Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, that's all they are good for. Labor had six years governing the country, which demonstrated its inability to make the tough decisions, to make the tough calls. What they did demonstrate was their ability to spend and spend after inheriting a strong budget surplus. No government ever came in, as the Rudd government did in 2007, with a better balance sheet, with a better set of books, with a better set of economic figures. What did those opposite do? They just wasted the golden opportunity that Australia had, the government had, to put the country in a great position.

Under the policy settings that we inherited from Labor, Australia was headed for continuous deficits year after year for 40 long, sorry years. The coalition was elected to make tough decisions. We are doing that. We are spending on all sorts of infrastructure—$500 million to fix black spots on roads, $300 million to construct the Melbourne to Brisbane inland rail.

Today, we had a ministerial statement to cap water buyback at 1,500 gigalitres. The member for Watson opposite did not want to do that. He had charge of water. We had a situation where farmers were desperate for good water policy and he just ignored them. I will admit he came to Griffith and we had thousands of people turning up, worried about their futures. That was emblematic of what was happening all over Australia. This was just one portion of policy failure by Labor, but it was just an example, a microcosm, of what was happening nationwide. The member for Watson saw it. He saw it in those desperate farmers' and businesspeople's eyes. They wanted help but they got nothing from those opposite.

In the dying days of the New South Wales election campaign, true to its form, Labor is resorting to desperate last-ditch attempts to confuse people about the Pacific Highway. Together, the federal government and the New South Wales state government will complete the duplication of the Pacific Highway before the decade's end, and that is going to produce a much safer road not just for New South Wales motorists but for people all over Australia.

The New South Wales coalition government today has established an unprecedented partnership with New South Wales farmers—and I am sure that the member for Watson would appreciate that—through the steady and able leadership of Deputy Premier and Leader of the Nationals Troy Grant. I raise that because we have heard all about how they are very concerned about the state election, as we all should be, because it is an important watershed moment in the history of New South Wales. People should get on board in New South Wales and back the Baird-Grant government because it is rolling out infrastructure. It is doing all sorts of things for hospitals through the minister, as well as for education through Minister Piccoli, who is the member for Murrumbidgee and is running in the newly formed seat of Murray, down in the Riverina way.

Agriculture is front and centre in government policy at a state and federal level, with the centrepiece being the commitment to scrap the Native Vegetation Act 2003. This will certainly be popular amongst New South Wales farmers and landholders. It is monumental infrastructure investment from the Baird government which is creating jobs, hope, reward and opportunity in New South Wales, just as we are doing nationally. We are getting on with the job of fixing the debt and deficit, the mess created by those opposite. It would be absolutely chaotic if they were ever to get the treasury bench in this place again. We are certainly getting on with the job, and I absolutely reject the notion of this matter of public importance.

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