The Turnbull government is pushing ahead with major changes to childcare payments, migrant pensions and the dole, packaging a suite of reforms into a single omnibus bill.
The Coalition wants to simplify the childcare system by consolidating multiple childcare payments into one means-tested payment.
The bill is designed to save the government money - just over $5 billion dollars over the next four years.
But it has also included sweeteners designed to win the support of the crossbench, including a $20 increase to fortnightly Family Tax Benefit payments and an increase in paid parental leave from 18 to 20 weeks per annum.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter says he's hopeful the bill will make it through the Senate.
"Anyone who vote[s] against this position on paid parental leave votes against 96,000 of Australia's lower-income families getting two extra weeks of paid parental leave. That would be a very siginificant thing for anyone to do. Even Labor might baulk at denying 96,000 families more time at home with their child after birth and more financial assistance after the birth of their child."
But Labor had no qualms attacking the bill in Question Time.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten asking the government how it could justify cutting from social security when it planned to spend billions on a corporate tax cut.
"Mr Harbourside Mansion is attacking the standard of living of over a million Australian families. The story of these cuts today is that the prime minister is taking $4.7 billion from Australian families and yet he proposes giving $7.4 billion to big banks in tax giveaways."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fired back at the Opposition Leader in an increasingly heated exchange.
"There was never a union leader in Melbourne that tucked his knees under more billionaires' tables than the Leader of the Opposition. He lapped it up. Oh yes, he lapped it up! He was such a sycophant. A social-climbing sycophant if ever there was one. There has never been a more sycophantic leader of the Labor party than this one. And he comes here and poses as a tribune of the people. Harbourside mansions? He's yearning for one! He's yearning to get into Kirribilli House. You know why? Because somebody else pays for it! And just like he loved knocking back Dick Pratt's crystal, just as he looked forward to living at the expense of the taxpayer. This man is a parasite. He has no respect for the taxpayer."
The controversial bill also reintroduces measures previously voted down by the Senate, including a four-week waiting period for young job seekers trying to access the Dole.
Greens senator Rachel Siewert says vulnerable people are being asked to pay for the government's budget repair.
"Again and again, this government is going after the most vulnerable Australians. People seeking support from our social safety net. Young people who urgently need support, who cannot find jobs because of the high rate of youth unemployment. Not enough is being done to ensure they have a future. They are condemned to temporary, insecure work, and here's the government saying 'take another cut, wait four weeks'."
Pensioners who have spent less than 35 years of their working lives in Australia will also have their pensions cut if they spend more than 6 weeks overseas.
Joseph Caputo of the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Council of Australia says that measure unfairly targets migrant pensioners.
"Australians who have lived in this country for such a significant number of years and contributed to our economy should not be burdened with such a measure."
With Labor and the Greens opposed, the government now needs the support of the crossbench Senators to pass the reforms.
Key crossbencher Nick Xenophon says his team of three Senators is getting closer to supporting the bill.
He says concessions on the Family Tax Benefit and the extra paid parental leave are evidence the government is listening to crossbench concerns.
"It's like a big Rubiks Cube where we're trying to get all the pieces together. The government has clearly moved by improving the package by ensuring that there are additional benefits to people on a fortnightly basis, but there are a lot of moving parts in this legislative package, in this omnibus bill, so we'll keep talking to the government."
The bill will be debated in both houses of parliament over the coming weeks.
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