Malcolm Turnbull has taken the unusual step of using social media to directly repudiate a story suggesting his government was considering scrapping concession cards for welfare recipients in the May budget.
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In a series of tweets on Sunday afternoon the Prime Minister said a story published by News Corp was inaccurate and the journalist who wrote the story had been told by his office before publication that it was wrong.
"A report today that the government is cutting the age pension is false and we outright reject it," Mr Turnbull said in the first of four tweets on the matter.
"I can assure all aged pensioners the measure reported will not be in the May budget. We assured the journalist too but she insisted on writing the story."
A report today that the government is cutting the aged pension is false and we outright reject it.??? Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 19, 2017
News Corp reported welfare recipients - including people receiving the aged pension - would lose their concession cards that allow people to pay less for items such as medicines, rates, vehicle registration and drivers licences.
I can assure all aged pensioners the measure reported will NOT be in the Budget.??? Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 19, 2017
It also suggested a minimum floor price would be applied to all welfare pensions as part of a budget savings measure.
We assured the journalist too, but she insisted on writing the story.??? Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 19, 2017
The Social Services Minister, Christian Porter, also refuted the story.
"The proposal referred to in the article was nothing more than a suggestion put forward by a department and immediately rejected by the government, as the journalist responsible for the article was advised," Mr Porter said in a statement.
"Such a proposal would not be fair to pensioners and any such measure will NOT be in the budget."
It is understood the proposal was costed by the department but was never discussed by cabinet's powerful expenditure review committee.
The swift denial of the story is a sign the government is keen to avoid distractions as it heads into the final parliamentary fortnight ahead of the May budget.
Health Minister Greg Hunt was optimistic on Sunday that another long-running problem for the government - the indexation of the Medicare rebate - would soon be resolved.
But the government's main priority is the passage of its so-called omnibus welfare bill that links $4.3 billion in savings from changes to welfare payments to its $1.6 billion childcare package.
The legislation contains cuts to family tax benefits, paid parental leave and unemployment payments to cover the cost of increased and streamlined childcare subsidies, plus the $3 billion directed to a fund for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The legislation hit a brick wall in the Senate last month when Nick Xenophon and Pauline Hanson announced their blocs opposed the legislation.
Labor and the Greens also oppose the legislation, leaving the government without enough votes in the Senate.
Mr Porter suggested earlier this month that the government was prepared to drop some of the welfare cuts contained in the legislation so long as enough money could be raised to cover the cost of the childcare reforms.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said on Sunday the government remained committed to passing the entire package of legislation rather than negotiating on individual line-by-line items.
"We will work as hard as we can with anybody who is willing - the crossbench senators, the Greens, the Labor Party if they are willing to come to the table - to actually get these solutions passed to help hard-working families," Senator Birmingham said.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten repeated Labor's opposition to the legislation, saying Mr Turnbull had gone on a "twitter rampage" and a "twitter melt-down" when all the government needed to do to pass its childcare changes was to drop its plan for corporate tax cuts.
