Tony Abbott slams ‘feral’ Labor for budget sabotage
TONY Abbott has lashed Bill Shorten’s “feral” opposition for deliberate “budget sabotage”, as he refused to submit to “blackmail” by renegade senator Jacqui Lambie.
The Senate is today expected to consider a key plank of the government’s budget, the deregulation of university fees and a cut to the base funding for the tertiary sector.
However the bill appears unlikely to pass, with Labor, the Greens and key crossbenchers including Senator Lambie and Nick Xenophon withholding their support.
The Prime Minister told the Nine Network: “I wish the Labor Party wasn’t in such a feral mood. I wish the Labor Party was taking the kind of view that the Howard opposition took back in the 1980s when Bob Hawke and Paul Keating were being a responsible Labor government.”
Mr Abbott noted the opposition were opposing spending cuts that were announced by the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments.
“Mr Shorten and the Labor Party are actually opposing $5 billion of their own savings and that’s why I say it’s a budget sabotage approach from Labor, because savings that they had committed themselves to pre-election they’re now opposing post-election.
“Now, fair enough if they think it works for them, but in the end what we’ve all got to be on about is what’s best for our country.”
The Opposition Leader has defended opposing the cuts, saying the savings were hypothecated to social programs that Mr Abbott was cutting.
Senator Lambie is refusing to consider any government bills until the below-inflation Defence wage rise is doubled to 9 per cent over three years.
The Prime Minister also refused to budge on military wages, saying his government would not submit to “blackmail” by Senator Lambie.
“This a form of blackmail and this is not something that any sensible, mature government can submit itself to,” he told the Seven Network.
“It’s not as if we do this and then everything else gets passed — no way — she’s just saying nothing gets passed as far as she’s concerned until this particular measure is eliminated.
“Well that’s not the way this parliament is supposed to work and it’s certainly not the way this government intends to behave.”
