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Prime Minister is forcing Parliament to sit on Tuesday defying Melbourne's traditions and way of life.

On Tuesday, we have the Reserve Bank meeting and, of course, the Melbourne Cup, but we're elected to parliament and we should do our jobs. I would hope that someone in the coalition is going to make sure that the shadow treasurer is actually doing some work on Melbourne Cup Day. Also, leading to the instability in the coalition, we got this quote on Facebook, and the Facebook post is still up there. The shadow treasurer said:

I make this commitment: this will never happen under a Wilson government!

There you go. It's the only public holiday that the coalition support.

But, not to be outdone, the shadow treasurer decided to call into 6PR, a radio station in Western Australia. It's a great radio station in the west. The shadow treasurer decided to call into 6PR today to complain about his own mortgage payments, saying that he is 'doing it tough'. We know that there are people who are doing it very tough in this country, but I don't think there's going to be a lot of sympathy for the shadow treasurer calling into radio stations around the country and saying, 'Please don't make me work on Melbourne Cup Day, and please feel sorry for me.'

But I will acknowledge that we did see one good thing from the coalition this week. They finally started to roll out the costed details of the cuts that they propose. I don't think this is the end of the plan, but it is the start. I was shocked, as a Western Australian, to see that at the top of the cuts list is cutting critical minerals jobs. That was the top of the list. I want to acknowledge that Premier Roger Cook, the Premier of Western Australia, is in the building this week, and I want to thank him for his support working with us on those critical minerals tax incentives to boost industry in Western Australia, to boost Australian exports and to make sure that we indeed do provide the critical minerals that the world is calling out for.

They didn't stop there. One of the critical minerals that we're really pleased to export in this country is lithium, and it goes into household batteries. But, of course, household batteries were also on the chopping block under these cuts. It's not just that; homes in my electorate were on the chopping block. We saw a commitment that they'll cut some $4.7 billion from the Housing Australia Future Fund. I challenge the Leader of the Opposition to go to the hub on Wellington Street in Perth and explain what's going to happen to those who are renting those Housing Australia Future Fund houses. Are they going to be left out in the street? Are they going to pay more rent? What is going to happen to them? What happens to the projects like what's happening on Stirling Street in my electorate? If those opposite are elected, will that project stop? There are a range of questions about the cuts that have been proposed by those opposite.

I'm proud of this government's economic record. We have made sure we've had back-to-back surpluses and 75 per cent of revenue upgrades returned to the bottom line. We have one of only nine treasurers or finance ministers around the world that have achieved a triple A credit rating from all three major agencies, and debt is $198 billion lower than forecast at the election. (Time expired)