Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Parramatta said it did not work very well. That is because you have been opposing them, member for Parramatta. You have blocked the government's cuts and savings measures. In spite of the Labor Party's opposition, it is the Turnbull government that has cut $26 billion since the last election. The only government—the only parties—in this House that proposes savings is this government. At the same time as we have done so, we have cut tax for small and medium Aussie businesses. We have taken measures to ensure income tax cuts. Half a million Australians will no longer go into the second-highest tax bracket because of this government.

Every time the Leader of the Opposition gets up and says: 'What about the debt? What about the deficit?' he needs to get a big mirror and look in it because it was they who ran up the debts, ran up the government spending and delivered the conditions we inherited. We will not take a lecture. He says he will not take a lecture from us, but we will not take a lecture from him on debt and deficit. We will not take a lecture from the Labor Party—the absolute vandals of this parliament, the vandals of Australian politics and the people who ran up more government spending, more government debt and more government deficit than any other government in Australian history. We are the ones proposing to do something about it.

At the same time, we have delivered an education policy which delivers more money to schools—$18. 6 billion—which is proposed to go through this House today. It is an $18.6 billion increase which the Labor Party says is a cut to school funding. Only a Labor Party completely and utterly at odds with its own policy could believe—

Ms Owens interjecting—

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