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

Don't worry, I won't misquote it. We can't even get the Prime Minister to quote it again! Believe me, nothing I produce is as good as what this bloke does to himself. He said the debt to GDP ratio of about 50 to 60 per cent is 'a pretty good result'. A pretty good result! My Lord! It does make you channel that question asked on radio: 'For a Rhodes Scholar, how come you say such stupid things, Prime Minister?' The problem is that this budget is in chaos and this government is in disarray. Last year's budget was written by the big end of town. It was written by Tony Shepherd and Maurice Newman, from the Business Council of Australia. It was a debased, politicised, ideological process. We saw good public servants sidelined. It was straight from the pen of Tony Shepherd and Maurice Newman. The Treasurer made a dreadful mistake in handing over to the big end of town alone the pen that wrote the budget. Business has a role in forming the budget—of course it does—but a budget should be of the people, by the people and for the people. Last year's budget certainly was not. This government is out of touch. We know that they have no idea how people live their lives in the real world. There are no signs or any hopes that this budget will be any better.

This is a big statement but I think the evidence supports it: the two single worst performers in this government—and there is stiff competition—are the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. If Tony Abbott were smart, he would give the Treasurer's job to someone else. Here is some free bipartisan advice from the opposition to the government on behalf of the people of Australia: you need a new Treasurer, and fast. The problem is that the Prime Minister cannot give away the Treasurer's job because the Treasurer is glued to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister is glued to the Treasurer. They are the modern Thelma and Louise of politics, their fates inexorably tied. The budget they politicised was written by the top end of town with manifest unfairness—a GP tax; pension increases; cuts to the rate of pension increases; higher education changes; and the dreadful treatment of the unemployed, with six months of nothing at all. The problem is that the government could not sell its budget because it is manifestly unfair.

This is a government with no vision of the future. Their vision of the future is starkly ideological. They can never dig themselves out of the last budget hole because they are not capable of doing it. These people have never in their lives tried to fight an argument about the future of Australia These two, Hockey and Abbott, could not go two rounds with a revolving door; they cannot fight anyone. They have no plan in the next budget to make Australia a better destination, a better place for change. They have no view about foreign policy—the change from the West to the East—and our part in Asia. All they have is tired old ideology from the conservative rule book of 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1980. They say, 'Let's get rid of bulk billing and then we can undermine universal Medicare.' They say, 'Let's bag working conditions in the safety net for working Australians.' They say, 'Let's freeze superannuation.' This mob opposite have never supported an increase to workers superannuation in their lives.

The only thing I expect to see in the next budget is that they will try and save their own skins. The Prime Minister says that this budget is dull. How does he think that reassures Australians? What that tells Australians is that he and Joe Hockey have given up; they have decided that they want it to be dull because that is the only way they think they can hang onto their jobs. The economic policy of this nation is run by two people's desire for their own job security—Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey. The government has not yet done what it should do—dump the $100,000 degrees. Their education minister—and that is a misnomer—is running around saying, 'I'm not beaten; I want to force $100,000 degrees.' Their GP tax they will reinvent with a different name. They are cutting $80 billion out of hospitals and schools. They are cutting billions of dollars out of New South Wales. The retirement age is up—well done! But you have brought the pension down and you have frozen superannuation.

In the next six weeks we in the Labor party will be making sure we talk to pensioners. We will be making sure they understand that Labor will not let Tony Abbott and this mob opposite pocket their pension increases. In the next six weeks we will hold them to account. We will explain to Australians that there will be no touching the pensions and no touching Medicare. We will make sure that we keep this government honest in the lead-up to the next budget. (Time Expired)

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