House debates

Thursday, 11 May 2017

Statements by Members

Budget

1:49 pm

Photo of Joanne RyanJoanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have been wondering just how many times those opposite have tried to press the reset button since coming to power. The iterations are extraordinary. They came to government with a budget emergency mantra. I remember that one well. Then we had their 2014 cruel, unfair budget, with lots of lifters and leaners. That was the rhetoric of the day.

Who could forget when good government was going to start? It was going to start. We are still waiting for this good government. That was nearly the biggest reset but then the government pressed the button. They went through a new Prime Minister and a new Treasurer. We got the new mantra—'the taxed and the taxed not'. We needed to get rich parents. If you were a rich parent, you needed to shell out. Then they pressed the reset button again and it became 'blame Labor'. 'Blame Bill' became the mantra.

The federal government was going to walk away from state education, then housing affordability was going to be the big thing and then jobs and growth was going to be the big thing. What we are left with today is a disappointing Prime Minister and a disappointing budget, a disappointing coalition 2.0 and a very disappointing government.

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