Rabbitte: Backbenchers knew how tough Budgets would be

Monday, December 10, 2012 - 03:51 PM

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said today that rebel Labour backbenchers knew from the start how tough the recent Budget was going to be.

The Coalition is adamant that the Budget as announced last week will be passed without amendment and that calls for a reversal of cuts in child benefit and respite grant will not be entertained.

Minister Pat Rabbitte said that the worst of the Budgets are now over and that as the economy grows next year, future Budgets will be easier.

He said that backbenchers and Ministers have known since the day they decided to go into Government just how tough this would be.

"The Budget may be a bitter pill to swallow, but they accept that if we're going to get this economy back on the road to recovery, unpalatable things had to be done," he said.

"We knew that on day one.

"The leader of the party told people at the conference in which they made the decision to go into Government that it wouldn't be long before they would be wading through a forest of placards."