The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said Mr Hockey was just pointing out a government needed to live within its means.
A frontbench colleague said of Mr Hockey: ”I don’t know what he thought he was doing. Maybe it was jetlag.”
Mr McClure advised the Howard government last decade as it overhauled the welfare sector, introducing mutual obligation and tightening up eligibility criteria for the disability support pension, including the requirement for some recipients to work.
His biggest recommendation – not adopted – was to replace various welfare payments with a single payment accompanied by rewards and penalties. This would bring together the payment levels of pensions and allowances, reducing complexity and a disincentive to work.
Mr McClure said yesterday he would revisit this suggestion and others in the policy paper he was preparing for the Menzies Research Centre, the think-tank developing Coalition policy.
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