Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to today to speak on the matter of public importance—that is, the long record of the Abbott government's broken promises. There are many of them I could list. For example, there was the slashing of the renewable energy target when this government promised it would leave it alone. There were the cuts to health, with billions of dollars ripped out of our hospital system when the Prime Minister said he would not cut health care. He was on a unity ticket on Gonski funding, and what did we see? The Gonski reforms have been undermined. There were the cuts to the ABC and the SBS. The list goes on and on.

The truth is that it is not just these broken promises that concern me. If I am being really honest with myself, if this government decided that it would not scrap the most important and effective climate change laws anywhere in the country despite its promise to do so, I would welcome it. If it decided to leave the mining tax alone, I would welcome it. For me it is not really the issue of the broken promises, although that is part of it. It is what lies underneath them. What lies underneath is this very cruel, brutal, dog-eat-dog, job-destroying agenda. That is what is at the heart of this government.

There was also an element of cowardice there because, like with all bullies, when it came to showing a bit of mettle in the lead up to the election, the then Leader of the Opposition could not do it. The coalition could not put this agenda out in front of the Australian people for them to make a legitimate choice. They did not have the courage to stand up and say, 'This is what we stand for. We want the Australian public to vote for it.' They did not do that because they know that what they stand for is deeply unpopular with the Australian people.

Some analysts have said they have a communication problem and are unable to communicate their vision. I disagree completely. It is not the issue of communication that is the problem; it is the product itself. You know what they say about communication in advertising: it just helps you realise you have a bad product a little more quickly. That is the issue with this government. When faced with the biggest challenge of our generation—climate change—what is their response? 'Let's abolish these incredibly effective and important laws and let's start paying polluters to pollute.' Even worse, 'Let's destroy the Renewable Energy Target,' which is the vehicle to create jobs and industry in the 21st century Australian economy. When it comes to health, 'Let's dismantle the most effective thing we have in terms of providing health care'—that is, universal health care and Medicare—'and let's put in co-payments to make people pay more for their health care. Let's follow the two-tiered US model.' There is income support: 'If you are down on your luck, tough luck. We're going to remove income support from you.' The list goes on and on. We have a budget crisis. What is the response? 'I know: tax cuts. We'll fix the budget by cutting taxes.' Not only is their agenda brutal and cruel, it is fiscally irresponsible. The one decent idea that mob had was paid parental leave and they scrapped it.

So, here we are two years on. I remember the times when we would see members of this government standing up and throwing buckets over the then Labor government with exactly the same sorts of matters of public importance. I feel like I have entered a time machine and we have gone back a couple of years. The truth is that we need to have an adult conversation about the needs of the nation. The needs of the nation require us to make some tough decisions—some tough economic decisions—if we are to achieve a balanced budget over the economic cycle. We do need to tackle the issue of raising revenue. Superannuation tax concessions, multinational tax avoidance and tackling the issue of housing affordability through changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing—those are the sorts of discussions that we need to have in this place. How do we build on the institutions that we already know are working? Health care and education—how do we make them stronger and how do we improve them, rather than: how do we tear them down? Unfortunately, this government has shown that it is just not up to the task. In a few short months, the Australian community will be able to make a choice. They know what this government now stands for and I am sure they will make the right choice. (Time expired)