The Australian Greens have expressed their concern that the upcoming budget will not deliver enough help and support to the disadvantaged.
The Greens believe that Kevin Rudd’s “robbing the rich to pay the poor”, aided by plans to tax the rich in order to fund pension increases line was a farce, with the people who need the most help in the community missing out entirely.
They pointed to pensioners and the unemployed as those most disadvantaged by the crisis.
Australian Greens spokesperson on Community Affairs Senator Rachel Siewert said that pensioners “deserve an increase to help them survive in economic hard times” and the Government’s promise of a $20 a week pension increase was simply not substantial enough.
“As the impacts of the global financial crisis are increasingly impacting on the Australian economy, we need to be focusing our efforts on those individuals and families who are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn and those most at risk of unemployment and financial crisis.”
