Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison announced that pensioners can continue to work and therefore can earn up to $7,800 a year without affecting their pension. At the same time, there will not be any increase in youth allowances. Why have pensioners been prioritized by the Coalition Government?
'Our government gives priority to all Australians. It's about the security of your job, the quality of your healthcare, your business and your retirement. We are an ageing population and it's really important to look after our elderly. That's why one of the measures I am really excited and it's about our elderly, and particularly goes to the Greek community, is that we respect the elderly and we really want them to stay at home as long as they can.'
'One of the very exciting things that we're putting in place is in relation to the choices for a longer life plan for older Chisholm residence to live healthy and connected lives with giving them increased financial and skilled support. Also 14,000 more home care places, where they can get that assistant that they need. We are all living busy lives and there's a lot of things we would like to do for our elderly parents or grandparents indeed and these home care packages provide that little bit of extra assistance.'
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«Προτεραιότητα στους σκληρά εργαζόμενους Αυστραλούς και στις επιχειρήσεις»
Recently the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that the cost of gas and electricity rose in almost every capital city in the March quarter and Melbourne recorded the strongest movement. In Melbourne, the utility costs climbed by about 13 per cent. Low and middle-income earners will be up to $530 better off per year. Is that enough money to cover the increasing cost of living?
'There’s a lot of things that go into the mix. But the low and middle-income earners are the people that get up and go to work every day and we want to ease their cost of living pressures by providing that tax relief. In my electorate alone in Chisholm, 63,000 taxpayers will receive an extra $530 a year under our plan to reduce cost pressures on the households.'
'In relation to electricity, I say there's a lot of things goes into the mix; It's got to be affordable and that's why we put everything into the mix to put downward pressure on electricity prices. But it's got to be reliable because what we saw in South Australia was when they went to this completely focused renewables plan and they weren't focusing on reliability, so they didn't have storage for anything. So, the prices went up but most importantly the whole city went into darkness and the hospitals stopped operating.'
Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison with Chisholm MP Julia Banks. Source: SBS Greek
'For a stronger economy, we want to ease the cost of living pressures and that's why we're giving that tax relief to load middle-income earners and also a tax relief to small business owners. Every dollar that they can put and reinvest in their business means another job. And the job story for the Turnbull Government is amazing; it is historical records of job growth.'
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten insists that Coalition Government gives big business and the banks an $80 billion tax handout and that there are still cuts to schools, to hospitals, and to pensioners. Would you like to comment on these?
'I have worked for larger businesses and they employ thousands of Australians across the business. Our focus is on the low and middle-income employees. We have one of the highest tax rates in the world for these international businesses. If we keep them this way, they will set up their factory somewhere else, they'll take their offices somewhere else, they will just move offshore from Australia. So we need to encourage investment in Australia and the way to do that is to be competitive in the global field.'
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