Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is true. It is actually part of our DNA—a fair go for all and fairness. Having said that, we are seeing in a lot of these changes a move away from that.

Dr Leigh interjecting—

You can laugh, but that is the reputation that we have. Compared to most countries in the world, we have a desire for fairness within our community. If our tax system and our system of welfare are out of whack because of consistent policies from different governments over a considerable period of time, we need to turn around and put that fairness line through our policies. We need to run that fairness line that is part of our DNA and that says we can do something about negative gearing when it is out of whack. We can do something about superannuation. We can make some alterations and changes to make our society fairer. Why wouldn't we go down that track as a community and talk about that in a reasonable conversation rather than this major attack that is coming against a Prime Minister who is actually governing on behalf of Australians at a time when 26 per cent of the Australian community are paying 67 per cent of the income tax? We have to consider the whole mix.

I do not think any of the Labor Party should be looking across to this side of the House and laughing at the moment. There are some great disappointments that were put about this government, but let me remind the Labor Party about some of the disappointments that you have put before the Australian people that you have not considered in this debate today. When you needed to cut costs, you went to single-parent families and you hit the most vulnerable in our community to make sure that your budget was to be in balance—which never occurred.

At the time the Howard government left office our expenditure was 21 per cent of GDP. At the end of the Labor government's term of office the spending was 25 per cent of GDP. Having said that, it is clear we cannot go on spending the way we are spending when we have the income that we have. The fact is that the Labor Party knows that. This side of the House knows that. We are going to have to make some alterations. Look at the Australian economy as a whole and where we are placed in the world. We have had 25 years of continuous growth, but there are some dark clouds on the horizon. We are in a tough global economic environment. There are significant geopolitical risks. The Senate has not allowed the reform that should have taken place in this country with regard to our spending and the outcomes of that spending. On top of that we are spending half our budget—$149 billion—on welfare.

For those who are thinking about this seriously on behalf of Australia and Australians, we are going to have to address that issue. I am not saying that we have so much debt now that this nation is incapable of paying off its debt. I am saying the projections of growing debt are in the wrong direction. Whoever governs this nation after the next election will not have a smile on their face. They will be working through the processes themselves as to where this nation is to go in the near future and in the long term. You can have a big laugh about some policy issue today, but eventually this nation has to face up to the fact that we have a spending issue over and above our revenue. If you do not address that, the egalitarian nation that we aspire to we lose. (Time expired)

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