Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to provide comment on the coalition's very sensible second amendment to the Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill 2011, the bill where once again the government are asking us to take them on faith. I think that all gathered here agree that we are sick and tired of taking this government on faith. We took them on faith on school computers, which are still not delivered; we took them on faith on overpriced school halls, to find that state schools were ripped off to the tune of 60 per cent of the value of private schools; we took them on faith on Green Loans; we took them on faith on the solar rebates, which have been an unmitigated disaster; we took them on faith on pink batts; and we took them on faith on live cattle exports. The list goes on of where we have taken these people on faith.

The coalition has asked numerous questions this evening from the emasculated member opposite, who refuses to answer even the most simple questions. So I simply say to the parliamentary secretary—the good Commander Bradbury of 'HMAS Sinking'there is time for you to outline exactly the requirements of this highly secretive MOU that the government is putting forward.

The member for Wentworth outlined a perfectly good parliamentary budget office in 2007-2008, an opportunity for costings to be properly understood. It was built on the back of the Charter of Budget Honesty which, as we all know, came in when the Howard government came in because the then finance minister actually stood publicly and said that the budget was in the black and that the finances were under control. The Howard government came in to find a level of astonishing duplicity resulting in a black hole of something like $8 billion or $9 billion in Commonwealth finances—hence the Charter of Budget Honesty came in.

And yet in 2007 when this government came to power and they put forward their policy costing to the Treasury, 130 of its over 160 policies were put in for costing on the last possible day imaginable and Treasury threw up its hands. Do not listen to what these people over there say, watch what they do because of the duplicity they showed when coming into office in 2007. They had no intention of having their policies costed; they put them all through on the last day. That is how I remember your government coming to power, Parliamentary Secretary. That is how I remember you treating with contempt the Charter of Budget Honesty. You come into this place with a—

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