Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

As the nation knows, Western Australia has a historic senate election underway. It is an unprecedented event in our nation's political history. I am very pleased to be a candidate, proud to be a Western Australian Labor senator here to stand up for my home state, a place I grew up in and have lived in all my life.

This election gives Western Australia a chance to send a strong message to Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Premier Colin Barnett that Western Australians will not stand for their broken promises. With the mining boom slowing, the Abbott and Barnett governments should be investing in Western Australia to build more rail, road and energy infrastructure, not cutting jobs and services as they are doing. Western Australia is already paying its fair share. The people of my great home state should not have to put up with two Liberal governments breaking their promises and commitments. This election cannot change the government, but it is a very real opportunity to vote for a Senate that can hold Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his government to account.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott told his supporters that he wanted to model his government on the Barnett government. He has been true to his word. Premier Colin Barnett and Prime Minister Tony Abbott have both proven that their governments cannot be trusted. Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the Australian people one thing before the election and has been doing the complete opposite in power. He has left a trail of broken promises that will hurt Western Australian families, and with the federal budget looming we know there will be more pain in store. Prime Minister Abbott promised no cuts to health and no cuts to education and that pensions would not change. Now, as we know, all areas of expenditure are under review. The Abbott government has shown no respect for the promises it made to Western Australians on schools, the NBN, debt, Medicare and maintaining Medicare Locals.

Let us look at the promises made to Western Australian schools and students. Labor stands for a fully funded education system. In the election campaign, Prime Minister Abbott and Christopher Pyne promised to support Labor's education funding reform. Our Better Schools funding model would have guaranteed fair school funding into the future for WA schools. Our plan would have seen schools about $1 billion better off. Devastatingly for WA schools, we now know the coalition were not really committed. The Abbott government was not even two months old when they abandoned their commitment. Premier Colin Barnett has ripped $183 million out of our schools. Abbott has committed—