Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

This debate on the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2014-2015 and related bills is a white flag that has been hoisted up on a retreat from idiocy. Those opposite have basically presided over a fool's adventure of a budget. And now we are seeing them move away from it as fast as they possibly can, because so much of that budget was basically driven by a pack mentality. These were ideological mongrels who made decisions about the future of the nation not on practical, commonsensical propositions but rather on pursuing advice. We have heard all sorts of things about whether or not this budget was framed based on an ACCI note that was drawn up by the member for Eden-Monaro, who was supposedly suggesting all sorts of cuts and other things that should be done, and these guys opposite went through it and decided that they would frame the budget in that way.

Let us look at some of those propositions: a GP tax. We were told that medical costs were unsustainable and that something needed to be done, so they put forward a GP tax. These are the people who rallied against the carbon price as a price signal, and now they wanted to put a price signal on families when it came to medical costs—medical costs that, when compared to other parts of the world, the PBO said, were sustainable. There was no emergency in medical costs. What were they planning to do? At the same time as they were cutting research within universities—and we have today Universities Australia writing an open letter to the Prime Minister saying that the national public research infrastructure is preparing for shut down as a result of budget decisions contained in this debate—they said that they would provide this GP tax that would then be funnelled into some sort of magical research fund. This would fund medical research as they are cutting, as they are hacking, at research in other areas. This was all about short-term gain for long-term pain, because the people who did not turn up to doctors would eventually end up in the emergency departments of our hospital system, which would at the same time be facing massive cuts as a result of what was contained in this budget—$80 billion worth of cuts to hospitals and schools. And that is the GP tax.

Let us talk about education: enter the education minister, who was preparing to preside over billions of dollars' worth of cuts to higher education. The government would do a double whammy. They would cut the amount of funding provided to universities and, at the same time, say, 'Feel free to charge what you want for degrees.' The effect of that for members of parliament who represent the region of Western Sydney, like the member for McMahon here at the table, me and my other colleagues, is that we would see the people that we represent—and they are young—denied the opportunity to be able to build their talent—

Mr Ruddock interjecting—

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