Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy President. I will continue my remarks to the chair. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by Senator Cormann, if we had adopted the Liberal’s policy of $30 for singles, what would we tell the married couples, those pensioners who are just as much in need of extra money in their hand for their weekly costs? What would we have told carers? They were not on the radar; carers did not matter to the Liberals. It was a stunt. Let us call it what it is. It was a stunt. It was not even a cunning stunt. It was just a poor stunt. And they disregarded not only couples and carers—what would we have done for widows if we had adopted the Liberal’s policy? Oh, of course, they were not on the radar either! When you were running off with your stunt, widows did not get a mention. And what about those on the disability pension? Oh, you forgot about them too, did you? You only thought about this stunt: $30 for a single pensioner—and, all of a sudden, you people are the gurus, the experts, to save the pensioners! They had 11½ years. What did they do for pensioners in 11½ years? They come into this chamber and look for cheap shots like $30 for just the single pensioners—no-one else mattered. Thank goodness we did not even listen to your stunt.

I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister and the Treasurer on the Economic Security Strategy. Let us have a look at exactly what it delivers. It delivers $10.4 billion where it should be going. For all those years, we heard about the surplus. Surpluses are good. Let us make no mistake about that. We have built on the surplus with our budget announcements. I am sure that all Australians will agree with me that it is all very well having a surplus but if you do not spend it where it is needed you should be ashamed of yourself—and the Rudd government will spend it where it is desperately needed.

There is $10.4 billion in our Economic Security Strategy. The strategy includes five key measures, and I would like to go through them. There is $4.8 billion as an immediate down-payment on long-term pension reform. Are you listening over there, senators opposite? It is long term—not just one stunt between now and Christmas. There is $3.9 billion in support payments for low- and middle-income families—another group that did not even come onto the opposition’s radar when they were pulling this stunt. There is a $1.5 billion investment to help first home buyers. There was no mention of that in your stunt! There is $187 million to create 56,000 new training positions. You lot absolutely wrecked training over the years that you were in government. You sat here and watched over the greatest skills shortage in this country since Federation. Do not deny it. I am not hearing a word from senators opposite, because it is true. You know it is true, Senator Cormann, because you come from WA, where the skills shortage is biting. (Time expired)