The prime minister winked during a question from a pensioner who also works as a telephone sex operator during a tough morning of radio interviews as he continues to try to promote the budget.



Tony Abbott was caught on camera winking when a pensioner who identified herself as Gloria called into ABC Melbourne 774 and said she worked on an adult line to make ends meet. A spokeswoman said Abbott was winking at host Jon Faine, who was not on camera, as he had been taken by surprise and had pulled a face.

“The prime minister was indicating he was going to go ahead and answer the question,” the spokeswoman said.

Abbott had just taken two phone calls from people unhappy with the budget and conceded that he was raising taxes.

Gloria began her question: “I would like to ask you if you would like your mother or your grandmother to be in my situation. I’m a 67-year-old pensioner, three chronic incurable medical conditions, two life threatening. I just survive on $400 a fortnight, after I pay my rent, and I work on an adult sex line to make ends meet, that’s the only way I can do it.”

At this point the prime minister winked, which was caught by a camera in the studio.

Gloria continued: “I worked out, and my maths isn’t crash hot, it’s going to cost me at least an extra $850 a year with increases in medical visits and medication, I’m on a number of different medications that will probably increase as my condition deteriorates. What do you suggest I cut out Mr Abbott, food, electricity, firewood, Christmas, birthday presents to my grandchildren, or should we all just die and get out of your way?”

Gloria became agitated as Abbott told her he understood she was doing it tough and said “you don’t give a stuff”, forcing Faine to intervene and say she should be nicer to the prime minister.

Abbott continued with his response, saying his government would get rid of the carbon tax and Gloria would still get to keep the compensation.

“Even if you spend $70 going to the doctor, even if you pay an extra 80 cent more for each prescription, almost certainly in pure cash terms you will be better off. I’m not saying that you’re on easy street, I’d never say that, obviously you’re doing it tough,” he said.

“But let’s look at the reality here. The safety net kicks in after 10 visits to the doctor, that’s $70, and yes, there’s an 80 cent increase in the pensioner co-payment, but you would have had an extra couple of hundred dollars a year as a result of the carbon tax compensation, and we want to take the carbon tax off you.”

Abbott was taken to task by other callers, Faine and 3AW’s Neil Mitchell on Wednesday morning as he continued to sell the budget.

Mitchell questioned him about people who could potentially “fall through the cracks” under changes to the welfare system that will see unemployed people under-30 receiving Newstart or Youth Allowance for only six months of the year.

“If you need government support, you’ll get government support as a student, but you won’t get government support if you’re work ready and under 30,” Abbott said

“People are seriously trying to get jobs who can’t,” Mitchell replied to which Abbott responded: “Well go and get the training.”

He added: “We think the best thing we can do for the young people of Australia is to ensure they don’t start their working life on unemployment benefits.”

When asked if he accepted people on lower incomes were shouldering most of the burden as a result of the budget Abbott replied “I think everyone is doing his or her bit.”

Mitchell said that although Abbott was going to be hit by the deficit levy, he would not miss the $6,000 a year out of his pay packet.

“I’m not complaining,” Abbott said.

Earlier on Faine’s program Abbott had been questioned by a caller who identified herself as Stella and a lifelong Liberal voter. After saying she could accept a harsh budget, Stella said what she could not accept was a politician being condescending to voters and not answering a straight question citing Abbott introducing a deficit levy and not calling it a tax.

“I obviously accept, that a levy is something you pay out of your pocket to the government, and I’m not going to quibble over calling it a tax, if you’d prefer to call it a tax, that’s fine,” Abbott said.

Abbott said the paid parental leave levy was in effect a tax and steered the conversation to the fuel excise indexation saying it was restoring an old form of tax.



“Well, Stella, yes we have increased fuel excise by increasing indexation, while we’re on the point let me fess up we have increased the top marginal tax rate by two cents in the dollar for three years, so yes Stella, we’ve done that, but the top marginal rate of tax applies to people earning over $180,000 and that’s about 3% of the total population of taxpayers,” he said.

During the interview Abbott rejected suggestions there was a need to broaden or increase the Goods and Services Tax (GST) because of the budgets changes to health and school funding which effectively takes $80bn from the states’ budgets.

“I don’t think we necessarily need to leap to the conclusion that just because hospital spending is going up at 6% rather than 9% that we have to increase the GST,” he said.

“I think that’s a pretty odd conclusion.”

Abbott also repeated his comments that the Coalition was “absolutely upfront” before the election about the cuts to education and health funding.

Faine played a clip of Abbott on 30 August, a week before the election, saying “if we do win the election and immediately say we got it all wrong, we’ve got to do all these different things, we will instantly be as bad as the current government has been, and I just refuse to be like that.”

Faine said the government had done precisely what they said they would not do.

“If you go back before the election we were attacked uphill and downdale by the Labor party for not committing to hospital and school funding beyond the forward estimates. Now what has happened is that the first of the outyears have now come into the forward estimates so we have been absolutely faithful to what we said before the election,” Abbott said.

Asked if he could come back from the opposition to the budget, he said: “I certainly intend to, my job is not to curry popularity, my job is to do what’s right for our country, and if I have to take a hit for the country’s sake then I’m happy to do it.”

