Why is government attacking family life?

If companies and corporations and businesses, big and small, could vote in elections, I would understand the government’s desire to pander to them. If it was only the wealthy who voted, I could understand the government’s desire to appease the rich.

But why don’t politicians pander to the ordinary people who vote for them in quite the same way they appease business, big and small, and the rich?

It’s become increasingly apparent that this particular government, first under Abbott and now under Turnbull, is continuing to attack Australian family life.This antagonism to all of us was clearly flagged in 2014, when failed Treasurer Joe Hockey attempted to push through parliament $8.5 billion in cuts, including a limit of Family Tax Benefit Part B to families when their youngest child turns six.But last week, many of those attempted cuts reappeared and were passed straight through the House of Representatives.

Who does that affect? About 1.5 million families will lose their Family Tax Benefit Part A supplements, which is a cut of more than $700 per child every year. And 1.3 million families will lose their Family Tax Benefit Part B supplements, a cut of more than $350 per family every year. That, combined with the abolition of the School Kids Bonus, will mean single parents with two children in high school will lose nearly $5000 a year.

So the government toys with GSTand now it looks to be canvassing a whole range of other nightmares.This includes the latest hare-brained scheme from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, released on Monday, whereby pensioners get to stay in their family home but their pension is deducted from their capital.You can imagine the number of people who’d get turfed out of their beloved family homes before their number was up.Not everyone’s capital would outlast their longevity.

The good news is that alongside the grasping nature of the ACCI’s prebudget submission, those who represent the rest of us can see what the real problems are.

The Australian Council of Social Service’s CEO Cassandra Goldie says: “Genuine tax reform is not about raising or lowering tax rates: it should begin by limiting unfair tax breaks and unintended loopholes that mainly benefit people who are on higher incomes and erode the tax base.”

She pleads for those living in poverty:”It’s time to abandon an approach that simply shifts costs to service users, people living in poverty, and state governments. Instead, we should be focused on ensuring services are delivered cost effectively, for example by relying less on subsidies for private insurance in health.”

Nick Hopwood, a researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, says it’s very important that we consider the kinds of services that support our most vulnerable. Many of those services, particularly around the area of early intervention for children, have no idea one year to the next whether they will be funded.

He says: “Belts are tightening. They are under pressure to show strong outcomes but cut costs.”

For me, the most telling yet depressing part of ACOSS’ prebudget submission is about childcare: “The relative generosity at the higher end has increased the overall costs of the [childcare] package, which the government is now seeking to pay for through cuts to family payments.”

Yes, reward those families with incomes of more than $340,000 a year. They really need it, don’t they?