Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is shameful, as the member for Bass just said behind me. It is shameful. They mock us every day when they come in here. They would have no clue how to get us out of this debt and deficit disaster. They have created the mess but they have no clue, no courage, no fortitude, no vision and no willingness to actually get us out of the disaster that we currently find ourselves in. I find it extraordinary that they can mock even a bill such as this and yet make no attempt to tell the truth when it comes to the mess that we have inherited.

This is not about us claiming victim status on this side of the House. This is about a government that was elected with a mandate to clean up the mess. Do you know what conclusion I have come to—and I speak as the member for Braddon? Everyone still to this day—no, I should not say 'everyone'—most people to this day when they see me up the street, whether I am collecting my mail, getting my newspaper, getting money from the bank or getting coffee, say: 'The job has to be done, Brett; stick at it.' When the tough decisions have to be made—the ones which we were elected to do, and the ones which they still ask us to do—I say to the people of Braddon and I say to the people of this country that we cannot sit back and say, 'Make the tough decision, Prime Minister; make the tough decision, Minister for Defence; make the tough decision, Minister for Social Services; make the tough decision, Minister for Communications; make the tough decision, Treasurer; but make sure the toughness only impacts my neighbour and not me.'

Well, it does not work that way, country. It does not work that way, fellow Australians. We are a team; we are team Australia. Those on the other side may mock that, but we are a team. We are a young team; we are a small team; we are a powerful team—in the top 20 nations of this world. But we have to get in and do the job together. We dig the hole together, we fill it in together, we grow the crop together and we reap the harvest together. That is what we do. We do not blame it on everybody else and say, 'You do the tough stuff. I need to do the tough stuff', so that we can all sit back and say, 'Don't hurt me; just make it tough for someone else.' This is not about hurting anyone. This is about growing our future. This is about my kids and my grandkids—the grandkids that I do not have yet. I do not have them yet but I do not want them inheriting the mess that we have actually inherited—$667,000 million of debt if we do not do anything. Well, we are doing something. And I have said in this place before, and I will say it again: if it costs me my seat—which I hope and pray it does not, because I will be working my tail off to ensure it does not—and if I leave legacy of improvement, if I leave a legacy of hope and if I leave a legacy that will actually give some sense of optimism for my kids and my grandkids, then it will all have been worth it.

They on that side do not get it. It is all about political expediency; it is all about the now. They will do anything right now to damage to government, to give an impression of chaos and to give an impression that they will deliver every piece of candy to every child, adult and family in this country. But I ask the question of those opposite: who is going to pay for it? They have never seen a dollar or a 10c coin that they would never spend. They have stolen from our children, they have stolen from our grandchildren, and enough is enough. It is time that those opposite actually acknowledged the mess they put us in and stopped trying to rewrite history. They have walked away from the fire that they lit, mocked the firemen on the way down the garden path and have left town. They do not want to know about it, and I say to the people of Australia: 'Do not fall for it.'

We left an economy in good shape. A $20 billion surplus every year—money in the bank. And what have we got now? We have accumulated deficits of $123 million until the eye can see. It is unbelievable. But they just sit back and say, 'Nothing to see here.' They cannot and will not show restraint. And today we saw it again. They continue to mock every policy that we come up with, even though we have a mandate on most of those fronts. I could not believe it the other day the Leader of the Opposition was strutting his stuff in front of the camera, as he does every day and he said: 'They want to do this; they want to make this change or they want to implement this policy. They need to go and get a mandate.' Well, for goodness sake, we got a mandate on the carbon tax and they would not vote to get rid of it. We had to depend on the crossbenchers to get it through, and, thankfully, they saw common sense. So what an absolute hypocrite we have in the Leader of the Opposition! 'Go and get a mandate,' he says to make himself look like this great democratic leader of our country. 'Go and get a mandate.' For goodness sake, the people of Australia gave as a mandate on 13 September, 2013. And what do we see? They have knocked back everything that we actually said we would do. We went to the people and said, 'We are going to do this, this and this.' Even that is not a mandate for those opposite! They just want to cause chaos. They want to sabotage the future of our country, the economic prospects and hope of my children and my grandchildren. I have had enough. I am prepared to stand up and fight for it.

Even when it comes down to issues such as this bill, as mocking as they may be, this is a symbol of what this government stands for. This is a symbol of where this government wants to take this country. This is a symbol of a prime minister, a cabinet and a ministry of people that want to change the culture in this country. I believe that is what the people of Australia want. If they want weak-kneed leadership—a mamma and a papa that will give every kid every lolly every day of the week when they go to the show and fatten them up—because if that is what you want, people of Australia, you will get what you wish for. But if you want a government that is prepared to invest in your future and make sure that there is going to be a pension for yourself or your own parents in 25 years time, get with the program. We cannot afford it. We have to rein in expenditure. We have to make the changes to policies that are just unsustainable.

This is not some game we are talking about; this is the future of our country. We are in a competitive fight to the death when it comes to our products and our services across the world, but this lot over here think it is some sort of gee-whiz ride at the local agricultural show. It is not; it is our future that we have to fight for. We have made a commitment to the people of Australia, and we will leave this parliament in the last sitting week of 2014 recommitting to that future and that we will get it under control. We will move on the debt and deficit disaster. We will continue to fight for small business to make it possible for them to grow, to make profits and to employ people to get this economy moving. But it takes everyone. You might not be a small-business owner, but you depend on them to employ your children. I implore people as they listen as we end this week to understand the journey that we are on and the journey we need to take. I thank the House.

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