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

I have received a letter from the honourable the Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The need for the Prime Minister to urgently reconsider his unfair budget that will hurt Australian families into the future.

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

The 2014 Abbott budget is the most unfair attack on Australian families in living memory. This budget goes too far and Labor will continue to oppose this budget's unfair measures, because they hurt the future of Australian families. We will fight this budget because of its bad policies, its unfair outcomes and its bleak vision for the future of Australia. The Australian people have learned two things since the budget. One, it has been a dreadful 23 days for this divided government, obsessed with the wrong priorities and addicted to telling lies. Two, more importantly, it has been a worse 23 days for Australian families as we have learned the shocking details of this budget.

The government accuses Labor of trying to frighten Australians. We are merely telling the Australian people the truth. It is the truth in itself that is frightening. This is a government with a very narrow view of society and a narrow view of our obligation to look after one another. Unless key parts of this iniquitous budget are struck down, Australian families in the future will have to work longer and harder just to keep up. This budget does make it harder for families to pay the mortgage, to pay the utilities, to fill up the car, to make ends meet to go to the doctor. It will cost families more to look after older members of the family who will be denied a decent pension and a secure retirement. It will cost families more to support their adult children who cannot find work and receive nothing from the government. It will cost families much more to pay the taxes for the emergency services to help those who have no families to fall back on. And the states will most definitely be blackmailed into increasing the GST and broadening its base.

The stability of Australian families will be jeopardised by the Abbott Liberal government's assault on fairness. This parliament needs to jealously guard fairness in Australia. Fairness is the soil in which grows Australian wealth, Australian success, Australian safety and Australian community. We are indeed a wealthy and stable society because we encourage growth on one hand whilst looking after the less well off on the other. We are amongst the richest nations in the world. Our gross domestic product is an outstanding $1.55 trillion but this budget selfishly demands that the heaviest lifting is done by our poorest citizens. Under this budget, a single parent on $55,000 a year will lose about 10.5 per cent of their disposable income as a result of cuts and increased medical costs. Yet someone on half a million dollars will lose just over two per cent of their disposable income. Liberal priorities: tax the poor and don't worry about doing anything to anyone else. For every dollar that the single parent gives up, the person on half a million dollars chips in 20c. That is right: for every dollar that a single parent will give up, the person on $500,000 will chip in 20c. By 2017-18, the single parent will be losing around $120 per week—11.5 per cent of their family budget. But the millionaire will no longer be paying a single extra cent. They will be back to their pre-budget position.

The Minister for Education is driving up fees and putting university beyond the dreams and hopes of Australian families. This minister's plan to increase the debt of students will hurt Australians for decades. Universities know this. Ross Milbourne, vice-chancellor of UTS said, 'I don't think any vice-chancellor supports the moves to increase the debt. Deakin University vice-chancellor Jane den Hollander called the changes 'punitive and unfair'.

Universities Australia modelling reveals that the debts for engineering and nursing students will take an extra 15 years to pay off. It could take engineers up to 33 years to clear their HECS debt. It has been revealed that women will be the most affected by these changes. The NTEU has reported that the new arrangements have a built-in bias against graduates with carer responsibilities, which will mainly be women. The total repayments in an accounting degree will grow to $120,000 in today's dollars, including $45,000 for interest. That will be the case for graduates who have to take time off to start and raise a family. The degree will now take up to 36 years to pay off, compared with 10 years for a typical graduate today.

This Minister for Education chooses to employ a dangerous, community-dividing dog whistle. He says, 'Why should 60 per cent of Australians who do not go to university support the 40 per cent who do?' Minister, education is a public investment in the future of our country. It is not solely a private benefit.

We know about the damage of the GP tax. It does not deliver a single dollar to recurrent health funding, not a single dollar. It will turn GPs into tax collectors. Brian Owler, the new AMA President, has warned that it will put our front-line doctors under pressure to deliver four-minute medicine. And for what? A rushed medical research fund. We found out this week that the Department of Health has not provided any advice on the structure of a $20 billion fund. AAMRI was not consulted. The chair of the CSIRO board was not consulted. The Chief Scientist was not consulted. The department found out about this thought bubble only weeks before the budget. And there is no guarantee that the fund will not rob money from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

The government say they believe in science. They boast about helping to find a cure for cancer. Do not patronise Australians, do not damage science and do not make the sick of today pay for the research funds for tomorrow. Indeed, Australians already pay for their Medicare. We keep hearing from the so-called Minister for Health that medicine is not free. Australians know that, you arrogant fellow. That is why they pay their Medicare levy already. Australians already pay 12 per cent in terms of co-payment—

Ms O'Dwyer interjecting—

Well, he is an arrogant fellow, Member for Higgins. You could probably do a better job—perhaps. The OECD already shows that we are only second or third behind Switzerland and the United States in what consumers have to pay now. We do not need to go down this path.

Then we have the poor old pensioners. Weren't they misled and lead up the garden path by this dreadful Prime Minister? The cat got out of the bag last night. Senator Fifield, the minister, said of the change in indexation, 'It has been put in place in an effort to slow the rate of pension increase'—a deliberate and calculated cut. The department confirmed the bad news last night to all Australians. Some 530,000 additional pensioners will have their pensions cut. I bet those brave members opposite in this government will not be giving that number out to their constituents in the parliamentary break. Then there is the $65 million cut to war pensions—a disgrace from a party that so loves to wrap itself in the flag of patriotism.

Mr Robert interjecting—

The minister opposite says, 'Spare them.' You should spare the veterans of Australia. The Prime Minister said before the election:

If it’s inadequate to lift Centrelink pensions just by the consumer price index, it’s even less fair to apply only that index to those who have risked their lives for our country.

We know what a Tony Abbott election promise is worth—nothing, zero, zilch, nada. So in conclusion—

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish you would.

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

You can get up and speak any time you want, Member for Bennelong. Have a go. Australia has a choice. We could choose the Liberal's bleak and narrow view—the meaner, colder, crueller and more expensive country beloved of conservatives—but Labor believe this country can do better. We remain convinced and dedicated to the proposition that fairness is still the most sensible, pragmatic and decent path to a bright future. Despite their woeful unfair budget, their contradictory answers, their infighting and their broken promises, the Liberal Party of Australia and the ventriloquist dummies of Australian politics, the National Party, say to Labor, 'What is your answer?' Here again is our answer, and you will hear it every day for the next two years. We still believe in fairness. We believe a budget can be fair and sustainable. We believe in universal quality health care, a great education, a decent pension and world-leading superannuation.

I note the Prime Minister is going to visit the United States next week. While he is there I urge him to reflect on the wise words of Martin Luther King:

In the final analysis, the rich must not ignore the poor because both rich and poor are tied in a single garment of destiny. All life is interrelated, and all men are interdependent. The agony of the poor diminishes the rich, and the salvation of the poor enlarges the rich. We are inevitably our brothers' keeper …

Labor will hold true to that wisdom.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ventriloquist dummies? The opposition leader is leaving the chamber. He should stay and listen. Ventriloquist dummies? That is the pot calling the kettle black if ever I heard it. He is leaving the chamber. He should stay and listen. I do not think too many of his frontbench actually were listening when he was reading his prepared speech. I know because—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I do not think we have got the clock going at the moment.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can start again if you like, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Riverina has the call.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was referring to the fact that the pot was calling the kettle black. Certainly it is a bit rich for the opposition leader, the member for Maribyrnong, to call anybody a ventriloquist dummy. The Australian public have not forgotten his mob. They have not forgotten, and they will not forget when the next election comes around, the six years of waste, mismanagement and total incompetence.

Mr Thistlethwaite interjecting—

The member for Kingsford Smith is yelling out something in favour of his leader. He could do a lot better job, because the Leader of the Opposition is not listening, and his frontbench were not listening to him either. But I was listening in question time. I heard the member for North Sydney, the Treasurer, talking about 106,000 jobs in four months created under the coalition. I heard the member for New England, the Minister for Agriculture, talk about the fact that it was Labor that wanted to put a 6.85 per cent increase on the price of diesel

I heard the member for Curtin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, talk about the fact that, under our policies, the live cattle trade has been reignited and 230,000 head of cattle have been shipped to Indonesia. That is of the 585,000 head of cattle that have been moved since we took back office.

I heard the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the member for Cook, talk about 168 days without a boat—and 100 days without a question from the member for McMahon. No wonder the member for McMahon, the shadow minister, does not want to get up and ask the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection a question. He is embarrassed about the fact that, under his watch and under Labor's six years, 55,000 people came to these shores unauthorised and they are currently in detention centres—mind you, nine of which we have closed under our policies because the boats have stopped. Each and everyone of those 55,000 people cost taxpayers, cost the public purse, $170,000 to process. It is just a disgrace. Under our policies, we are saving people's lives. We have stopped the boats and we are saving people's lives.

We also heard the Treasurer talk about the billion dollars of interest that is being racked up each and every month because of the interest bill on the debt and deficit left by that fellow over there, the member for Lilley. I might read from his 2012-13 budget speech. Member for Lilley, I hope you are listening. He began:

The four years of surpluses I announce tonight are a powerful endorsement of the strength of our economy, resilience of our people, and success—

success?—

of our policies.

Have you ever? He pretends not to listen. He went on to say:

In an uncertain and fast changing world, we walk tall—as a nation confidently living within its means.

Have you ever—'living within its means'!

That is what our budget is getting on with the job of doing. We are going to live within our means. Under the member for Lilley, we certainly did not live within our means. We just maxed out the credit card each and every day, each and every week and each and every month under his stewardship as Treasurer of this country. Our future generations are going to being paying dearly for the mess that he left us, the mess that Labor left us. But we are getting on with the job, because we now have a responsible Treasurer and we have people on this side of the House who know business and understand that you cannot spend more money than you earn. How many of you people have actually been in a small business, a farm or—

Government members interjecting—

Exactly; we see lots of raised hands. How many people on the opposite side have? None; nobody put up their hand. I am not the first person to ask that question. The Treasurer did and he got the same sort of response, because they do not understand business.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What was the question?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A lot of them are union hacks. I can hear the shadow minister for agriculture—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The parliamentary secretary will resume his seat. Does the member for Hunter have a point of order?

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am giving him the opportunity to—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No. That is grossly disorderly.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What was the question?

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You will get an early leave pass very shortly if you interrupt like that again.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Hunter is embarrassed, because he probably read, as I did, the Australian of 2 June where it said 'Coalition cuts water buybacks'—and we have—'Labor accused of spending $1.5 billion on projects that didn't help Murray flows'. It was all about the environment, wasn't it, Member for Hunter? It was all about putting money into bureaucracy and spending money on everything bar helping those people who grow food and fibre, helping those people who you should have been getting in and assisting by insisting that your two Prime Ministers help them. Actually we had three, I suppose—three different sorts of Prime Ministers but two different people. It was just shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Under Labor we spent far too much money on bureaucracy, far too much money on water buybacks—taking water out of those valuable irrigation communities—far too much money on health bureaucracy and far too much waste. We could talk about pink batts and overpriced school halls, but we are not going to. We are going to be positive. We are going to talk about this budget being a key component of the Abbott government's economic action strategy, which will build a strong, prosperous economy and a safe, secure Australia. That is the job that we are getting on with doing.

The infrastructure growth package takes the government's transport investment to $50 billion by 2019-20. As a result, total infrastructure investment from Commonwealth, state and local governments as well as the private sector will build to more than $125 billion by 2019-20. That is a great investment in Australia. We have the infrastructure Prime Minister. We have got 'Australia open for business'. Andrew Robb, the Minister for Trade and Investment, was out forging key preferential trade negotiations with Korea and Japan. That would not have happened under Labor.

The government is creating the world's largest medical research endowment fund—a $20 million Medical Research Future Fund. Contributions to the fund are coming from a new patient contribution to health services and from other health savings. We have to get on with the job of making some savings, because of the mess we were left by your mob—the debt we were left by Labor. This endowment fund, when mature, will double current direct medical research funding with an additional $1 billion a year. And who knows what sort of great medical research will come from that.

Young people with a work capacity will be required to be earning, learning or participating in Work for the Dole. There is nothing wrong with that. People cannot expect to just keep getting a government cheque. They cannot expect to just keep getting money which is actually coming out of the pockets of other Australian taxpayers. The buck has to stop. It stopped on 13 May when the member for North Sydney, the Treasurer, brought down his budget.

Businesses will receive up to $10,000 for employing workers older than 50—that is a good initiative—who have been on income support for six months or more, meaning that there will be stronger incentives to hire older workers. We are getting on with the job of giving people incentives to work. We are getting on with the job of making sure people either learn or they earn.

The government will reform the age pension to make it sustainable. We have to make our country sustainable. Our health system has to be sustainable. We are getting on with the job of making Australia a fairer, stronger nation—we have to.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Fairer?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, fairer. I will take the interjection—absolutely fairer. It is not fair to keep taking money away from some Australians and giving it to others. Some Australians who want to work—who are just yearning for the capacity to get a job—are getting a job. Under the coalition, 106,000 jobs have been created in just a few months. We are getting on with the job of making Australia work again. More importantly, we are paying down the debt, the $667 billion debt which Labor left unchecked. Labor, quite frankly, in six years, lived beyond its means. Labor had no plan for agriculture, no plan to stop the boats and no plan to pay down the debt. We are getting on with the job. We are providing hope, we are providing reward, we are providing opportunity, we are getting Australia working again and we are doing it in a measured, sensible way. The people of Australia know that the sensible people are in charge and they will vote for us at the next election.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today we see that the Liberal Party of Australia have not only deceived the people of Australia but they have also deceived their so-called coalition partners, the National Party, by deliberately lying to them regarding the role of the diesel rebate in the budget. The Liberal Party have, once again, wiped their feet on the doormats of Australian politics—the National Party. For those over there from the National Party, do not worry; you are not alone. There are millions of Australians who know how you feel, who know what it is like to be deceived by the Abbott government, who know what it is like to be lied to about the budget by Liberal Party members. You are not alone and what of loyal bunch the National Party are to their coalition partners who deliberately deceived them on a very important issue—the diesel fuel rebate.

This budget is a fundamental breach of trust and commitment to the people of Australia. Those opposite claim that there is a budget emergency. They went to this budget claiming that Australia was in an emergency fiscal situation and what did we find yesterday when the national accounts were released? That Australia is growing at 3½ per cent, that unemployment is relatively low, that interest rates are low and that Australia has one of the lowest debt levels in the OECD—the envy of many developed countries and testament, I might add, to the fine job the Australian Labor Party did in difficult circumstances in managing our economy.

I ask the people of Australia: how on earth does a nation get a AAA credit rating from three ratings agencies, one of only 10 nations throughout the world to do so, when you have a budget emergency? How on earth do you say to the debt ratings agencies, 'We should get a AAA credit rating but, by the way, we have a budget emergency.' You would not find one of those other 10 nations with a AAA credit rating claiming that they have a budget emergency. The government have misled the Australian public regarding the state of our nation's finances. They have compounded this mistrust by breaking their election commitments. It was the Prime Minister who said a couple of days before the election, 'No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no changes to pensions and no cuts to the ABC and SBS.' They have broken every single one of those commitments and more in the name of a fake budget emergency. This is the act of an immoral, deceitful, duplicitous and we now know divided government.

I must take issue with the previous member's comment that none on this side has ever worked in small business. I point to the member for Hunter, who ran his own small business as a tradesman for 10 years. He is a fine example of a Labor country MP who stands up in this parliament for country people and for country businesses. Not only is this budget duplicitous; it is also unfair. The burden will be felt by those most vulnerable in our community— pensioners and those on fixed incomes, their purchasing power reduced because of this budget. They are forced to pay $7 every time they visit the GP.

Military pensions: it is wonderful see the member for Fadden here. What a fine job he is doing standing up from military pensioners! The Assistant Minister for Defence is standing up for Australian veterans and letting this go through in the budget. They are making life harder for families, making them pay more for petrol. The schoolkids bonus is being cut and single parents will have family tax benefit B cut once their child turns six. Pressure on cost of living is going to increase because of this budget and this government. In education, from kindy to Professor we have seen cuts in support for education from this government, making it harder for our kids to get an education, making us a regressive nation when it comes to education.

In early childhood development they are reducing standards, cutting standards and making it more difficult for parents to get their kids into preschool. In schools they have blown the Gonski reforms to smithereens. They have absolutely decimated the Gonski reforms and completely ignored the needs of our kids, particularly those in public schools. And the lowest of low acts is cutting funding to our schools for kids with disabilities, cutting support for kids with disabilities. I do not know how any of those on the other side could vote for an act such as that. They are making universities unaffordable for the poor. Even in overseas development aid we have seen cuts. I want to finish with this quote from the foreign minister of the Marshall Islands who said:

Australia has always been our friend, but the change in their government last year has resulted in problems.

(Time expired)

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you believed anything of what you just heard then you would be of the view that there is some great real estate available in some of the shonkiest places on the planet because, quite frankly, what we just heard was a narrative from the Australian Labor Party that has absolutely no connection whatsoever to the truth. I noticed that the MPI today talks about how the budget 'will hurt Australian families into the future'. Of all the interest to use, how extraordinary that they would use the anchor of the future because the one inescapable fact about six years of the Australian Labor Party is that there is one thing Labor clearly cared naught for and that is the future because six years of Labor policy underscored an approach that was all about the now. If the Labor Party truly cared for the future, they would not have allowed a situation to arise where they racked up $300 billion debt and were forecast to reach $667 billion of debt. Do you know who pays all of that off? The next generation of Australians. It is the Aussie kids of today. It is the kids sitting up there in the public galleries who will be paying off that debt for the next 20 or 30 years. I know that when I went to Building the Education Revolution openings, which the Labor Party used to trumpet about—and I am sure that there were coalition members who went along to their local schools—and saw the puffed-up chests on Labor senators who were saying, saying, 'Look at this majestic vision we are delivering for you Aussie kids.' I used to say to them that I hoped they derived benefit from those school halls. Sure, they may have paid twice what they were worth. Sure, it may not have been something that the school community actually wanted, but I genuinely and sincerely hoped that the children that were assembled there in the school hall actually got benefit from it. The reason I wanted them to get benefit from it is because those same kids will be paying that school hall off for the next 20 or 30 years.

So we on this side of the House do not need to be lectured to about the future by the Australian Labor Party. We on this side of the House are the defenders of the future. We on this side of the House are the people that are standing up for the next generation of Australians that will be paying back Labor's debt for 20 or 30 years. That is the reason why as members of the coalition we will always stand steadfast about the fact that we want the next generation of Australians to inherit a country that is in a better position than what we were. Only the Australian Labor Party would have the hide, the hypocrisy, the audacity to be handed the reins of government with no net debt and actually $50 billion of savings, and then hand it back six years later with a forecast gross debt of $667 billion.

Only the Australian Labor Party would come into the chamber and talk about education and say that education has been cut under the coalition. The simple fact is that if you look at the actual forward estimates, if you look at education funding over the next four years, the coalition is putting $1.2 billion extra into education funding—$1.2 billion extra of education funding under the coalition. But if you were to listen to the contribution from the previous Labor member you would think that there was a cut. They stand there and they say it with sincerity. They stand at the dispatch box and they expect Australians to believe them. But there is no cut to education funding. Education funding in the budget papers, as a matter of fact, is going up by $1.2 billion. Members here on this side of the House from Queensland and from Western Australia know very well that those two states were going to have hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for education ripped out of them. That is what was in the budget papers.

So we do not need to be lectured to by the Australian Labor Party about the future, because we will deal with facts about extra funding for education. We will deal with facts about how the debt is going to be $300 billion less as a result of reforms that we are making. We know that we will leave a better Australia tomorrow for Aussie kids than the Labor Party did after six years.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance, to reconsider this unfair budget that will hurt Australian families into the future. I am pleased to be following the member for Moncrieff. As many people know, his seat is just up the road from mine on the Gold Coast—my seat is on the border of New South Wales—and so I am happy to present him with some facts now.

I have been inundated with people from his electorate concerned about the impact of the budget. That is the reality and the facts that he should take on board about things like the education cuts, which are real. I can assure you that people from his electorate and those other electorates on the Gold Coast are very worried, so much so that many of them are coming to a rally I am holding next Thursday—and I will give you some more detail in relation to that later on. Locals in my electorate, and I think right throughout Australia, are really concerned about this budget of broken promises, its cruel cuts and unfair increases and its increases in the cost of living as well.

People feel so betrayed by this government because, of course, before the election we had the Prime Minister and the Liberals and the Nationals running around, saying: no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to the pension, no cuts to family payments. And what have we seen since then? We have seen cuts to all of those areas that are devastating families. I speak to families every day that are so worried about the impact of the unfair and cruel cuts that they see. There are pensioners as well who are devastated and really worried. The facts are that this budget means that families pay more every time they go to the doctor, and every time they fill up the car they pay more. They feel betrayed. In areas like mine in regional Australia they feel betrayed by the National Party. One of the things that they really feel betrayed about is the National Party petrol tax—and we will get to that one of the moment.

I mentioned before about the public rally I am having, Fighting for a Fair Go for the North Coast. It is on Thursday, 12 June at 10 o'clock at the Tweed Civic Centre. As I say, I have been inundated by people from seats over the border, like Moncrieff, that are very keen to come over and express how concerned they are about this unfair budget.

Let us look at some of the facts surrounding this budget. We go to health first. There is a $50 billion cut to Australia's public hospitals. That will be devastating for hospitals right across the nation in providing necessary health services. As for the GP tax, that $7 GP tax is terrifying people, terrifying families—

Mr Hutchinson interjecting—

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, on a point of order, I would ask the member to withdraw that.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member has withdrawn. The member for Richmond has the call.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. So we have the GP tax. It is absolutely devastating families and they are terrified of what that is going to mean if they have got a number of sick children and they have to see the GP and they have to get blood tests done as well. Elderly people as well are very worried. On top of that, the $50 billion cut to hospitals is going to have a huge impact upon those people. Another thing of course are the cuts to family payments, freezing the family tax benefits and cutting the family tax benefit B. Families are terrified in relation to what that is going to mean for the family budget.

Mr Hutchinson interjecting—

But let us get to the petrol tax, the National Party petrol tax. You go out to regional Australia and tell them what you are doing. We heard a lot today in question time about the National Party being duped by the Liberal Party, which was really no surprise to anybody, but the fact is that at the end of the day you own this petrol tax. So you go out into the streets in regional and rural Australia and you tell them about the National Party petrol tax. I can tell you that in areas like mine and other regional areas they are really angry about it. In regional areas you have got to travel further to get somewhere and therefore you are going to pay more in petrol tax. Do you understand that? Can you get that? That is the reality of the National Party's petrol tax.

But, on top of that, some of the other cuts in this budget will really impact families. Look at the education cuts: $30 billion—horrendous in terms of the impact on families. And of course many families are also worried about what is happening in terms of universities and deregulating university fees. That means that their children cannot go to university, full stop, thanks to you. We have heard some of the figures about how university fees are going to skyrocket. That will be your legacy, each and every one of you. That will be your legacy to—

Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a new benchmark.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, exactly, especially to regional and rural seats. Those kids will not be able to get there. But at the end of the day it is absolutely appalling—the cuts that you have brought in and all the broken promises. Cuts to pensions are just outrageous in terms of the family budget and how they are going to be able to cope. At the end of the day, you should all be very, very ashamed of what this will mean for families—

Mr Hutchinson interjecting—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Lyons! The member for Richmond has the call—but you might refer your comments through me, not at me, please.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr Deputy Speaker. This budget will be devastating for families, for pensioners, for people right throughout this nation. Of course, for electorates like mine in regional Australia, I think it is even more devastating. These people are terrified. They are terrified because of what you have done to their cost of living. They are terrified because they cannot afford to go to the doctor. It is devastating. (Time expired)

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If Australians do not like this budget, they know where the blame lies. The blame lies on those benches over there. The blame lies with the party that would leave Australia borrowing a billion dollars a month from overseas to pay for their wastage, their absolute dereliction of duty for the six years they were in government. That is where the blame lies. So, if Australians do not like the budget, they need to look to that side of the House. After their leaving debt and disaster, we have to borrow every day.

I listened to the Leader of the Opposition. Let me say that I do not think the Leader of the Opposition is a bad bloke. I think that in fact he is quite a smart gentlemen as well, and I think he knows much, much better than the line, the direction, in which he is leading his party at the moment.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Lyons on a point of order?

Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just want a clarification. This is a matter of public importance, Deputy Speaker?

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it is.

Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are only two on the other side, Deputy Speaker.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, there is no point of order.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was saying that the Leader of the Opposition knows that the Medicare system, which 10 years ago was costing $8 billion a year to run, this year is costing $19 billion and in another 10 years will cost $34 billion a year to run. He knows that that is unsustainable. The Leader of the Opposition knows that—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Do we have the clock going? Can we reset it at whatever time was left, please.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was wondering how I was going to get through all the material! He knows—

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It will be altered, but just keep an eye on the clock. I call the member for Grey.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do you want me to start again?

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No. You have got three minutes 59.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker; you are most generous! He knows that the $80 billion that those from the opposition benches and the states now say is being removed from education and from health was never there. It was a mirage. He knows that the pension system, which has 4½ workers today paying tax to pay for each person on welfare, in 2050 will only have 2½ workers paying that welfare bill. He knows that that is unsustainable. He also well knows that the university system, the higher education system, relies so heavily on overseas students, full-fee-paying students, to pay their bills. He knows that we cannot afford for our universities to slip any further down the pecking order.

And do you know what, Mr Deputy Speaker? The public knows it too. While there have been complaints to my office about the budget—and I have been able to put a lot of people straight because there is a lot of scaremongering out there—it is remarkable the number of people who say to me: 'Look, I don't particularly like this; I don't particularly like that, but I know you blokes have got to do something. I know you've got to do something.' And I think that the Leader of the Opposition knows that as well.

I represent regional Australia. It is not all represented by National Party members, I must say. Let me tell you: the people of regional Australia and rural Australia know that, if the answer is Labor or Greens—guess what?—they asked the wrong question. It has always been the way and it will always be the way because the Labor Party in this place do not represent regional Australia. They do not understand regional Australia, and—guess what?—they do not particularly like regional Australia either.

That team on the other side were the people who delivered the live export disaster to Australian farmers. We are just recovering now, and there was great news from the Minister for Agriculture in this place today. They are the team that, while they talk about the smart country, do not understand that modern agribusiness relies on modern communications. In six years they did not contribute to one mobile phone tower in Australia. They are the team that took $2 billion away from the telecommunications fund when they arrived in government and sunk it into the NBN. And, when I say 'sunk it', I mean they sunk it. They paid out $7 billion, mostly in executive fees, to hook up about 200,000 people. But they took away that fund that was supposed to be set in perpetuity to fund the rollout in regional Australia of telecommunications in years to come.

And then of course today we heard the bleating on about the fuel tax. There are not any easy answers in the budget, and I am sure the smart members of the ALP know that a tax that is stalled and is stalled forever eventually becomes an irrelevant tax. I will have more to say about that fuel tax when that bill comes before the parliament because I have a lot of thoughts in that area. But their telling us that a one cent rise in petrol is a great worry to country citizens when from 1 July under their legislation we will see a 6½c rise in the price of transport fuels in regional Australia—that would really hurt—just means that they are speaking with no credibility at all. They do not represent regional Australia. This side of the parliament does.

Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This budget is unfair. It is unfair because of the impacts it has on particular elements of Australian society. I want to focus on a couple of those today. It is unfair because of the impact it will have on their standard of living over time. And it is unfair because the nature of what is being said by the other side does not fully ensure that people understand the impact of the changes that they are making. When comments are made about cuts, and when we talk about cuts to pensions, the cry from the other side is: 'There are no cuts to pensions. Pensions will increase. They will increase every six months.'

Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's true!

Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But those on the other side who are actually literate—and I count the member for Hindmarsh among them, just—understand the question of male total average weekly earnings versus CPI and the impact the changes to indexation will have on the growth in pensions over time. We will see a cut in the value of the pension compared to what it was going to be in time, as a result of those changes to indexation.

If we go back, the last change was the first one in more than 10 years where CPI was the actual headline figure that came into effect. The bottom line is: their own budget papers make it absolutely clear that hundreds of millions of dollars have been cut from the forward estimates with respect to pension expenditure in the out years. There is absolutely no doubt about that. The estimations, if we go on previous movements with respect to MTAWE versus CPI, are quite devastating to pensioners in this country. If this indexation system had been in place for the last four years, a single pensioner on the maximum rate of pension would be more than $1,500 worse off every year. This gap would continue to increase every six months. That is what is going to happen.

I want to highlight a particular issue in relation to the veterans community in this space. Just a few weeks ago, the parliament passed legislation for 'fair indexation' of some military pensions, DFRDB and DFRB. I note at least one former shadow minister here in the chamber, and I know that she understands what I am talking about here. Many on the other side of the aisle carried on about the fact that this was a matter of justice, a matter of fairness, a matter of equity, ensuring that there was a fair indexation system which maximised the value of the payments to those who had served our country. It was a long debate. There was a lot of discussion about it. There was quite a bit of disagreement. There were times when the other side refused to do it and there were certainly times when we did. But at the end of the day they did it. Some on the other side of the chamber carried on about the fact that this was about fairness and equity, and it became an attack on us.

The interesting thing now is, when you implement this budget in full, and the changes that are outlined in it—understand this, members of the government—you will have about 56,000 people who are DFRDB and DFRB pensioners who are being indexed to MTAWE versus CPI, who have what you said was a fair indexation system, and you will have hundreds of thousands of pensioners who are on CPI. Not only that; you will have hundreds of thousands of war veterans and widows on CPI. You are going to improve the indexation for their superannuation payment, the top-up payment, for some of them, while at the same time taking money off the very people you are giving that to. You will be giving TPIs a bigger cut in what their payments would have been, on the basis of that indexation change. You will be cutting service pensioners to a very similar level.

In those circumstances, I want to see how you justify that out there in the veterans community. I want to see how you justify that out there amongst the people who gave so much for this nation. When you do, I want you to make sure you tell DFRDB and DFRB pensioners: 'It's okay. We changed everybody else, but we won't change you. You're okay. We gave a guarantee.' Well, you did not give a guarantee to everybody else. You did not give a guarantee to them, and now you have changed it. You now have a massive contradiction with respect to what you said was fair just a matter of days ago and what you are now threatening to implement for everyone else, every other senior in this country, including many who have grievously suffered as a result of their wounds.

I look forward to that debate occurring out there in the veterans community and in the wider community around superannuants and around those in the age pension sector, because you have created a problem for this country, a problem for those people who rely on those benefits to maintain their standard of living. It is a problem which will haunt you from now on until well beyond the next election.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the member for Bruce that it will not be me. He referred to 'you' repeatedly. It is a problem on both sides of the chamber yet again.

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak on this MPI, focusing as it does on the incredibly clear contrast between those opposite—all three of them who are here with us this afternoon—and the members of the government. It is important that we are fair to those opposite. It certainly has been the case in recent times that all we hear from those opposite is negativity, complaining and just whingeing, basically. So you could be excused for thinking that there was no strategy at all over on the other side, and no real philosophy. But there is. There is a very, very clear approach to government on the other side, and their views on how things should be conducted. It is really just three words: spend more money. That is always their view: spend more money.

In 2007 they came into government, kicked off the spendathon and off they went. They were very, very hard to constrain during that period, because government spending went up by 50 per cent in six years. That is a massive rate of growth. There are businesses all around Australia which would be thrilled and delighted if they were able to have that sort of revenue growth in a near-six-year period. The Labor Party had $50 billion in the bank when they came in and $200 billion of debt when they left—heading down the track, incredibly, towards two-thirds of a trillion dollars in debt within a decade. That is trillion with a T. That is not a word we are used to using in Australia very much. It is not the EU. It is not China. It is not the United States. This is Australia. But the path that those opposite—and there is now only one of them still with us—were on was a path towards two-thirds of a trillion dollars of debt; just unbelievable.

They were not content with what they did in those six years. What they decided to do after that was lock in, in their numbers, the fastest rate of growth in the OECD for the next six years. Not content to grow it at 50 per cent for the six years they were in government, they said, 'Let's lock in dramatically higher rates of spending from 2012 to 2018.' They never saw a government-spending program that they did not like! There are so many examples.

We have talked about the NBN many times. It is remarkable, knowing what we now know about the NBN—from $4.7 billion of government investment, then to $43 billion. We now know that it was on track to be $72 billion. It is fascinating, because the member for Lilley, in 2009, at the time of the grave announcement of the NBN, encouraged Australian mums and dads to invest in the NBN. He actually said, 'There couldn't be a better investment,' than the NBN. That is what he said. This man was the Treasurer of the entire nation.

We are paying $1 billion of debt every month. What do we get for our $1 billion? We get to stand still. We borrow $1 billion and, once we have done that, we get to stand still at a debt level of about $200 billion, which is just extraordinary.

This budget addresses the significant problems that were created by the previous government. Importantly, because it is a prudent budget and a careful budget, there is the capacity to invest where it is sensible to do so—for example, in infrastructure. The WestConnex in my own electorate will be a fantastic initiative, cutting travel time to the city by more than 20 minutes. There are of course other great programs, such as the Restart program, which will encourage employers to employ older workers. We need to remember that, within the prudent envelope of this budget, we have provided for record levels of spending in hospitals and schools. Every year they go up and up, and continue to go up.

All of this hard work, cleaning up all the mess means that we save $300 billion that we would otherwise have incurred in debt. We go from a $50 billion deficit to just $3 billion within a few years and we address those difficult structural problems. We have ended the spendathon; someone had to do it. That is what coalition governments do. What those opposite do is spend like there is no tomorrow and that is the wrong plan for Australia.

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know those opposite are looking a bit tired and we are coming to the end of a parliamentary week. They will be going home very shortly but, hopefully, when they go home to their electorates they will actually talk to their constituents. Because their constituents actually learnt something this week, if they didn't before.

When those opposite talk about a budget emergency, people on that side will have to go home and explain that Australia's proportion of debt to GDP is, currently, a tad under 14 per cent, compared to that of our trading partners in the OECD, which is 75 per cent. They will also have to explain what people already know, that our economy is AAA rated by each of the three major world-rating agencies. By the way, I think most people knew that.

But what they did not know, until this week, is that the economy is growing at 3½ per cent, growing above trend. That is precisely what was put out in the Pre-election Fiscal Outlook. So when the coalition get up here and say: 'We didn't know the state of the books; we've got to do these things. There's a budget emergency and we have to hit families, hit pensioners,' they well and truly knew the precise state of the books before the election.

Do you know what? Because they knew the state of the books then, that is why they could make an election pledge. They could pledge: no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no changes to pensions, no changes to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS. No prizes for guessing how many of those promises they have already broken. What they have done is shameful when it comes to families, particularly those in my electorate, which, as you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, are not rich. About 15½ thousand families in my electorate are on family tax benefit B. They are on some form of support as they raise their families. There is a reason for that. The average median income in my electorate is a tad over $20,000, with the average household income at $55,000.

These are the people on whom the government are going to impose the harshest measures of this budget. Like those opposite, we also earn reasonable money in this place. Anyone earning over $180,000, which takes in parliamentarians and those richest and most privileged in society, will also have to shoulder the load. I understand that. For three years, they will have a two per cent adjustment to their tax rate.

Mr Hutchinson interjecting—

And, by the way, for those who want to defend that, bear in mind that it only lasts for three years and then there is no permanent impediment on those on the other side, those who are privileged in our society. But what the government are doing to families and pensioners, by imposing the GP tax, to the unemployed and young people, who are trying to gain their first job, are all permanent impositions on the lowest areas of society, people who can least bear the pain.

There is no justice in what has been happening here. If the government want to take any degree of solace in the fact that our economy is growing at 3½ per cent, if they come off what the Treasurer has said and puff their chest out on that hen, quite frankly, why do they turn around and unjustly punish the pensioners not only in my electorate but those sitting back in your electorate? The same with families on welfare. You will find them sitting back there in your electorate—and, by the way, they get a vote. A single parent family, earning around $55,000, is going to lose up to about $6,000. If they have got two kids, they lose their allowances, they lose family tax benefit B and lose access to family tax benefit A. Have a look at it. It works out to be almost 10 per cent of those most in need of assistance and support in our community.

This is a shameful position to be in in this parliament, trying to ask the Prime Minister to reconsider his position, because we know that they do not reconsider anything. But when they want to come back and crow about the performance of the economy at the moment, why go out and persecute those least able to bear the pain?

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have just heard from the member for Fowler, and one thing I will say in response is that what is shameful is the lack of truth we are hearing from members opposite. Australian families know that if they run their household spending more than they earn year after year they go broke. Australian families know that if a government spends billions of dollars more than it earns year after year then eventually that country goes backwards. The Leader of the Opposition in this debate earlier talked about the truth. Let us talk about the truth, and the truth came from the words of the member for Lilley, the former Treasurer. He told the former Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, that the fiscal situation under the Labor Party was ruinous. One of the reasons that the member for Lilley is not on the shadow frontbench is because if he was he would have to address those questions. He fundamentally failed. Year after year the deficits mounted up: $27 billion, $54 billion, $47 billion, $43 billion, $19 billion, and in the current year almost $50 billion. It is a shameful record and we cannot forget that the admission comes from the former Treasurer. He admitted that the fiscal situation was ruinous. If you look deep into your hearts, members opposite, you know that is the truth and Australians know that is the truth and that is why we were elected, to fix Labor's mess, and that is what we are doing. Let us not forget that unless we make the policy changes that we are making we are heading towards $667 billion in debt. We will pay unless we make those critical changes that our nation needs almost $3 billion a month in interest payments. Currently we are paying more than $1 billion every month in interest.

Today I want to try and correct the record in a number of important respects and reflect on what our budget is doing to support Australian families, their children and grandchildren. We have a strong focus on earning, learning and working for the dole which has been celebrated in my community in the Corangamite and Geelong regions. We are supporting older Australians' return to work with an important restart incentive of $10,000. We are providing greater access to higher education, for the first time offering fee loans to sub-bachelor and other pathway degrees. As Mike Gallagher, the executive director of the Group of Eight universities, said:

The higher education budget reforms are necessary. They are logical, coherent, sustainable, equitable and inevitable …

We are building the roads of the 21st century. In my electorate we are upgrading the Great Ocean Road. We have invested $3 billion in the East West Link, a project that would deliver more than 6,000 jobs. Can you believe it: Labor is opposing both of those very important projects. We are abolishing the carbon and mining taxes. Under our budget, yes, the pension goes up twice a year, and let us not forget how misleading the Labor Party has been on this point. It was the Labor Party that is delivering an increase in the pension age to 67, so we are seeing constant hypocrisy. Education is going up by total of 37.4 per cent over four years. Health spending is up each year over four years: nine per cent, nine per cent, nine per cent and six per cent. I want to set the record straight in relation to sole parents. A sole parent on an average wage of $60,000 by 2016-17 with one child under six will receive government payments of $7,340, for two children under six a government payment of $12,630 per year and for two to children between the ages of six and 13 government payments of $8,348. That does not include the childcare rebate, it does not include rental assistance.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allocated for this debate has expired. I have gone over a little time with a bit of discretion. This discussion has now concluded.