Hornsby Advocate: Fletcher Rips Into Budget

BRADFIELD Federal Liberal MP Paul Fletcher has said the 2011 Federal Budget fails to ease cost of living on Australian families.

“This Budget confirms how out of touch (Prime Minister) Julia Gillard and (Treasurer) Wayne Swan are with Australian families,” Mr Fletcher said today.

“It fails the essential test: to ease the cost of living on Australians who face higher prices every day.”

Mr Fletcher said this year’s Budget delivers “more deficit, more debt and more spin”.

“The government’s failure to rein in its wasteful and reckless spending will lead to higher inflation and higher interest rates,” he said.

He said the government’s plans to freeze the indexation of key family tax payments and income thresholds for three years is an “assault” on families, and that the new arrangements for taxing company cars will “slug” small businesses.

“This is the first budget in eight years that has not provided tax cuts for everyday Australians,” he said.

Mr Fletcher also attacked Treasurer Wayne Swan for got his revenue, expenditure and deficit figures wrong, as well as the forecasts for inflation, economic growth and unemployment.

“Since coming to power, Labor has employed 24,000 additional public servants. The Government is asking the Australian people to tighten their belts, but it’s refusing to do the same itself.

On a more local scale, Mr Fletcher criticised the decision to defer $150 million of funding for a feasibility study for the F3-M2 Sydney Orbital Link.

“(It) confirms that under the Federal Labor government absolutely nothing is happening in relation to the missing link between the F3 and the M2,” he said.