in which the Prime Minister has spoken about this portfolio already, is likely to go too far when it comes to people on social security. Let's remember this Government is already putting in place a cut to people's pensions, six months off without any access to unemployment benefits which even business people are saying is too harsh for young Australians. We know that they'll go too far. The problem though isn't the sales people, ultimately the problem is the policies and the problem is Tony Abbott.
REPORTER: Do you believe Labor needs a reshuffle and (inaudible) would you advise against or for?
WONG: We're not contemplating a reshuffle and I think what you can say about the Prime Minister's reshuffle is it's a vote of no confidence in the Cabinet and in his Government.
REPORTER: Kevin Andrews, will he get a better reception in Adelaide than what David Johnston did given Johnson's comments?
WONG: Kevin Andrews has got one job I think when it comes to Defence from South Australian's perspective, and that is first and foremost keep your promise, keep your promise to build the submarines here in Australia.
REPORTER: Could it be bad news because obviously David Johnston had a lot to do with subs here, is he sort of going in blind and not going to get the job done?
WONG: Youd have to ask Kevin Andrews that. We all know that a promise was made before the last election that promise hasn't been honoured, its another one of the PM's broken promise. The new Defence Minister has an opportunity to set that right and he should.
REPORTER: Given that many workers were (inaudible)
WONG: Not just workers, I think a lot of people were very angry, a lot of South Australians were very angry at the comments.
REPORTER: Do you think Kevin Andrews might get a better reception given that someone fresh faced is coming in?
WONG: I think the Defence workforce, the people of South Australia, the people across this country who care about advanced manufacturing, jobs in Australia, what they will notice is whether Kevin Andrews does the right thing and keeps the promise to build submarines here.
REPORTER: What do you make of the number of women now in Cabinet, it's gone up to two?
WONG: I think Tony Abbott's seems to want a medal because he's got two people in the Cabinet in modern Australia, women's roles are far more influential than it would be suggested by the small number of women in his Cabinet. I mean, Tony Abbott wants a medal for having two women in his Cabinet? Give us a break. Thank you.
ENDS