Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Isn't it amazing that we are talking in this MPI about the words 'incompetent' and 'budget' and it is proposed by the Labor Party. It is quite puzzling to think that the Labor Party would have the gall to come into this House and use those words in this matter of public importance.

I would like to start off by talking about the NDIS. It is really important that the Turnbull government fully fund the NDIS, because we need to put the arguments of the past about funding behind us. We need to provide certainty for NDIS participants, their families and their carers and make sure that their needs are met. We need to talk about the implementation of this scheme. That is what people in my electorate talk to me about. An additional 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy is a fair way to fill the funding shortfall. I do not understand why members opposite do not realise that, when you have a percentage levy, the less you earn the less you pay and the more you earn, the more you pay. It is extremely simple. The Labor Party are very good at announcing things and they are very, very good at creating hope. But they are not very good at funding things. But this government has very proudly put a path forward to fully fund the NDIS.

The Labor Party claim that they clearly identified long-term savings to pay for the NDIS. Let's look at that claim a little bit more. How can they make that claim when Labor's actual budget papers did not link any savings to the NDIS? A proposition that it did so, appeared only in the 2013-14 budget glossy. What is a budget glossy? We in this place know that it is a pamphlet; it is a flyer. The Labor Party did not make a commitment to fund the NDIS in the formal budget papers, but in a brochure, a flyer, they talked about 'other long-term savings' being made to fund the NDIS. But when you actually go to more detail, and ask Treasury officials in Senate estimates whether the measures could be listed in detail, the response was, 'The short answer is no.' We need to put the concerns of those people who will be participants in the NDIS and their families ahead of a funding argument in this place.

Let's look at the education debate. The Australian government is delivering a record and growing funding for schools. A record $242.3 billion will be invested in total school recurrent funding from 2018 to 2027, including $81.1 billion over 2018 to 2021. Funding to schools will grow from a record $17.5 billion to $30.6 billion in 2017. Funding will grow faster than economic growth. Total Commonwealth funding is growing by proximately 75 per cent over the next 10 years, and we are removing those secret, special deals. Only a few days ago I was in here debating the corrupting benefits legislation. Again, the Labor Party were defending secret deals. We are on the side of transparency. We are on the side of transparency when it comes to the allocation of public taxpayers' funds towards the education of our kids. We are on the side of transparency when it comes to dealing with corrupting benefits in unions.

The Labor Party has abandoned the principles of the Gonski review. I find it absolutely fascinating to walk around in this House. For those members of the public that have not been behind the scenes, each of our offices has a window, and many people put a poster of some sort in that front window. It is quite interesting that many of the Labor Party members in this place had posters that made very clear that they 'gave a Gonski'. I find it absolutely entertaining that when you walk past some of those offices—I have OCD; I like things to be nice and clean and tidy; but when you walk past some Labor members' offices, they did not even take the posters down nicely. The corners of those posters still remain where they once were. They ripped them down in a frenzy. They have abandoned the Gonski principles so quickly, leaving the remnants there on those windows.

But let us hear what Gonski has to say. Gonski says:

I'm very pleased to hear that the Turnbull Government has accepted the fundamental recommendations of our 2011 report, and particularly regarding a needs-based situation … I'm very pleased that there is substantial additional money …

No wonder those posters were ripped down in such a frenzied madness by those opposite, because David Gonski has told us exactly what we need to know. (Time expired)

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