Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2014-2015, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2014-15 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2014-15. During this time, I would like to set out a few concerns that I have—and I am sure many other Australians share—about the future of our nation. Firstly, I am concerned about what I call the debt and deficit deniers. We just saw a classic example of that in the speech of the member for Griffith—complete and utter denial about the debt and deficit problems that our nation faces. To stand up and complain, 'The government needs to cut this and needs to cut that,' and whinge and whine like she did is a classic example of the problems that this nation faces and how we must face up to the challenges that we have with our debt and deficit.

Members from the other side of the chamber often like to say: 'We don't have a problem. We're not as bad as Greece. It's okay; we can keep spending forever and ever.' We are currently spending over $100 million more, every single day of the year, than we are raising in taxation revenue. What that means is that we simply borrow that money, leaving the job of rid repaying it to our children and our grandchildren. Every time any member of this government stands up and talks about how we can reduce that gap—which we should have down to zero—we hear the members of the opposition whingeing and whining and carping in the most disgraceful the way possible, which threatens our future and threatens the future of our children and our grandchildren. One of the ways they do it is by making international comparisons with what they say is Australia's debt-to-GDP ratio. They say: 'We're not as bad as Greece, Spain or Portugal. Aren't we doing wonderfully? Keep spending.'

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