Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

You cannot get all the goodness out of me, because Labor has not been very good for the business community. I know the member for Hughes has pointed out the fact that the dreaded carbon tax is contributing to a record number of firms going to the wall, going broke, with thousands of employees being laid off. Labor always says it is there for the workers, but unfortunately, with the carbon tax and the clean energy legislation, factories which have stood for generations are closing, soaring energy bills are hurting households and company executives and corporate rescue doctors are trying to save ailing firms. But this is about the Parliamentary Budget Office and accountability.

If ever there was a sign that a government is not accountable, it is this particular Labor government. We have seen this government borrow more money in its five years than every other previous government from federation through to 2007 borrowed, which is a disgrace. It is important that the Australian public has access to all parties' positions on different matters at election time and that the parties have had adequate resources made available to ensure they receive independent advice while formulating these, and the creation of the Parliamentary Budget Office has allowed for this. The establishment of the office in Australia has been a key element of coalition policy for a number of years, and when we introduced the legislation in 2011 the government followed suit a couple of days later.

The coalition has called for the establishment of a PBO from as early as 2009, and in June 2010 the Leader of the Opposition renewed this call. When the opposition called for a PBO in 2009 it was envisaged it would be modelled on the United States Congressional Budget Office, an office which does not provide policy recommendations—rather, it provides independent analysis of the revenue and spending implication of policy proposals.

We have seen Labor in recent weeks—even though we are not in an election campaign—spending or promising money like drunken sailors. With all due respect to drunken sailors, I do not think even they would be as frivolous with their money as this government have been with their promises to the Australian people—promises they know they will never have to keep. All we get from that side is leadership speculation and a dysfunctional, shambolic government.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

I hear the member for Moreton calling out. He should have been here earlier when I was praising the member for Gellibrand, who did a good job in her former portfolio. But Labor have not done a good job in any portfolio area—and certainly not in defence, where they have cut $5½ billion out of this vitally important portfolio area, and certainly not for small businesses. Somebody asked me the other day what the definition of a small business is. I replied, 'It was a medium business when Labor came to office in 2007 and now it is a small business because of the cutbacks they have made and the harshness of the carbon tax'—helped by the member for Lyne to be brought in.

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