Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes—or is it from Peter Costello? I heard Mr Swan mention the difficulty that the opposition now have in the three stooges approach to their leadership. You have Brendan Nelson, who cannot do the job; Malcolm Turnbull, who cannot get the job; and of course Peter Costello, who will not do the job—or maybe he will? We will see in the future. As those opposite continue to play games with our economic future, going for the cheap media grab, they refuse to take any responsibility for the chaos that they are responsible for in the first place. I wonder whether or not the Australian people will take them seriously, given the situation they are in.

This government is fighting to make sure that this country is on a sound economic platform. The 2008 budget, delivered by Treasurer Swan, set out the government’s agenda very clearly. We must remember that, in negotiating our way through the current economic climate, we are in fact negotiating our way out of the Howard government’s inflationary legacy. It is a legacy marked by reckless spending and characterised by largesse and short-term investments. This government is not about that; this government is about making the hard decisions for the long-term prosperity of this country.

We have shown the opposition how to actually deliver on election promises. In doing so, we are breaking away from the Howard government’s legacy of financial mismanagement and broken promises. The 2008 budget has put working Australians and their families at the centre of the Rudd government’s commitment to tackle inflation. We are laying the building blocks for a stronger and more modern Australia. The centre of the budget is the $55 billion Working Families Support Package, which delivers on tax cuts the government committed to during the election. These tax cuts will help Australian families with childcare and education costs.

The Australian people rejected the coalition’s Work Choices laws and its policies of division. The Australian people embraced a team that was more concerned with their issues—concerned with the bread and butter issues that Australians know are the most important. The budget contained a $40 billion investment in Australia’s future to build new and improved roads, hospitals and schools. The budget is the first step towards a new, more modern Australia with first-class economic and social infrastructure. We can now start investing in the schools, hospitals, roads, railways and communication projects that working families rely on every day. These projects were neglected by our predecessors for more than a decade.

We have had the courage to make the tough decisions. We have had the courage to make the tough decisions in the budget. These decisions are hard in the short term, but they are the decisions that will make Australia stronger in the long term. That includes delivering a surplus of $21.7 billion in our first budget. We have done away with $7 billion worth of the Liberal’s reckless spending. Additionally, we have invested $55 billion in our Working Families Support Package. By investing in infrastructure, water, child care, GP superclinics and an education revolution, we are telling these families that they now have a government which have them at the forefront of their minds.

We have been asked to ensure working Australians’ future quality of life. We have been asked to provide working Australians with quality opportunities both now and into the future. We have been asked to ensure fairness. That is why we recognise that it is important that we enhance fairness in the tax system. This legislation will do just that. While we are engaged in a program of delivering on our election promises and building a stronger Australia, the Liberals have their eyes firmly set on a Pagani Zonda, a so-called supercar. There are a lot of people doing it tough out there, and inflation is hurting them at the checkout. By increasing the luxury car tax from 25 per cent to 33 per cent from 1 July 2008, we are not just being economically responsible, we are also working hard to ease the pressure on working Australians and their families and to make the tax system fairer.