Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Acting Deputy President. It does rile the blood and get people upset when they understand how we started off with $96 billion on the credit card and we had to pay that off. It was a bit of a struggle but the Australian people went along with us. They had to go through the pain because you had lumbered the credit card with $96 billion worth of trinkets that had to be paid for.

It is through the payment of that debt and the fact that we do not have to pay off $8 billion worth of interest each year that you stacked up on your credit card that we now have the capacity to spend some money on children. That is amply shown through what the Liberal-National government have done in this budget for child-care places. It is going to be a great day when this budget is passed. I imagine that if the Labor Party have some serious problems with it they will be voting against the changes to the tax rates. It would be an absolute piece de resistance to vote against the tax changes and to say to the Australian people: ‘We couldn’t do it, so we’re not going to give it to you.’ They would also be voting against this new package for child care. That is something that remains to be seen. We will hear about it tonight and we will see what Mr Beazley has to say.

With the introduction of child-care management systems there will be more up-to-date data on demand and supply. This information will be made available to potential providers—and that might be former Labor leaders. If necessary, we will provide more information, if any particular intervention is required in the future. Also, there are a range of payments under the Australian government Child Care Support Program that help eligible FDC and OSHC services to be established in areas of high need. We are going to the areas of high need because that is what you have to do. You have to target the areas of need. You can target the areas of need when you have the money to do it, and you get the money to do it when you manage the economy.

Even after paying off the $96 billion that the Labor Party racked up on the credit card for the Australian people, this year we have delivered a $10.8 billion surplus. Is that not amazing? Even after giving all that money back to the Australian people through tax cuts, looking after our defence forces, looking after our health system and giving better rollover relief to small business, we still have $10.8 billion extra in the bank account. I reckon that is a pretty special outcome. It is amazing. I can see my good friend and colleague Senator Scullion sitting over there. Even after protecting our northern fishing waters against incursion from potential poachers, even after putting up the money for that, we still have $10.8 billion to put in the bank.

That is the difference between the two. The Labor side of the parliament rack money up on the credit card. It is a big day at the shops when the Labor Party get into government. It is a car full of trinkets. It is a booze-swilling affair and lots of fun. Then this side of the parliament have to take 10 years to try to repair the damage. We have done it now and we are delivering back to the Australian people. In delivering back to the Australian people, we hope that if we do the right job they will give us their confidence.

I have to remind the Australian people that Labor have no child-care plan. Everything that has been said today is not backed up in substance by one document. They do not have one document. There is nothing. Is it is just an abstract, airy-fairy attitude of: ‘We don’t think this is going to work. We don’t quite know what to say. We can’t talk about the tax cuts. We can’t talk about what you’re doing in defence. We can’t talk about anything else, so we’re going to talk about child care.’