WENDELL HUSSEY | Cadet |CONTACT
A Liberal MP has taken the time to explain to the people of Australia why it’s just not possible to raise the Newstart allowance.
Speaking on Q&A last night, Senator Eric Abetz explained that the government would love to the Newstart allowance and help people doing it tough, but couldn’t because of the ‘burden of debt.’
Kindly taking the time to talk to The Advocate today about the issues, Abetz further clarified that there just isn’t money in the bank to help people living on $277 a week.
“I’d love nothing more than to provide people with a bit more money to survive on,” Abetz said.
“Hell, I’d like to give more money to school funding, the health care system, women’s shelters, homelessness support programs, mental health facilities and more,”
“But money doesn’t grow on trees, it comes out of the ground if you’ve been given free rein to pillage the country’s natural resources, or the ability to pay one of the big 4 accounting firms to funnel your money away into offshore tax havens,” he explained.
Referencing the estimated $50 billion a year in tax that gets dodged by large companies in Australia, Abetz explained that it would place too much of a burden on large multinationals and the mining sector if his government were to raise Newstart.
“The economic climate is pretty grim right now, and companies like Glencore, ALCOA and QANTAS are too busy trying to trickle down money into the hands of Australians willing to have a go.”
“So as I said, I’d love to do something to combat the rising poverty levels in Australia, but my hands are tied.”
