Thu, 15th May 2008

Ludwig's really got no idea

Senator the Hon Helen Coonan
Shadow Minister for Human Services

Following his embarrassing gaffe during yesterday’s Question Time, Senator Joe Ludwig has once again humiliated himself by displaying total ignorance of his portfolio.

The Minister for Human Services was answering a question regarding Centrelink job cuts, which were forecast by the Centrelink CEO Jeff Whalan during February Senate Estimates.

Throughout the drawn out and garbled answer, he attempted to attack the Shadow Human Services Minister, Helen Coonan.

However, it was Senator Ludwig who finished with egg on his face after he totally misquoted Senator Coonan saying, “Senator Coonan has gone on the record a number of times claiming that there would be 2,000 job cuts from Centrelink as a result of Tuesday’s budget.”

This statement is completely false. Senator Coonan has never attributed the projected job cuts to this weeks Budget. Senator Coonan has made several references to the job cuts and has always sourced this information from exactly where it came from – the Senate Estimates in February.

“Senator Ludwig is clearly struggling under the pressure of the portfolio,” Senator Coonan said.

“When the Minister can’t even get basic facts straight, it’s going to have dire consequences of the delivery and administration of the numerous services under the umbrella portfolio of Human Services.”