Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation) Share this | Hansard source

Clearly those opposite do not want to commit to $6 billion worth of budget savings. What is your number—is it three, is it two? How much are you going to commit to? We do not know. What we do know is that they are wibbly wobbly; that is what we can be absolutely sure of. Anyway, this will give effect to $6 billion in budget savings that are necessary to assist in the critical task of arresting our debt and, just as importantly, protecting the economy against significant economic shocks. We live in a world where the prospect of economic shocks is significant. We do not know what the Chinese economy will do in the coming years. We do not know how the rest of the developed world will grow in the coming years. Those shocks, those speed humps, those potholes are absolutely the reason why the Australian people should be, and are, asking for the people in this place to be fiscal conservatives.

The government inherited $240 billion in accumulated deficits and a gross debt of $370 billion. But that is not the worst of it—we inherited locked-in programs with a growth rate in spending of seven per cent a year. There were landmines everywhere—because those opposite love to spend and they love to tax. And the Australian people know and understand that. As a result, Australian taxpayers are saddled with higher interest payments which are currently worth $16 billion, one of the largest line items in the federal budget. We are focused on preventing these scenarios that I have described and arresting our debt by making the necessary decisions to restore budget balance. That is exactly what we are seeing in the omnibus bill that we have put before the House today.

This bill is an opportunity for the new parliament to heed the challenge and promote this nation to a path of stronger growth and a stronger and more prosperous economy, and it is critical that those opposite come to the table and become the real fiscal conservatives that they pretended to be in the election campaign. The ratings agencies have warned us that, if we do not fix this problem, it is a very serious issue for this country. We will be faced with higher interest rates. We will be faced with a far more dangerous situation for important spending programs such as health, education and infrastructure. So this bill emphasises our commitment to future generations of Australians. This is a moral cause. This is a moral issue. Are the opposition going to leave future generations of younger Australians saddled with debt that they will have to repay for years to come because the opposition were not prepared to take the necessary steps to protect our economy, our kids, our grandkids and every future Australian from the fiscal disaster that they create every time they are in government? There was one exception—the Hawke-Keating era. But they are gone now. They are ghosts of the past.

There is a second, very important initiative that we have brought to the House today—the building and construction industry bill. We want to ensure that the rule of law prevails on building sites across the country. We want more roads, hospitals, schools and houses—because they do not cost what they should. Anyone who has been involved in the construction industry over the years knows that the lawlessness there, the lawlessness that we saw in the royal commission, is costing every Australian. Everyone who goes to school, who goes to hospital, who uses a road or who uses a railway is paying more than they should—and, most importantly, every Australian taxpayer is paying more than they should for these things because the opposition is not prepared to act on a very obvious measure that everyone knows is absolutely necessary to bring us to the cost levels that other countries see.

There is only one side of the House that will provide leadership in the coming years, and it is this side.

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