Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

for the Commonwealth of Australia to live within its means. It is absolutely necessary for the Commonwealth of Australia to stop handing out money that it does not have and cannot sustainably borrow. It is absolutely necessary that we make responsible savings, including in this area. Because of the debt and deficit disaster that members opposite created some difficult decisions simply had to be made. We have not run away from the difficult decisions the way members opposite did consistently for six years.

What we have said to the young people of Australia is: 'Don't waste your life. Leave school and either improve your education or get a job.' Now isn't that a salutary and necessary message to the young people of Australia? It really does say something about the sad decline of the once great Labor Party. It is not so much the working class party; I am afraid this is a political party which is more interested in expanding the welfare system than it is in expanding the wage system. This really is one of the reasons why no-one can take this Labor Party seriously.

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