Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition left black holes everywhere. One of them is in aged care where there was just some sort of total denial of the reality that the cost of the aged pension is going to increase, that aged-care costs are going to increase and that healthcare costs are going to increase as a result of our changing demographics. But the black hole left behind in the budget, the traps that were left for Labor when they took over the budget, are things that they are dealing with.

Another of them was for veterans compensation. The opposition allowed $1.8 billion, but the real cost was $6.6 billion. Either it was deliberately ripping off those that had put on a uniform to serve our country or it was mismanagement. I'm not sure which one. At the end of the day, the challenges in the economy are a result of a decade of negligence by the opposition. The government has been left trying to thread an economic needle to get wages moving, cut costs for medicine and child care, reduce student debt, invest in housing and energy and support veterans all while keeping the pressure off inflation. That is how you run a business properly, that is how you run a country, and that is why this motion should be rejected.

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