Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

belong to a government that has done so badly in so many areas. There is no shame; repeatedly, week after week, day after day, there are motions of self-congratulation when, really, if you look at what this government has done and the way it goes about it, it is very, very obvious to Australians that not only is this a bad government but it is a government that will claim credit for things it has not done. It is a government that, still, with every breath, with every day and with every act will not be straight with the Australian people. My friend and colleague the member for Mayo articulated very eloquently the government's failings on some major policy areas. If you take this long motion from Dr Leigh, it calls, amongst other things, for debates with facts. Now, this motion is coming out at a time when the government is sending letters to pensioners about cash for the carbon tax, and the Prime Minister's office is tweeting 'cash for you'.

The public rightly see through this. There are letters such as the one I have here with the headline 'Extra cash for you' and reads: 'Cheaper than a $2 shop, extra cash for you. P.S. This is just part of the extra help the government is giving millions of Australians.' Extra help for what? 'Extra help to deal with the carbon tax, compensation to help with the injury we are causing you with the carbon tax.' Dr Leigh says there should be debates about facts. What about some facts on a letter headlined 'Extra cash for you'? What about another P.P.S saying: 'All of this is borrowed money.' That would be one fact that, if you were upfront with the Australian people, you would put in a letter that you were sending out. What about explaining to the Australian people that every dollar that the government is giving is borrowed and they will have to pay it back, and their children will have to pay it back? But, no, you do not get that from this government or from those who support this government—those who prop it up.

As I mentioned at the outset, we saw on the weekend the hashtag from the Prime Minister's office, 'Cash for you'. Quite rightly, the Twittersphere responded as you would expect. One tweet likened it to an African bank scam, as you would expect: '#cashforyou. Urgent business relationship. First, I am a Nigerian prince and must solicit your strictest confidence in this transaction.' This government that seriously stands before this parliament is sending out letters with 'cash for you' and twee hashtags, as I have said, and is expecting the public to take them seriously. What the Australian people know is that this money that is being sent out is borrowed money. There is $100 million a day being borrowed. In your personal life, as you would know, Mr Deputy Speaker Oakeshott, because you are a normal family guy, if you spend on your credit card you get the bill. With the government, they have got the card, but it is the families that get the bill. They pay the bill. This government borrows money on their behalf to send out to them and then writes them a letter congratulating itself on sending the money out, headlined, 'Extra cash for you'. We have all the oratory from the Prime Minister. That is what it has come to for the Labor Party. From Curtain to Chifley, I would even say the oratory of Whitlam, down to this Prime Minister: 'Cash for you.' That says it all about this government, and to have a motion from Dr Leigh on serious economic issues— (Time expired)

See this speech in context