House debates Questions without Notice
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
2:09 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his previous answer, in which he blamed the state of the budget for breaking his promises about the ABC. On 13 August last year, in answer to the following question, 'The condition of the Budget will not be an excuse for breaking promises?', does the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, recall saying, 'Exactly right. We will make—we will keep the commitments that we make.'
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Honourable Members:
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Treasurer will desist, as will the Leader of the House.
Ms Plibersek interjecting—
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
2:10 pm
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition says that we had PEFO. Well, they said that the deficit would be $30 billion; it turned out to be closer to $50 billion—
Ms MacTiernan interjecting—
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
so, under the circumstances under which we now find ourselves, it is necessary for the ABC to face the kind of savings search which every other part of government is subject to. The Leader of the Opposition thinks there is something wrong with finding savings in the ABC.
Mr Shorten interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Leader of the Opposition has asked his question and will desist.
Mr Perrett interjecting—
The member for Moreton is warned!
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
Who said yesterday, 'We don't think the cuts need to be as deep as they are'? Who said yesterday, 'We wouldn't be making the same cuts'?
Ms Macklin interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Prime Minister will resume his seat, and the member for Jagajaga will leave under 94(a). The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.
The member for Jagajaga then left the chamber.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance
Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order on direct relevance. There is no way the material that the Prime Minister has just turned to can be directly relevant to the question that was asked.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
This is someone who Julia Gillard could not trust, someone who Kevin Rudd could not trust, and now he wants to make trust an issue. Well, I tell you what: the act of faith—
Opposition members interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Isaacs on a point of order? We have already had one on relevance.
Mark Dreyfus Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General
Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order. The point of order is under standing order 91(c). We are seeing wilful disregard of the standing orders by the Prime Minister.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
This is an important question and it is an important issue, and when the budget situation deteriorates from what Labor said was a $30 billion deficit to what turned out to be closer to a $50 billion deficit, obviously government has to respond accordingly.
Mr Burke interjecting—
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
All we are doing is applying to the ABC the same kind of search for efficiencies that have been applied to every other part of government. What the Leader of the Opposition is trying to suggest—
Ms Plibersek interjecting—
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
is that the ABC should be a protected species. Wrong! The Leader of the Opposition—
Mr Perrett interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The member for Moreton will leave under 94(a).
The member for Moreton then left the chamber.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
is trying suggest that the ABC should be a protected species, but he is not even straight about that, because when he was asked yesterday, 'Would you reverse the cuts if you took office?' he replied, 'We don't think the cuts need to be as deep as they are.' So tell us: just what should be cut? What should be cut? And when he was put on the spot he said, 'We wouldn't be making the same extent of cuts to the ABC.' So, there is the difference. Well, what cuts would the Leader of the Opposition be making? If the Leader of the Opposition does not like the savings that the government is proposing, if he wants to be fair dinkum and if he wants to avoid the charge of hypocrisy or even fraud, he should tell us exactly what he has in mind.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
I just want to table the Prime Minister's hypocrisy—the Prime Minister's lack of fair dinkumness.
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
That cannot be a serious question. It is impossible to table a concept.