Federal budget cuts to single parents, foreign aid and universities should be reversed in light of an abandoned surplus, the Greens say.
Acting Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan announced on Thursday the federal government's budget surplus commitment will be abandoned after a "sledgehammer" of falling corporate tax revenues.
Australian Greens acting leader Adam Bandt said he had written to Mr Swan to ask him to reverse cuts that had been made to reach a budget surplus.
"The damage that has been done now needs to be reversed," Mr Bandt told journalists on Friday.
"The government should immediately announce, given that it's ditched its early surplus deadline, that all the cuts it has made to achieve that abandoned goal will now be reversed."
Mr Bandt said cuts to university research, foreign aid and single parents should be abandoned, especially as single-parent cuts hit those doing it the toughest.
"The treasurer should be telling those single parents who are about to lose money on the first of January that they will get their money back, that's a Christmas present that they deserve," he said.
The government wants single parents, mostly mothers, moved onto the Newstart allowance when their youngest child turns eight, under a plan that will save the budget $728 million over four years.
Despite ditching the surplus, Mr Swan has said he would continue to exercise fiscal restraint, even in the face of more volatility in the global economy.
However, Mr Bandt said the federal government should fill revenue holes by amending the mining tax to ensure mining magnates pay more tax to fund services.
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