Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Cormann talks about not getting too cocky. I think there is probably nothing more cocky than a Liberal senator in this place talking about fiscal management and managing the economy when they have a confirmed unfunded promise of a $70 billion black hole. They have very little credentials when it comes to talking about our economy. In fact, the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, has admitted that he is not interested in economics or the views of economists—as we can all remember. It was not that long ago that the Leader of the Opposition made it very clear that he was not interested in economics or the views of economists and yet, interestingly enough, we have a debate by Liberal senators on the economy, on the budget and on fiscal responsibility when we know that they certainly do not honour the Charter of Budget Honesty of their former Treasurer, Peter Costello. Instead of actually following that charter of budget honesty, they would prefer to have their costings done secretly behind closed doors by nothing greater than some kind of catering company or an accountant or the like so that nobody knows how their costings were worked out—nothing to do with abiding by the principles of the Charter of Budget Honesty, given the charter was something espoused by their former Treasurer, who they talk of so highly.

Well, we are very much committed to that charter of budget honesty. We are also very much committed to returning another surplus, as we have already done this financial year. We know when it comes to surpluses—and we have heard a lot in this place about the issue of surpluses—that the opposition are not interested at all in surpluses. In fact, Tony Abbott has walked away from a budget surplus. He said something like 'we will get back to surplus as quickly as possible' but he will not even put a date on it. Why is that? We know it is because the Liberal Party do not have any real strategy about how they are going to govern this country and about what their real policies are. They do not have any real policies. They do not have any real costings other than black hole costings. They do not have any real savings. They do not really have any leadership when it comes to the issue of the economy or the policies that are needed to drive Australia forward.

We know very much, though, that the first actions of an Abbott government will be to look at things like reversing income tax measures for families, higher taxes for small business—but tax breaks for big mining companies of course—lowering pensions and lowering superannuation for working Australians. These are things that are not good for Australians and Australians are very much aware of some of these things.

As I touched on, we have a confirmed unfunded promise of a $70 billion black hole, something that has been confirmed by Andrew Robb and Joe Hockey, who have both said that the coalition would have to find some $70 billion in cuts to services—a slash and burn approach, of course, just like we are seeing a number of Liberal premiers doing at the moment. Dare I say it, we could be looking at the slash and burn approach of Premier Campbell Newman in Queensland. When it comes to skills, he is cutting the Skilling Queenslanders for Work program of $287 million. They are talking about breast-screening programs as well and the public service is taking a huge cut. Obviously, these are replicated in Victoria when we look at the TAFE cuts that are going on there. That fits very well with the mantra that has been coming out of the federal Liberal Party from the mouths of Mr Robb and Mr Hockey. We know that on 12 August 2011 Mr Hockey said on the Sunrise program:

I will tell you what we are doing. We are going through the budget, line by line and item by item. The government will spend -Liberal or Labor-will spend $1500 billion over the next four years. It is a massive amount of money. Therefore finding 50, 60 or 70 billion is about identifying waste and identifying areas where you do not need to proceed with programs.

Well, before they even start, the $70 billion that they have admitted that they need to find in savings in fact translates into the equivalent of the cost of Medicare payments for four years or halting all age pensions for two years. These are dramatic cuts that the federal Liberal Party are saying that they themselves will need to find. Then they have the audacity to come in here and talk about the economy and talk about fiscal management when that kind of fiscal management is certainly something that this country does not need at all.

I noticed recently the Leader of the Opposition was in my home state of Tasmania and he put out a press release on 25 August this year in relation to the coalition's supposedly forward-thinking working group to grow Tasmania. Part of this working group that the Leader of the Opposition talked about creating will 'create jobs'. He says it is a working group for Tasmania that is going to create jobs. Let us look at the factor that it is going to 'create jobs'. One thing we know is that the opposition is going to turn back the clock when it comes to carbon pricing. What is that going to do? We have a whole new economy and we are creating jobs in this new economy and in this new sector through renewable energy and in my home state of Tasmania the creation of jobs around renewable energy is a really important factor. We have the Mussleroe wind farm and we have another wind farm—they are in the north-west and the north-east of the state—and it is all about creating jobs and creating renewable energy for the future. Of course, it is renewable energy that we can then sell back into the grid of which we are part of in the mainland. So it is about creating jobs around renewable energy for which the carbon pricing's Clean Energy Package provides as big polluters change their behaviour, as the need for new kinds of energy come on board and are doing so through things like the ARENA board approving such new renewable energy schemes. It is all a really important factor that is going to create jobs. But if the Leader of the Opposition is elected to govern this country he will turn back those. His working group that will create jobs is a very interesting piece of rhetoric indeed.

What is the alternative? The alternative is incredibly stark. We have a very forward-thinking Gillard Labor government that is embarking on the new economy and a whole new agenda, one that we need to embrace like the rest of the globe is doing. In the meantime, we are doing it in a fiscally sensible way, in a way where we continue to ensure that we return the budget to surplus. Our economy is envied around the world because we got through the global financial crisis and with that have come some great benefits for Australians and Australian families—things like the tripling of the tax-free threshold. These are the things that are really at risk here.

We had a tax-free threshold of $6,000 and this government have now tripled that to $18,200. That means many Australians who earn up to $80,000 will get a tax saving, but many also will not have to put in a tax return because they will be under the threshold and will not have paid tax. This is the largest increase to the tax-free threshold in many years. It was not something that we just thought was a good idea, that the Gillard Labor government introduced and thought was a good idea; it was very much embraced and those in the NGO sector knew that this was needed and something that would benefit many low-income Australians, of which there are many in my home state.

This is one of the largest tax cuts for low-income earners that this country has ever seen. What does it mean? It means that a mother with some part-time work will get a tax cut of $600 if she earns $20,000 and $503 if she earns $25,000. That is significant for low-income earners. On top of that, there is the new schoolkids bonus, which has already been automatically provided to many Australian households. In fact, in Tasmania I know that 34,000 families have benefited from that cash bonus—another really important, positive reform by the government.

Through the Clean Energy Supplement, something we know will be rolled back under a coalition government, we have seen a 1.7 per cent increase to pensions, allowances and family payments. All these things will be in jeopardy under a coalition-Abbott government, as it searches hard to find its $70 billion of savings, which Mr Hockey and Mr Robb have said that they need to find. These are the things that will be cut. These are the things that will really affect average Australian families and average Australian pensioners if the disastrous event of a coalition government were to occur.

We are not just looking at the needs of Australians here and now; we are also looking into the future. Of course that is what the clean energy package is about. Of course that is what carbon pricing is about—which is why so many other countries are doing it as well, to address global warming. We are also looking at the fact that we are living in the Asian century. There have been a number of academic writings on the fact. There has been a lot of debate and discussion about the growing economies in the Asian region. We are in the Asian region. We are neighbours of Asian countries. Not only will we benefit from our Asian neighbours; they will benefit from our relationship with them in the areas of clean energy jobs, technology and skills and so forth.

Part of being in an Asian century is building a new economy. What does a new economy look like? What are the things that Labor have started to get on with to ensure that we have a strong, robust, new economy and that we embrace the future—not one that looks back to the 1950s and turns back the clock, ensures we do nothing and only protects the biggest mining companies in the country while the rest of the country can find their own way? No, we are looking forward to things like the National Broadband Network to ensure businesses are more productive and that we can deliver better government services to them. We have brought in the minerals resource rent tax to increase retirement savings, provide tax relief to small businesses, which are not in the mining boom fast lane, and invest in the critical infrastructure that this very large country needs—as well as the ongoing upkeep of that infrastructure.

On top of that, we are increasing our skills base through trade training centres, historic reforms to our skills system and an expanded education system from primary to tertiary with the national curriculum, equipping Australia for current and future jobs, and looking ahead to ensure that Australia builds on the new economy and builds a bright future for ourselves and our children. That means looking at the Gonski review and continuing to improve our school and early childhood education. We know that the research says that the early years are critical to childhood development and that is an area where we have invested heavily. It includes ensuring children's health is kept at a pace that is required through good dental care, something that was neglected under the 11 years of Howard. He abolished the Commonwealth dental scheme—it did not matter that teeth were part of the human body; they were excluded and did not matter, and that cost families a lot of money to ensure that their children were provided with the necessary care.

We are returning the budget to surplus on time and as promised, and ahead of every major advanced economy. That is an enviable position to be in. It is a little rich for Liberal senators in this place to talk about budget blow-outs, not meeting surpluses and all these sorts of things when they are the ones who need to look in the mirror. Mr Robb and Mr Hockey have said, time and time again, on NewsRadio, on Sunrise, on ABC News 24 and on a number of media outlets that they are going to have find $70 billion worth of savings, that they will not be returning any budget to any surplus any time soon. Of course, that is in stark contrast to the strong economic position that Treasurer Wayne Swan has us in due to the good, responsible decisions we have made in ensuring that we can be fiscally responsible for our country under a new Australian economy. What does that really mean? We have delivered savings of $33.6 billion in the last budget and more than $100 billion over the previous four budgets to fund the important priorities of dental health, education, the NBN, increasing our skills base and so on by looking at our priority areas that really matter for our nation's future. That is what good Labor governments do. They look at the things that matter. They look at the issues that matter for the Australian people and for our country and they act accordingly. And they look ahead, they look into the future. They are progressive, not regressive. They are not looking backwards into the 1950s. They do not say: 'We should put our heads in the sand. There's global warming but we're just not going to do anything about it. Don't mind the rest of the world acting on it; we'll just put our heads in the sand.'

No, that is not what good Labor governments do at all. They look at the areas of reform that are needed for our country, that are needed desperately for the Australian people, for our families, for our newly arrived migrants who are helping build our country, for our refugees—all the people who make up Australia, this great multicultural nation that I am so proud to live in. And I am so proud to be part of a Labor government that is inclusively ensuring that everybody has the opportunity to succeed, to achieve and to have a good, strong, decent, healthy life, an education and all the benefits that we all enjoy so much.

I find it a bit rich that the debate from those opposite is so fixated on issues on which they themselves do not have good standing. Let us look at workplace relations. I could talk all day about workplace relations and the opposition's Work Choices policy. It helped them lose government. Their own Prime Minister could not hold his own seat as a result of their diabolical policy that was going to rip decent wages and conditions away from working families. That still exists somewhere over there in the ether of the Liberal Party. We know that some of them want it to raise its ugly head from time to time; it has not completely gone away. That is just one area of policy. Where do the Liberals stand on workplace relations? No-one really knows, but I know that the future certainly is not bright.

And then we can go to health and look at the areas we have invested in—GP superclinics, increasing hospital beds and mental health. Mental health is an incredibly important area. These days we are happy to talk about it; we find it much more comfortable to talk about than we did in times past. We can look at infrastructure. The broadband network is another area they are not interested in and want to turn back. Even senators from regional parts of the country are not interested in the National Broadband Network.

Of course, I have already touched on how we have such a strong fiscal position compared to the black hole of those opposite. And then there are the really important ongoing factors around the cost of living—family tax benefit increases, age pension increases and the introduction of a paid parental leave scheme. That is something that after 11 years a Liberal government could not do, leaving Australia as one of only two OECD countries to not have a paid parental leave scheme. We can look at our childcare rebate increases, the environment and climate change. We have done so much and they stand for nothing. (Time expired)