By political reporter Eliza Borrello Tuesday 24 Mach 2015
Photo: Joe Hockey's presentation to colleagues said the Government would get the budget back to surplus as soon as possible. (File photo) (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)
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Treasurer Joe Hockey has told his party room that the savings he will propose in the May budget will be "responsible and fair", as Labor ramps up its attack on the Government's pension plans.
Last year's budget, which included since-dumped plans to charge patients a co-payment to see a GP, was slammed as "unfair" by Labor.
Mr Hockey today used a series of slides to explain the factors underpinning the budget to his colleagues.
They included graphs showing the plummeting iron ore price and falling global growth forecasts.
The slideshow also featured a slide saying the Government "will get the budget back to surplus as soon as possible".
Mr Hockey pressed the point in Question Time.
"The focus of the 2015 budget will be to build a stronger Australian economy, the budget will be responsible, it will be measured and it will be fair," he said.
Queensland LNP backbencher Andrew Laming told his colleagues they needed a different narrative this year, saying what was said last year "didn't work".
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the meeting that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was a "litany of screeching complaints".
In a media conference Mr Shorten hit back at the Government's claims Labor was making the budget position worse by blocking legislation.
"We've supported nearly $20 billion, or about $20 billion worth of their cuts — but there are some proposals which they just simply don't deserve support on them do they?
"Imagine if Labor had been the rubber stamp that some in the Liberals want us to be?
"We'd have a GP tax now."
Mr Shorten also challenged the Government to rule out cuts to the pension in the budget.
"If the Government can rule out cutting the foreign aid budget, then they can rule out cutting pensions," he said.
"We've made it clear that we think the indexation rate that the Government's using is simply too low."
The Government wants to link pensions with inflation rather than wages from 2017, which critics argue would leave pensioners worse off.
In Labor's Caucus meeting Mr Shorten declared "the failure of the last budget was not because we said 'no', it was because we won the argument in the community".
"All the Government wants to do is talk about us, they have nothing to say about the rest of Australia," he said.
Eye roll 'blown out of proportion'
The ABC has been told Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's phone rang during Mr Hockey's party room presentation.
It was understood she "quietly" excused herself to take the call.
Ms Bishop was yesterday seen rolling her eyes when Mr Hockey mentioned the Expenditure Revenue Committee, Cabinet's razor gang, in a speech paying tribute to the late Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he thought the eye roll had been "blown out of proportion" and did not believe it indicated any deep tensions between the ministers.
"Joe was attempting to be sort of humorous, in a black humour sort of way by talking about the Expenditure Review Committee, which of course everybody hates, and he knows that, and he was essentially inviting his colleagues to roll their eyes and sort of grimace with pain," Mr Turnbull said.
"So I think Julie was in effect responding in exactly the way Joe wanted her to."
Late yesterday Ms Bishop gave a brief explanation of her reaction.
"The mention of the Expenditure Review Committee can have a different impact on different people," she said.
From other news sites:
- The Sydney Morning Herald: Back down on foreign aid cuts flagged as tensions rise between Julie Bishop and Joe Hockey
- News.com.au: Julie Bishop makes real-life eye-roll emoji face as Hockey jokes about Budget
- Daily Mail: An eye roll, shake of the head and then a face palm: Watch Julie Bishop's hilarious reaction to Treasurer Joe Hockey's speech praising Malcolm Fraser for introducing a Budget ...
- Crikey: What Joe should tell his colleagues about his budget
- Yahoo!7 News: Libs seek pre-budget talking points
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