Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Warringah moving immediately:

That this House:

(1) notes the Prime Minister’s comment on 11 February 2011 that: 'Every time we announce something we properly account for it and properly fund it.';

(2) calls on the Government to explain where the money is coming from for its $120 billion of recently announced spending, including spending on disability services, additional funding for aged care, new funding for low-paid workers, increased costs of its border protection failures, funding of new defence projects, establishment of a new dental care scheme, and the provision of additional education funding;

(3) notes that Australia’s debt continues to approach $300 billion despite the Prime Minister claiming that the Budget is in surplus; and

(4) calls on the Treasurer to immediately rule out new increases in taxes for families and small business in order to plug their $120 billion Budget black hole.

Standing orders need to be suspended so that this House can have the economic debate that the Prime Minister herself called for at the start of question time—and she has now fled. Standing orders must be suspended because the nation's finances are descending into chaos and even the government's own backbenchers know it.

We have a Prime Minister who is spending like a drunken sailor, with one eye on the polls and the other eye on the member for Griffith—and doesn't she know it: doesn't she know that she has to keep an eye on the member for Griffith! This is why standing orders must be suspended, because yesterday, in the caucus, the Rudd forces made an organised hit on the Prime Minister and on the government's economic strategy. I am quoting from today's Financial Review:

Mr Swan faced questioning in the weekly caucus … from five MPs concerned about the government's plans.

In the Labor caucus room yesterday, outspoken Labor Left senator Doug Cameron, Tasmanian MP Geoff Lyons, NSW MP Janelle Saffin, NSW MP Ed Husic and Victorian MP Kelvin Thomson expressed concern about the government's spending priorities.

That is why standing orders must be suspended. What do all those members of parliament have in common? Every single one of them is a backer of the former Prime Minister. And we know it was an organised hit. We had the front page of the Financial Review; we had an almost identical leak from caucus in the Australian:

At least five Labor backbenchers yesterday tackled the Treasurer about the government's spending priorities and its ability to pay for big-ticket promises while protecting a budget surplus—

of just $1.5 billion this financial year. That is why standing orders must be suspended. But the organised nature of this hit by the former Prime Minister on the current Prime Minister is exposed by what else was said in both the Financial Review and the Australian. Again, I am quoting from the Financial Review of this morning:

Some senior Labor figures yesterday privately accused Ms Gillard of making a deal to help shore up union support for her leadership—

'union support for her leadership'. And there, in the Australian:

Labor MPs told The Australian last night they believed Ms Gillard's undertakings to union leaders running campaigns for government wage top-ups was all about "shoring up union support for her leadership".

So standing orders must be suspended because this is a government in fiscal chaos and this is what the parliament should be debating as a priority right now.

I have to say, in fairness to the Prime Minister, that her opponent's supporters are just as incoherent and just as economically illiterate as her own. We had Senator Cameron saying in the caucus yesterday that we needed more taxes. And then we had the member for Chifley saying in the party room yesterday that we needed to boost spending. And then we had the member for Bass saying that we had to have a special Medicare levy—more taxes. And then we had the member for Page saying that we needed more foreign aid—more taxes! And then we had the member for Wills saying in the caucus yesterday that we needed more spending. So, whether they are supporters of the Prime Minister or whether they are supporters of the former Prime Minister, it is the same Labor economic illiteracy.

We had the Prime Minister say today that her economic policy was based on Labor values. Well, we know what Labor values are when it comes to the economy: debt and deficit, tax and waste. And, at all times—and this is why standing orders must be suspended—they are making our economy less and less and less competitive.

What did the Treasurer do yesterday? Well, the Treasurer is simply making it up as he goes. We all know that this Treasurer wants to be known as 'surplus Swan', but we know what he is: he is always 'wasteful Wayne'. That is what he always is. And we had a classic example of this Treasurer's real spending priorities exposed in the parliament last week when we had wasteful Wayne's weaving workshop—like something out of the Life of Brian: wasteful Wayne's weaving workshop!—because this is a government that will spend whatever it takes to buy its way back into office.

Let us go through the list: the National Disability Insurance Scheme—a very good cause, but it will only be delivered by a political party which is fiscally prudent and fiscally responsible—is $10.5 billion a year; the Gonski changes, $6.5 billion a year; the assistance to childcare workers, $1.3 billion a year; the new submarines, $35 billion; the Nauru and Manus Island centres, $2.1 billion; the additional humanitarian intake, $1.3 billion a year; and then there is the dental scheme—and this is why standing orders must be suspended—some $4 billion; all absolutely, utterly and totally unfunded.

We had the Prime Minister tell us, oh so solemnly—the Prime Minister who will not even stay in this parliament to debate the economy, having demanded an economic debate earlier in question time today—'Every time we announce something we properly account for it and properly fund it.' Well, do you know what this is going to rank with? It is going to rank with: 'There will be no carbon tax—

Opposition members: under the government I lead.'

Another deception from a Prime Minister who will say and do anything to enter office and to stay in office. That is the tragedy of this country: having fibbed into office, this is a Prime Minister that will now squander this nation's fiscal inheritance to stay in office. We had the Prime Minister talking today about savings that this government has made.

We know what this government means when it talks about savings, don't we?

Opposition members: A tax!

It means a tax. That is what it means. The government talked about $100 billion of savings. At least $50 billion of that was new taxes. It talked about $33 billion of savings in this budget; half of it—$17 billion—was new taxes. The time for big-spending, big-taxing, big-fibbing government has gone. We will give the Australian people the decent government they deserve. (Time expired)

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. Standing orders must be suspended in order to get answers out of this government. I found it absolutely extraordinary: very simple questions were asked in question time; the government refused to answer them. When the Treasurer was asked whether he was going to raid the Future Fund to pay for the $120 billion of unfunded promises, he typically obfuscated. He did not obfuscate yesterday when the member for Bass asked him in the caucus whether he was going to double the Medicare levy—he said 'no'. He did not obfuscate when we asked him in this place whether he was going to support the reintroduction of death duties, which was identified by the Henry report. He said—eventually—'no'.

When we asked him today whether he was going to break open the Future Fund—the last remaining resort of funding for Australia's future—the Treasurer turned around and did not answer the question. He did not answer the question because the government is now desperate. Standard & Poor's has identified in a media report that the deficit this year is estimated to be over $20 billion. The government claims it is going to have a surplus. The Treasurer said he would have a surplus, because that helps to take some of the upward pressure off interest rates. That is why he said it was important to have a surplus.

It is not just falling revenues that make it urgent that this matter to be dealt with; it is the government's unfunded spending. To shore up the Prime Minister's leadership the government has committed to over $120 billion of new spending initiatives. We know about the deal that it is trying to reach with the missos union. We know equally that it is probably the case that the Prime Minister has been scared off giving a $1½ billion a year subsidy to private sector workers because the matter leaked from the Labor caucus yesterday. We also know that the government is going to avoid making that commitment until after MYEFO, which is expected to come out in the next few weeks. We know all of that. Why? Because we know that the carbon tax was not in the budget in 2011 and then came out only a few weeks later with a multibillion dollar deficit in the carbon tax package. We know the trickery that this government is up to. It needs to be held to account. We are trying to hold it to account.

This is an incompetent government. It is typically Labor: it is big spending, big promises, no delivery and taxpayers paying. When in Queensland and New South Wales you get a coalition government following the reckless indifference of terrible Labor governments that left a legacy of debt and deficit, this mob then shoots the ambulance driver trying to rescue the patient. That is what those opposite do. They are hypocrites. They shed crocodile tears about public servant job losses, yet the Treasurer is sacking 3,000 people this year. What a hypocrite.

We need to suspend standing orders because we and the Australian people want answers. We want answers to the questions on where the money is coming from. We want the truth about the government's plan on taxes. We know the promise that there would be 'no carbon tax under the government I lead'. How can you believe them after an election? You cannot trust Labor before an election and you sure as hell cannot trust them after an election. This is typical Labor: debt and deficit. They are recklessly indifferent to the truth. They are not being honest with the Australian people. It is reliant upon us to hold this mob to account on behalf of Australian families, on behalf of Australian small-business people, on behalf of the people who have to pay the bills for Labor's reckless spending. We want answers. We want them now. The Australian people want the truth about the $120 billion black hole.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the member for Sturt does not allow me to put the question he might not get a suspension. The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a leader who has hit a brick wall. The pugilist is out there swinging away; but they are air swings. He has not landed anything. He is like the pugilist who goes out there all macho man: swinging away but not landing a punch. Is that all you have got? After 1 July we know that that is all he has got. He comes in here and is like a robocall: press button 1, scare campaign on the carbon price and the economy; press button 2, scare campaign on asylum seekers. That is all they have got. They have no alternative agenda whatsoever. They have just the low road of fear; they do not worry about any of the facts when they go down that road.

This is a Leader of the Opposition who ran from the parliament but also runs from himself. This is a Leader of the Opposition who goes day after day without giving a press conference. He talks about accountability. This morning he gave a press conference at 6.15 am in Fyshwick.

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Competitiveness) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He hoped no-one would turn up!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was at 6.15 am. People turned up, so I suspect that tomorrow it will be at 5:30 am in Queanbeyan. And then of course when he gets a question that has a simple answer like we saw last Friday from Karen Middleton, a yes or no question, he runs from it—he runs from his own press conferences. Not as fast as a gazelle, but run nonetheless he does. But when he has to take some responsibility and show leadership as the Leader of the Opposition, we see that the leadership comes from the other side but not from this Leader of the Opposition.

We saw Malcolm Turnbull show leadership earlier today, after Cory Bernardi engaged in such a disgraceful, reprehensible attack last night. Cory Bernardi resigned; he did not apologise. The Leader of the Opposition could not bring himself to condemn the latest comments made by Senator Bernardi, who is shadow parliamentary secretary to the Leader of the Opposition. He just does not get it about respect for other people. The problems with the comments were not that they were ill-disciplined; the problem is that they were bigoted and they were disrespectful. The Leader of the Opposition should have shown leadership today.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I hesitate to interrupt the Leader of the House, but the remark he made about the Leader of the Opposition was entirely personally offensive. It was a bridge too far and he should withdraw it.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will withdraw.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Withdraw what?

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just for the convenience of the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition had 10 minutes. We stood there and listened to him and—

Opposition members: Withdraw!

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the House has the call, if he could withdraw.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not know what it is that should be withdrawn, Deputy Speaker.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will be brutally honest: I have no idea either because I could not hear over the members—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I said nothing offensive. I cannot withdraw something when I do not know what it is.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House has the call and will be heard in silence. I will review the matter later.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The fact of the matter is this. They want a debate on the economy. This economy is 11 per cent larger than when we came to office—impressive growth, a low unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Perhaps we should give the Leader of the House the benefit of the doubt, but he said that the Leader of the Opposition did not respect people, and his actions today indicate that he has deep respect for people. It was disrespectful and we are asked to withdraw things that—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. I had asked the Leader of the House to withdraw but, as neither of us had heard it, I said he would be heard now in silence and I will review the matter later.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, if it helps, I withdraw, but I do find it absolutely extraordinary that this bloke had 10 minutes to attack—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Mackellar will resume her seat.

Opposition members interjecting—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, they say he did not attack the Prime Minister!

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House has the call. He will refer to members by their title.

Opposition members interjecting—

The Leader of the House will be heard in silence, as the two previous speakers were.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition is not man enough to discipline his own side. It is as simple as that. In the meantime, we have engaged in an economic performance that is the envy of the world. You do not have to believe me; believe him because the Leader of the Opposition had this to say:

… Australia has serious bragging rights. Compared to most developed countries, our economic circumstances are enviable.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Very shortly the member for Sturt might not be here to vote.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is what he had to say in London. Yet here he comes and talks down the economy, when all the economic fundamentals show that this government has a record we can be proud of. Compared to the former government, taxes, interest rates, unemployment and inflation are today all lower—and they raise the issue of the assessments overseas—along with a AAA credit rating from all three of the world's leading ratings agencies for the first time ever. It is no wonder I have lost a bet in our tactics room because this morning what I said around the room in the Prime Minister's office was that today the Leader of the Opposition will not come back and move a suspension because they are onto him and his destructive negativity. Today they will try to put forward a policy argument, which is why we should not suspend standing orders. They are going to suspend standing orders, when their MPI has been put in by the shadow Treasurer about the same issue. So they are knocking off the MPI debate, moving it forward, in order to have the same debate twice. This morning the Treasurer was right. The Treasurer said to me, 'No, he can't help himself; he'll go down the destructive, negative road.' What we have seen today is just that.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Big brave Wayne sitting there in the chair.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wannon is warned!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In spite of the advice they have got:

Abbott told, 'We want policy, not negativity'—

That is what they have said in the party room:

We need to be balancing the negative stuff more and looking at greater fleshing out of policy,' a member of the opposition said.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Who said?

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sturt will leave the chamber under 94(a). I gave him plenty of warning.

The member for Sturt then left the chamber.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I suspect it might have been one of the backbenchers up there who said:

There's a lot of passengers in quite a lot of senior positions, said one MP backing a reshuffle.

And indeed there are. Not only does this Leader of the Opposition not have a plan for Australia's future; he has not even had a plan for a three-year term in opposition. Every day he has engaged in a strategy which is based upon the election being called tomorrow. That is why he has not put forward constructive suggestions. That is why 407 pieces of legislation have been carried in this parliament. Not only have the opposition failed to knock one off but they have failed even to get an amendment up without the government's support. Here in this parliament, one in which the crossbenchers have a particularly critical role to play, the opposition have not even been able to achieve that.

The words of Robert Menzies were right. He said:

… on far too many questions we have found our role to be simply that of the man who says ‘No’ … There is no room in Australia for a party of reaction. There is no useful place for a policy of negation.

That is what we are seeing and that is why this Leader of the Opposition is the most unpopular Leader of the Opposition in Australia's history. (Time expired)

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the Leader of the Opposition's motion be agreed to.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.