Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Business Council of Australia's CEO, Jennifer Westacott, has described the government's decision to leave Australians under 30 who cannot find a job with nothing to live on for six months as too tough. Why is the Prime Minister forcing young people into a life of poverty to pay for his deceit?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The budget that was brought down earlier this week is a very important budget for the future of our country. It is designed to create a culture of enterprise. It is designed to ensure that we are not focusing on what people cannot do but on what people can do. Now, the shadow minister obviously was not listening to the very good answer on this very topic that has just been provided by the Minister for Social Services, but I want to say that the—

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Madam Speaker—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Gorton has the call—on a point of order?

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, on relevance. Don't those young people who will actually have nothing from this government—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is not the time for argument.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

will be getting nothing from this government deserve a Prime Minister—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

who will give a relevant answer?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has the call.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We believe that work-ready youngsters, work-capable youngsters, ought to be either learning or earning; and, as a result of this budget, those who are not working for a wage will have far more opportunity to learn a skill, to go to university, to go to TAFE, because this government is giving them far more opportunity to do so. I believe that this budget embodies the great aspirations of the Australian people, and at the very heart of our national character are two things: first of all, the desire to extend to the more vulnerable members of our community a fair go. This budget absolutely protects the fair-go principle which is so important in this country of ours that we love. Australians also expect the people who can to have a go. That is what this is all about. Those who are not capable of working will continue to be protected, but those who are capable of working will be expected to have a go. They will be expected to be either earning or learning—and that is the way it ought to be.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. Could the minister update the House on budget measures to improve Australia's research capacity?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Brisbane, who is the local member for some of the finest medical research institutes in the country. She is a passionate supporter at a personal level of many medical research causes, as many Australians are. We contribute to medical research because we have a mature model with the world's best researchers. We have amazing institutes. We have universities and other clinical settings that deserve the support of their government.

I believe that one of the proudest achievements of this budget is the creation of the $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund. There are a couple of important aspects to it. One is that we will protect the capital into perpetuity. We will stop any future Labor government from raiding that fund, which is incredibly important because we know that the Labor Party have never seen a dollar that they did not want to spend. We also want to make sure that as the capital is protected we can spend down the earnings, which will mean by 2015-16 we will increase the money that we are already spending in medical research by about $20 million and by 2022 that figure will grow to over $1 billion. With that money we will help the best researchers in the world find the cures and discoveries that will be needed with the ageing of our population.

We know in our country already that treatment for diseases of the brain, rare cancers and coronary disease needs extra support. If we are to have a sustainable health system going forward we have to put extra money into research so that not only can we extend our life expectancy but we can improve our way of life in this country. This government is absolutely determined to make sure that we can grow that investment.

I want to turn to a couple of comments that have been made by people who know a lot about medical research. Professor Frank Gannon, who is the QIMR Berghofer director, said:

This is an extraordinary investment in our health, and an emphatic declaration about the importance of medical research to Australia’s future health and prosperity.

He went on to say:

It is a landmark initiative in the history of medical research in Australia.

We are going to fund this research capital fund in part by introducing a $7 co-payment which will allow $5 to go into the medical research fund and $2 to go towards a GP. Importantly, we will maintain bulk-billing in this country, but we will make the health system sustainable as we go forward. This Leader of the Opposition may be a former leader of the ACTU, just like Bob Hawke, but this bloke is no Bob Hawke.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. This morning John Howard admitted that there were tax rises in the Prime Minister's budget. Just minutes ago, the Leader of the Government in the Senate described the difference between tax rises and levies as semantics. Will the Prime Minister now have the gumption, moral courage and honesty to admit that his budget contains tax rises? Will the Prime Minister now apologise to Australians for breaking the promises he made before the election?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to respond to the confected indignation, based on selective memory, of the Leader of the Opposition. As I said in this chamber yesterday, yes, for three years there will be an increase in the top marginal rate of tax that will impact on three per cent of taxpayers. Yes, there is fuel excise indexation. In the first year that means about 40c a week for the average family. But, overall, the decisions made by this government reduce the tax burden by $5.7 billion.

If the Leader of the Opposition is as concerned as he says he is about commitments and getting tax down, there is a simple thing he can announce tonight—that he is going to help this parliament repeal the carbon tax. That is the challenge that I extend to this Leader of the Opposition: repeal the carbon tax. If you are fair dinkum about giving families a break, repeal the carbon tax tonight and give families of Australia a $550-a-year tax break.

This government have been honest and upfront with the Australian people with a budget that accepts that there are no soft options anymore. We have accepted that there are no soft options anymore, but we are going to hear from the Leader of the Opposition more soft options, more cop-outs and more borrow-and-spend policies. We have put before the people of Australia a comprehensive plan to clean up Labor's debt and deficit disaster. We have put forward our plan to clean up Labor’s mess. What we now need from the Leader of the Opposition is his plan to clean up the mess that he created.