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

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's shameful decision to cut the real pay, Christmas leave and recreational leave of Australian Defence Force personnel. Will the Prime Minister finally do what Labor has been calling for and reverse his disgraceful decision to cut the pay and conditions of our defence forces?

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Take some responsibility for the mess you left.

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

The member for Griffith has been warned!

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

Obviously it would be better if we were able to pay the courageous and highly professional members of our defence forces more. But when we are trying to deal with a debt and deficit disaster that members opposite created, it is impossible to pay everyone all that we would like. As always, we are keeping these matters under close review. But the fact is that we cannot pay people everything that we would like to pay, we cannot pay people everything that they deserve, when we have a situation, thanks to members opposite, of $50 billion-a-year deficits as opposed to $20 billion-a-year surpluses when the coalition was last in government.

Mr Snowdon interjecting—

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

The member for Lingiari!

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

Before members opposite wax too sanctimonious and self-righteous about defence, let's never forget that they cut $16 billion out of defence. Let's never forget that Labor reduced defence spending as a percentage of GDP to the lowest level since 1938; that is what they did. While I am on the subject of trust, let's not forget that members opposite know how untrustworthy the Leader of the Opposition is. I am doing the people of Australia a service by letting them know what the Leader of the Opposition is really like. Again I quote Paul Kelly:

The distrust between Rudd and Shorten was intense and enduring. The Gillard camp was contemptuous of Shorten, considering him weak and duplicitous—

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

Madam Speaker, on a point of order: there is no precedent for this sort of material to be considered directly relevant to a question of this nature. And when we are talking about Defence Force pay, of all issues—

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

The member will resume his seat. The question was a general question about pay cuts. The Prime Minister has the call and I will listen to his answer.

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

Like all of the questions that the Leader of the Opposition asks, it is essentially about trust and it is essentially about honesty. His trust and honesty is an important issue for this parliament to consider and this parliament needs to know what his colleagues think of him:

The distrust between Rudd and Shorten was intense and enduring. The Gillard camp was contemptuous of Shorten, considering him weak and duplicitous. Neither side trusted him and neither side revised its view.

This is a Leader of the Opposition whose colleagues do not trust him. If he is not trusted by his own colleagues, he should never be trusted by the people of Australia.