RECENTLY

I just wanted to update you on a couple of things that happened this week in Budget Estimates:

1. Treasury Secretary, John Fraser, said that Treasury could not provide any analysis on how the income tax cuts impact different areas or genders because the cuts are “gender neutral”. This is despite the Australia Institute finding that men will receive over twice the benefit to women. This is why Labor will reintroduce the Women’s Budget Statement scrapped by Tony Abbott because what we measure matters.

2. APRA stated that the banks are using a poverty index to estimate customer expenses.  APRA have known about this problem since 2007, yet they are only discussing it now. It has taken Labor’s insistence on a banking Royal Commission to bring these issues to light. 

In Labor,

Jenny McAllister

Authorised by Senator Jenny McAllister, Australian Labor Party, Canberra.