Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by  Opposition senators today.

What we face today is a simple question: do Australians have a government that is run on sound economic principles and rigorous policy development processes, working for the benefit of all Australian working families, or do we have a government with only one guiding principle that is defined by the marketing spin of research agency Crosby Textor? We have a government that will do anything and say anything to win office at the forthcoming election. That is what we have; we do not have the former at all. Let us look at the evidence that underpins that. It is clear that, in the face of continuing challenging polls, the Prime Minister, over recent weeks, flicked the switch to portray himself as a strong man aggressively attacking the states, as a proxy for the federal Labor Party, rather than taking on the federal Labor Party itself. Suddenly, we have a Prime Minister announcing major national policy initiatives via the internet—one of them on emissions trading. We have a government that is reaching out to cherry-pick opportunities for government largesse. That is what the government is now forcing itself to do. In another era—and the National Party would obviously recognise this—it would quite rightly have been seen as blatant pork-barrelling, all wrapped up in an attempt to redefine federalism.

But the commentators see through this. Indeed, some have called the Howard government’s approach ‘porkofederalism’. Here is what one senior commentator, Paul Kelly, had to say in the Australian yesterday:

… Howard will play a brand of federalism politics that is neither likely to work nor to endure as a template for governance.

The government is well and truly caught out by its agenda being set by its marketing strategy. But let us go back to Crosby Textor. Rather than having a long-running agenda for the nation that takes account of the needs and interests of Australian working families, we have total short-termism. It is a pity, it is a shame, but that is the corner this government has painted itself into. It is designed for only one reason: purely to get the PM across the line at the forthcoming poll. That is the only reason. Otherwise we would not have Crosby Textor out there, and we would not have the Prime Minister following those lines, one by one, to see how he can ensure his success at the next election.

But isn’t it ironic that, in the very week when Australian working families suffered their fifth successive interest rate increase since the PM promised to keep interest rates at record lows, they will also read on the front page of their newspapers the details of the Crosby Textor marketing strategy that underpins the Howard government approach? This is how it stands: working Australians are now juggling their family and work commitments, increased consumer prices, increased uncertainty over their working conditions and an increased realisation that their children and future generations will face major challenges from lack of adequate educational and other critical infrastructure—whether it be access to broadband, skills shortages, being able to access affordable skills and training, healthcare services or a market-driven insecure job market under Work Choices. Working families now face all those challenges under the Howard government.

What does the Prime Minister have to say about this? Let us listen to his words: ‘They’ve never been better off.’ It rings very hollow if you are in the western suburbs, the outer suburbs, of Brisbane, Cairns or Townsville—all of those places. ‘Never been better off’, when the press this week reported that people are forgoing payments on health insurance to have the money to pay their mortgage. ‘Never been better off’, when families have to give up some of the little luxuries they may enjoy when they want to go out, when they might want to go to the pictures or take their kids down to the local eatery—all of those things. This is a government that has grown out of touch over its 11 years. It has become arrogant. (Time expired)