Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

To so fulsomely embrace what the Prime Minister announced and then ditch the fourth effort of the ALP policy on the run was quite a spectacle to see. I understand why the opposition are unsettled by this. Their $55 million policy lasted a handful of hours—their fourth go at it. But, more particularly, what became clear was just how unprincipled the Labor Party is in going about its policy development. It got it wrong four times, ditched its own policy, less than a day old, embraced what the government was doing and then wondered what it had actually embraced. Is it the kind of ‘echonomics’ we are going to see more of as we go towards the election? Contrast this: the sound, principled leadership of the government; the sound policies; the substantial benefits that are forthcoming; and the costed, credible, committed action agenda of the government versus the reaction and the political spin of the Leader of the Opposition. I think the veterans’ community has every right to be completely sceptical of all that Labor says about this subject—promises on the run. It is not even clear what the policy represents, and that builds on the terrible track record of Labor in veterans’ affairs. We cannot be certain that Labor is not going to change again.

What we can be certain about, as the Treasurer has outlined, is that MTAWE wage related benefits are most beneficial when the economy is strong, when there is strong real wages growth. We do not have to think back very far to remember the period of negative real wages growth under the former Labor government. MTAWE is not worth anything when you have negative real wages growth, as we had under the former government. So my message to the veterans’ community is clear: if you want principled leadership, sound policy, substantial benefits and, above all, costed, credible and committed policy, stick with the coalition; MTAWE benefits will be there, the economy will continue to grow and you will not risk what Labor did to the veterans’ affairs portfolio when they were last in office.

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