Xenophon under fire over savings policy position

Federal crossbench senator Nick Xenophon has hit back at critics of his proposal to increase the Medicare levy for high-income earners to help fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The senator was criticised in Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper for continuing to frustrate the Turnbull government's efforts to pass a controversial savings bill. Government ministers are still trying to persuade Senator Xenophon and others on the upper house crossbench to back several billion dollars' worth of proposed welfare cuts and major reforms to childcare subsidies, now linked to funding for the NDIS.

SSouth Australian senator Nick Xenophon outside parliament in Canberra Source: AAP