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 week the Prime Minister has repeatedly claimed that he is not cutting pensions, so why do his own budget papers, on page 203, show a $449 million saving from the Prime Minister's cuts to pensions?

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

At the risk of repeating myself, I just want to point out to members opposite that all pensions will go up in March and September every year.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

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

The member for Jagajaga will desist.

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

All pensions will go up in March and September every year, but what will happen in September 2017—after the next election—is that the indexation rate will change to a rate which the Labor Party thought was fair for family tax benefit. If it is fair for family tax benefit, it is fair for other social security benefits. If the Labor Party thought it was fair for family tax benefit, they ought to think it is fair for what this government has done.

Opposition members interjecting—

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

There will be silence on my left, including the member for McMahon.

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

The Leader of the Opposition should stop trying to scare the pensioners of this country.

Mr Champion interjecting—

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

The member for Wakefield will remove himself under 94(a).

The member for Wakefield then left the chamber.

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

He should stop trying to curry political favour on the basis of a scare. It is cheap. It is unworthy. Decent Labor leaders like Bob Hawke and Paul Keating would be ashamed of it. Even the Leader of the Opposition was once above this kind of thing. He said in this House in 2011:

We in the Labor Party do not rely on scaring people to obtain power …

If it was true in 2011, it certainly is not true in 2014.

Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. Minister, you have stated that deregulation of higher education will not necessarily lead to higher fees. If regional universities are not in a position to increase fees, I am concerned that this will mean they will not be obliged to offer new Commonwealth scholarships, which are funded from increased fees. Minister, would you please consider pooling the scholarship funds and redistributing to all students on a needs basis?

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

I thank the member for Indi for her question. I had the pleasure this morning of hosting her and the Highwater Theatre students from her electorate—

Mr Conroy interjecting—

You have no class at all, do you? That is the problem—none whatsoever. I was actually talking about—

Mr Mitchell interjecting—

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

The member for McEwen!

Opposition members interjecting—

The member for Charlton will remove himself under 94(a), for one hour.

The member for Charlton then left the chamber .

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

If the member for McEwen had cared to wait and hear the answer, I was actually talking about theatre students from non-mainstream schooling who have been hurt by trauma and abuse and are finding their way back into higher education through the arts, in the member for Indi's electorate. If he had cared to be a little bit better mannered, he would have heard that that is what I was talking about. But unfortunately I expect very little from the member for McEwen.

To answer the member for Indi's question, I know that she cares very deeply about education, as the transformative nature of it can help kids like the ones from Highwater Theatre, but also young people across Australia, particularly in rural and regional areas, lift their qualifications and their opportunity to get better jobs and earn more income. In terms of the deregulation of fees, the tremendous opportunity presented by our reforms is to let universities make their own decisions about what they value the most in their institutions and what they believe they can charge higher fees for and also, in regional and rural areas, how to price their courses in order to compete with the institutions in the city.

The great thing about the Commonwealth scholarships fund is that each university will get the opportunity to make its own decisions about how to attract students through scholarships. So in a rural and regional area—as many of the coalition members who represent rural and regional areas would also be interested to know—they will be able to tailor their scholarships to what they think will most attract students, whether they are from the local area or whether they are from the city, to regional areas. They might decide to forgo tuition fees for those students. They might decide to help them with living expenses in order to move to rural and regional areas. They might decide to pay them relocation expenses. The reason why each institution will make its own decisions about fees and how to spend its Commonwealth scholarships, within the guidelines that the Commonwealth will develop through our working groups, is so that they can compete with suburban institutions. I see great opportunities for rural and regional institutions in our reforms.

I would also point out to the member that there have been some excellent articles written about this by rural and regional vice-chancellors or former vice-chancellors like Jim Barber, from the member for New England's electorate. He was the former Vice-Chancellor at UNE. In the Australian Financial Review just after the budget, he pointed out the opportunities that deregulation presented to rural and regional areas, and I would recommend it to her.

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

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline the importance of careful and responsible management of the budget, and how does the recent budget help build for the future?

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

I thank the honourable member for Bennelong for the question. Like a previous member for Bennelong, he is very concerned about the sustainability of the budget. It is hugely important that we make sure that we live within our means as a government so that the decisions that are made tomorrow are not punitive for those most vulnerable. Our latest legacy of $667 billion of debt and budgets where there are no surpluses means that Australians are currently spending $1 billion a month on interest, with 70 per cent of it going overseas—and it is going to $3 billion. Of course, you have to be straight with the Australian people in dealing with this. You have to be honest with the Australian people in dealing with this, and we are being honest with the Australian people.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Honesty comes as a great surprise to members of the Labor Party because, of course, they did say they were going to have four years of surplus. They continue to delude themselves that in fact the budget is fine; but, in fact, the member for Lilley himself, in a confession to still existing Senator Carr, apparently, said the budget situation is 'ruinous'. So there is a bit of hypocrisy there.

There is a bit of hypocrisy from the Leader of the Opposition. If you came into this parliament today, you would think he was really concerned about the impacts of decisions on pensioners. But do you know what? It was about two years ago that he sidled up to me—just over there—and he begged me to help him to take 60,000 women off a single parents pension and put them on Newstart. Do you remember that, with the member for Jagajaga over there, because of the divisions in the Labor Party? Remember that: taking 60,000 single-income parents off a single parents pension? He knew about the divisions in the Labor Party. And then there were all these crocodile tears when they went into opposition—crocodile tears for single parents, crocodile tears from Labor, crocodile tears from the Leader of the Opposition.

Opposition members interjecting—

Oh yes, I got it wrong! He was the architect of it, with the member for Jagajaga. So the hypocrisy of the Labor Party is just a little bit overwhelming. They cry crocodile tears now about the fate of pensioners, yet when they were in government they did not hesitate to take people off a single parents pension and put them onto Newstart. Well, spare us the moment. We are the best friend Australian pensioners have ever had. We are their best friends, because we want the pension to be sustainable. We want it to be affordable. We want the pensioners of Australia to get a fair deal from the government, not just today but tomorrow. We will not cop the hypocrisy of this hypocrite! (Time expired)

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am surprised that you would not just automatically call upon that to be withdrawn. You have done that many times in the past.

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

What was it that I have done in the past?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think you are aware of what it was, Madam Speaker. I am not going to bring the parliament down by repeating it. He should withdraw.

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

With the noise going on on my left, I have to say it is amazing anyone heard anything, including the answer. If there was something that was said that was untoward and the member feels that it would be in the interests of the parliament to withdraw, I would ask the minister to withdraw.

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

I assume, Madam Speaker, it is me defining him as a hypocrite. I withdraw.

Mr Bowen interjecting—

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

If the word 'hypocrite' was used then that should be withdrawn, but so should the member for McMahon also withdraw his use of the word.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

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

Thank you. We will have a question from the Leader of the Opposition and we will have some silence for both the question and the answer.

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

My question is to the Prime Minister. For all of this week, the Prime Minister has claimed, and I quote: 'There are no changes to carers as a result of this budget.' So why does page 206 of his own budget papers reveal a cut of $7.7 million to the National Respite for Carers Program in this financial year?

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

I was asked about payments to carers and there are no changes to payments to carers. I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that this is a government which is determined to protect the vulnerable people of this country, but it is also determined to ensure that Labor's debt and deficit disaster is addressed. As Reserve Bank board member John Edwards—the distinguished economist and friend of the Labor Party that the Labor Party appointed to the Reserve Bank Board—said: 'This is a budget crisis. It does need to be addressed.' It is going to be addressed by us in ways to protect the vulnerable.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I appreciate the gravity of referring to something as being 'deliberately misleading'—

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

We do not need preambles. The point of order?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order: it is unparliamentary to refer to someone as 'deliberately misleading'. What term are we meant to use when he is denying his own budget papers? He is standing in the parliament and saying something that is in the budget papers just isn't there.

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

There is no point of order. The member will resume his seat.

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

I simply repeat that there are no cuts to payments to carers. We made a series of commitments to carers pre-election and they will be kept. What we are doing in this budget is protecting the vulnerable; but, while protecting the vulnerable, we are doing what we were elected to do, which is to sort out Labor's debt and deficit disaster. If members opposite had any political integrity, they would tell us how they are going to deal with the debt and deficit disaster that they created.

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

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

The member for Isaacs will desist.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

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

We have already had one on relevance.

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

Madam Speaker, it is very clear that there is a cut to carers. Why won't the Prime Minister tell Australia the truth?

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

That is not a point of order. The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. That is an abuse of the standing orders and he will not do it again.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

And do not answer back to the chair!

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

Members opposite are clearly uninterested in any response to their questions but let me give them one further nugget of information—

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

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

The member for Isaacs will remove himself for one hour under standing order 94(a).

The member for Isaacs then left the chamber.

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

The final piece of information that I should provide to members opposite—they probably do not want to be reminded of this—is that in 2008, in government, the Labor Party attempted to scrap the carers bonus. Does the Leader of the Opposition remember that?

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Members will desist.

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

Does the Leader of the Opposition remember that?

Mr Shorten interjecting—

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

The Leader of the Opposition is warned.

Government members interjecting—

And those on my right will desist.

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

In 2008, the Labor Party was in government and the Leader of the Opposition, who was then a parliamentary secretary, attempted to scrap the carers bonus. They only failed to do that because the opposition successfully opposed it. I want to make it very clear that this government is the best friend that the carers of Australia have ever had.