Prime Minister Julia Gillard kept tax squeeze under wraps

SECRET proposals to freeze family tax payments to millions of Australian parents were developed by the Gillard Government before the last election.

But voters were kept in the dark about the changes until the May Budget, confidential government emails seen by the Sunday Herald Sun reveal.

And more plans to cut middle-class welfare could be looming, with government lawyers blocking the release of further "options under possible consideration" on the grounds it is not in the public interest.

One of the most controversial elements of the May Budget, the plan to freeze the indexation of the annual supplement will hit 2.1 million families eligible for Family Tax benefit A & B.

The freeze will strip families with two children of up to $147 in benefits and will save the Government $800 million.

Confidential emails seen by the Sunday Herald Sun reveal the Government was in a race against time to seek information on the plan to freeze family payments before caretaker provisions kicked in after Julia Gillard called the election in July.

At 4.59pm on July 19, just one minute before caretaker provisions that would have banned such correspondence, Families Minister Jenny Macklin's adviser, Ryan Batchelor, was sent an email outlining "Supplement Pause" marked "security in confidence BUDGET".

The email was from the Department of Families family payments branch manager Andrew Whitecross and noted: "We have created a new version of the spreadsheet with updated numbers for the pause supplements option."

The email was also sent to another public servant in the department, Michael Lye, a former Labor staffer who was social policy director in the Rudd government and a former adviser to Wayne Swan.

Mr Batchelor is now Ms Macklin's chief of staff.

She told the Sunday Herald Sun: "The Government had to take the necessary steps to return the Budget to surplus in 2012-13, despite significant challenges such as the recent natural disasters.

"The Prime Minister and the Treasurer made it clear it would be a tough Budget."

Ms Gillard never hinted at the plan during the election campaign, instead announcing plans to boost family payments for teenagers.

By coincidence, the Budget cost of her pledge to deliver families with teenagers extra family payments will be a similar amount to the $800 million savings generated by the secret plan to freeze the indexation of the supplement.

The Department of Families sought taxpayer-funded legal advice to prevent the Sunday Herald Sun obtaining further details of the proposals to freeze family tax benefits or apply a new means test, which claims it is "contrary to the public interest" for the newspaper to inform readers of the Government's plans.

heraldsun.com.au 29 May 2011

The government is financially assaulting the middle class citizens in order to make up the balance of government failed projects.

Another side to the story is that it puts the middle class quickly into the lower classes distancing them from the ability to fight the government in court.

The government is clearly indicating its role as a dictatorship, and there is no stopping them.

Any resistance is met with fierce retaliation in the form of social security 'breaches' by the government against the recipient.

This is just another form of controlling the masses.