Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It means that, every 60 seconds, we have $50,000 of expenditure just on the interest we need to pay. We have a culture of dependence. Half of Australian voters now rely on the government for their primary source of income. That is not sustainable. We need a government that's going to increase the economic pie and generate wealth.

As I said in my maiden speech, governments don't create wealth; businesses do. It's the private sector that needs to be supported and incentivised. Instead, what have we seen this government do? The private sector, where real wealth is created, is shrinking, with only one in five new jobs being created there while the rest are taxpayer funded. I don't think those opposite had in mind when they put forward this motion that we now need to celebrate being the country with the largest proportionate public service in the developed world. I have respect for the Public Service; my mother has served in the Australian Public Service for over 30 years. But we need to make sure that we generate wealth in this country, and the private sector is the place to do so.

On the cost-of-living front: in my electorate and across the country, food is up by 15 per cent, housing by 19 per cent, insurance by 37 per cent, gas by 38 per cent, and—as we've seen in this place today—electricity is up 39 per cent. The lights are out!

On the health front: in my electorate of McPherson, despite those opposite claiming all the credit for Medicare and all the credit for health and health management, bulk-billing in my community has dropped 12 per cent since Labor came to government. In some communities across Australia—and I feel for our regional colleagues—that amount has dropped nearly 20 per cent.

On defence: the men and women of the Australian Defence Force represent the height of our national character, but they need to be supported. We have countries and allies around the world looking at us, asking us to join their path of leadership and commit a certain amount of money to ensure that our Defence Force is well-equipped, and we're not doing that. Australia barely spends two per cent.

This motion moved by the Labor Party does nothing but congratulate themselves on this horrific record. The Prime Minister appears to be living in some sort of dangerous fantasy, oblivious to soaring debt, rising taxes, bloated government, collapsing productivity and energy delusions. For the sake of the Australian people, I hope the government's next six months are better than the last.

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