Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The last budget was a disaster and the next budget will be more lies and more cuts and more chaos. But the problem is this government's approach to the next budget is presenting some very poor signals for Australia's future. We see cabinet leaking and fighting in the newspapers. What amazes Labor is that, even though their political allies, the New South Wales Liberal Party, are fighting an election on Saturday, this mob opposite cannot contain their chaos even for a few days to help them.

What makes it amazing is that we know that Tony Abbott and Mike Baird are great mates—and, to be fair, Tony Abbott got at least invited to this Liberal launch. But of course what we saw, most remarkably, is that they will let Tony Abbott out but they will not let him speak. All I say is that, if you do not let him speak at the New South Wales Liberal convention, why on earth do you inflict him on the rest of Australia?

But this has been a most chaotic week for the government. Not the least of the chaos is the discovery that in New South Wales, if you answer the telephone, you may or may not get some sort of crank call, or it may indeed be a Malcolm Turnbull robocall, automated pleading for a vote. But what is interesting is that the New South Wales Labor Party think an automated Malcolm Turnbull is better than a real Tony Abbott. I am not so sure they are right, but it is an interesting theory to debate.

Of course, this morning on radio we learnt that Mike Baird was asked why the member for Wentworth was being used for robocalls, not Tony Abbott—good question. Mike Baird said: 'Malcolm is very well known.' This is of course the problem, because Tony Abbott is very, very, very well known. The people of New South Wales know all about Tony Abbott. So do the people of Australia.

But the chaos and confusion is not just confined to the New South Wales election and they tactics they are trying to use to put Tony Abbott into witness protection. What we saw is Joe Hockey again repeating earlier styles. They love to hide the bad news before state elections and get it out after voters in a particular jurisdiction have voted. Treasurer Hockey says there is no need for us to reveal the report to Australians, no need to reveal it to the New South Wales government yet, because there is nothing to see: 'Nothing to see! Please keep moving along. Don't look at the scene of the crime.'

Then we discovered today that Joe Hockey produced another thought bubble. That man has a thought bubble factory. He has shares in thought bubble businesses. He said New South Wales would be $206 million worse off. But before the last election, before even the last chaotic budget, Tony Abbott was in Tasmania saying, 'I'll look after GST here.' And then he flew across to Western Australia and said, I'll look after GST here.' These people are all things to all people. The problem is that the music stops and the truth catches up with them; this next budget will be most chaotic.

Of course, there are different ways of dealing with the budget. Julie 'sounds like a good idea' Bishop, in a Chavez style, said, 'Let's cap iron ore production.' Why didn't we all think about a cartel? Oh that's right, we are not the Foreign Minister of Australia! You can just imagine the klaxon and red light in the Prime Minister's office—look out, another minister on the loose! The only question they ask in the Prime Minister's officer is, 'Was it a deliberate attack, an undermining of the government, or was it just another mistake from Julie Bishop?' And, of course, we saw the eye roll from the Foreign Minister about foreign aid cuts.

Mr McCormack interjecting—

Oh my Lord, Mr McCormack! This whole government is funny; it would be, except you are running Australia! The Treasurer has ruled out cuts to foreign aid in this budget. We acknowledge that they have already knocked off $11 billion. That was a good day's work for these conservative right-wing ideologues—cutting $11 billion of aid to the poorest in the world! We had an eye roll from the Foreign Minister and the Treasurer ruled out cuts. What I do not understand is why they will not rule out cuts to schools, hospitals and pensioners. Why is it that this government can rule out some things and cannot rule out others.

Mrs Sudmalis interjecting—

I am sure the member for Gilmore, in her private moments, is thinking, 'Good point, Leader of the Opposition.' Then, of course, we come back to the chief problem of this budget—or one of the two: who is Batman and who is Robin in this budget? I do not know. Is it Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey or is it Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott? They both have a problem in that they both own this next budget. We saw the Prime Minister engage in what he is famous for—economics. Actually, he is not that famous for economics! He said that the debt to GDP ratio of about 50 to 60 per cent—

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