Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Turnbull government's budget that puts high-income earners and big business before families, students, patients, pensioners and low-income earners. This morning in my home state of Tasmania, four out of five workers who make less than $80,000 woke up to find out that they were getting nothing from Turnbull's government's budget. Eighty-two per cent of the working population in Bass have been left off the map and will not get a tax cut.

With this budget, Tasmania's federal Liberal MPs have put their credibility on the line. They have let themselves and have certainly let Tasmania down. We know they backed Tony Abbott, and now Tasmania is seeing the result of this loyalty. The three amigos—Andrew Nikolic, Brett Whiteley and Eric Hutchinson—clearly have no influence here Canberra. The budget offers nothing positive for Tasmanians. It puts big business and high-income earners before families. We all know that Malcolm Turnbull likes rich people, but this budget proves how out of touch he is with everyday Australian families. We are right on the eve of having the election called, and the three amigos have done absolutely nothing to stand up for the Tasmanian community, particularly over the last three years. This is the third budget in a row that Tasmanian federal Liberal MPs have failed to stick up for Tasmanian families.

Malcolm Turnbull's budget does not pass a fairness test and has left Tasmania off the map. It still includes Tony Abbott's cuts to the family tax benefits and cuts to paid parental leave. It will still see Tasmanians working until they are 70. It fails to set up a Tasmania for the future by cutting services, infrastructure investment, skills and education. Along with that we know that there have been cuts as far as health is concerned, which is having an enormous impact on the Tasmanian community. There is no additional funding to replace the nasty cuts that they have that are crippling our hospitals in Tasmania. There is no money being put forward towards Tasmania's roads, rail or public infrastructure. It has failed to match Labor's $150 million investment in the future of jobs and education in Bass—the most comprehensive plan for education and jobs that northern Tasmania has ever seen. Even the local TheExaminer newspaper has paid credit to the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, for his commitment to the future education of Tasmanian young kids in being able to access university.

The three amigos have talked big on a whole range of projects, but have failed to deliver on any of them. Malcolm Turnbull's budget has also put the high-end of town ahead of vulnerable older Australians. We know that Malcolm Turnbull's budget offers—