Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise to discuss the division and dysfunction that we are seeing in this coalition government from those who have found some voice to respond to the question that Senator Ruston has just indicated should be discussed in this place—the question of what is equitable. I am surprised to see that we have had some murmurings of consideration of that question amongst a few of the Nationals, and a couple of the Liberal members, who have an understanding, having lived in this country long enough, that what the Prime Minister is attempting to do with his Paid Parental Leave scheme is absolutely and totally inequitable. It is an unaffordable scheme and it is an unfair scheme. The Paid Parental Leave scheme is something that should belong to the past. Sadly, here we are right now debating this disgraceful imposition on the Australian people.

I am also pleased to stand in support of this motion put forward by Senator Moore that calls on the government to release some details of the scheme. You would have to hope that there might be some details of the way in which this scheme, which was cooked up by the Prime Minister, was costed. We have had holier-than-thou and sanctimonious conversations across the chamber from those opposite constantly going on about the dollar value of every prospect—cost-benefit analysis is a word I hear in nearly every speech that they make—yet to date we have not seen any of the costing, modelling or productivity gains that they are claiming, or any distributional impacts of this piece of legislation or this policy that the Prime Minister wants to implement. None of that has seen the light of day.

In this Senate, we get to ask questions about the dark arts—the conjuring arts—that are being practised by those opposite during this period in which they consider they are governing. Having questioned the response of the minister on the government's shambles of the paid parental leave policy this week, I think it is fair to describe his response as waffle. He waffled on in a nasal monotone, and it seems that, in his evasive responses to straightforward questions from myself and others, we are not getting any clear answers.

You would expect a clear and well-developed policy response that could be proffered when asked where this policy came from. It is a policy that was taken to two federal elections. The minister's crude ability to swat away these genuine inquiries from senators is, I am sure, a skill that is much admired somewhere in a dark corner of the woods of parliament. But in the sheer gamesmanship that is often distilled into our trying profession one could be even tempted to compare Senator Abetz's dogged effort to prevent a shred of credibility from passing his lips to a nightwatchman deftly blocking a pace attack to survive the last overs before stumps—a nightwatchman but no longer an opening batsman. To continue to indulge in such a comparison, it is only fair to acknowledge the runner at the other end, the nervous rookies, swinging wildly and soon to be caught out down this end of the chamber—the National Party.

We have the rookies down the far end—the National Party. The rookie who distrusts his more seasoned teammate, and for good reason, because what we are seeing on the other side is a team where one member of the team is only playing for himself. We look around this august chamber and it doesn't take a genius to see that the rookies at the end here, the National Party senators, are sitting next to their misnamed coalition partners, and they are not exactly getting the run of the green at the moment. They are certainly not getting the run of the green on this policy, which is absolutely propping up wealthy people in Liberal seats and really not responding at all to the reality of marginal seats in the rural and regional areas.

They are selling out their constituencies if any one of the National Party stick with his Paid Parental Leave scheme. Day after day here in the Senate and in the House they cling onto power alongside an arrogant government that is tearing daily at the very fabric of our society. They do so for their own existential needs. It is a dysfunctional relationship we are seeing here between the Nats and the Libs. We look across the chamber at those who claim a coalition, but it is more a demolition job on what the National Party pretends to stand for. Not all of them, but too many still are not standing up to the intimidation that is clearly happening with this PPL that is being proposed by the Liberal part of the coalition.

It is clear to all that the Liberals are the leaders—the cigar-chomping, arrogant leaders—in this arrangement the Nats have with their masters. What we are witnessing is arrangements that are completely dysfunctional and getting more toxic by the day. By sticking with the Liberals those in the National Party who stick with the arrangements are actually opting for a policy that is absolutely devastating on its impact on good people in rural and regional areas of this country. We have learned a lot about relationships and spoken about them publicly a lot more over the last 30 years. We all know that it is very unhealthy to stay in relationships with people who exploit you. We all know that, but in a clear indication of deep dysfunction, of the demolition coalition, there are still members of the National Party who remain loyal to the coalition as they betray their constituencies. Day after day they stand and defend in this place policies that take them further and further away from the founding principles that they shout loudly when they are at home in the bush but sell out in vote after vote in the House. We could not have a clearer demonstration of this than the questions that were asked of the Assistant Minister for Health today about the impact of this federal government's budget decisions in the health sector and how that is already damaging the health of people in the communities, and most particularly marginalising those in the bush.

We even had Senator Ruston in the contribution before I got up speaking about the difficulty of getting women doctors into the bush. The reality is that this piece of legislation reveals a very important decision by those in the National Party who decide to stick with their partners and those who are brave enough to stand and move over this side. There are voices that are muted, independence tarnished, policies abandoned, their back broken—it is truly sorry sight to see. Here we are debating yet another critical policy that epitomises the almost complete emasculation of the National Party and those who on the other side have stood and spoken so many times for fairness in our country.

The Prime Minister's signature policy, his personally promoted Paid Parental Leave scheme, is really at the heart of a view of the world of a man who is disconnected from ordinary Australians. We are not here discussing the NDIS or years five and six of the Gonski funding for schools; these are things that this government is running from, weaselling out of in their very unpleasant weaselly way. But what they are keen to do and what this piece of legislation that they support attempts to do is to spend $20 billion on this scheme that pays very wealthy woman $50,000 to have a baby while at the very same time they are ripping the heart out of child care and the quality of child care, and they are ripping the heart out of the schools into which these children would be able to go. There are a whole lot more of those women in seats held by the ascendant Liberal members who stand to benefit from this policy than there are in National-held seats and, indeed, in Labor-held seats.

I do note the comments of Senator John 'Wakka' Williams and I do note that Senator Boswell and Senator O'Sullivan have made noises of clear dissent from this policy. It certainly reveals a deep and growing division within those opposite and it is one that is a healthy indication that at least some conscience is still alive in the room when they meet and discuss how they are advancing their policy. But what these Nationals who have put themselves on the record as having some understanding of the inequity of the PPL that is proposed need to do is push for the complete scrapping of this puffed-up Prime Minister's policy for wealthy women in his constituency and in others like it.

Labor's paid parental leave scheme stands in stark contrast to the Abbott government's model. We instituted the first paid parental leave scheme this country had seen, a fair and affordable scheme, serving the interests of working women across the country in cities and regions like—just as the school funding that we proposed is sector blind and region blind, indeed, responding to disadvantage in those areas. We proposed and delivered an equitable paid parental scheme across the entire nation. That is the kind of policy ordinary Australians want, not an elitist one. We are seeing in this policy the revelation of the elitism that is the signature of the Prime Minister and the members of the Liberal Party in that demolition coalition.

In particular, many those on low and middle incomes, many of whom would otherwise have had no access to paid parental leave, were mothers who live in regional communities. Since the introduction of Labor's scheme, there have been over 340,000 families that have benefited from that assistance.

I think it was Senator Williams who went on the record on Lateline on 10 June—not too many days ago—talking about Labor's scheme and how helpful it was for his son and daughter-in-law:

Tammy's a solicitor, my son's an accountant, they're pretty well-paid jobs, they work hard. Now Tammy was telling me the minimum wage for those 18 weeks was a huge benefit to help them through their mortgage and their tough times …

The Nationals' Senator John Williams understands that this was valuable.

But Labor's scheme was also equitable, which is a far cry from what is being offered by the Prime Minister and those who are standing alongside him and continuing to support the program that he is set to impose on this country. Before Labor's policy was implemented, around 55 per cent of working mothers had no access to paid parental leave, and most of those, sadly, were from low-and middle-income backgrounds. But today, thanks to Labor's Paid Parental Leave scheme, access to that scheme stands at 95 per cent of all working mothers. That is a significant policy outcome that is positive for women and their families and for the children who they are going to settle into great patterns of care, love and growth in those early days.

Labor's scheme saw taxpayers' money go to those who needed it most: low- and middle-income earners. And it was no accident, because that is what we believe is the role of government—to make sure that we do not leave our fellow Australians behind us. When 55 per cent of mothers had no access to paid parental leave, we gave 95 per cent access. That is the difference—equitable, fair and generous access given to those who need it most, not to some rort of a system like Tony Abbott's scheme, which is deeply flawed, awarding largesse to those who least need it. There is no means test for what this government is proposing. That means that millionaires will be gifted $50,000 from the public purse of scarce taxpayers' funds to have a baby. It simply does not make sense. It is completely and totally inequitable. And that is there for everyone to see.

Labor's scheme pays a flat rate; Tony Abbott's makes some mothers more equal than others, and some babies worth more from the moment that they are born than others. That is not the kind of Australia that I was born into. That is not the kind of Australia that my parents came to from the other side of the world. They came here because they knew they were going to get a fair go—not just a go; a fair go, with some equitable principles behind it, and that is what they have received for the most part. But Mr Abbott and this government are set to completely unpick that in every sector that they can. And, from the moment you are born in this country, this Liberal Party policy is set to discriminate against those who have the least and to advantage those who have the most. The better off you are, the bigger the cheque you receive.

The inequity is gobsmacking—not least when we compare Liberals' electorates to their hapless National Party colleagues' electorates. This policy will see blue-ribbon Liberal electorates benefit absolutely disproportionately. Treasurer Joe Hockey's seat of North Sydney has 590 mothers set to benefit. Malcolm Turnbull has 620 mothers who stand to get the full gain. Tony Abbott's seat of Warringah has 700 mothers who qualify.

Let us have a look at the National Party electorates that are being done over by their demolition coalition partners. One of those is my duty electorate, the seat of Lyne, held by the Prime Minister's supposed close friend David Gillespie, where there are only 270 mothers who are eligible. The same small number, 270 mothers, are eligible in the Deputy Prime Minister's seat of Wide Bay. And, overall, the average number of women who stand to benefit in each electorate is 475. By comparison, the Nationals' average is 365. I invite all of the National Party senators to cross the floor to vote with Labor to defeat this unfair Paid Parental Leave scheme. It disproportionately benefits the wealthy. It is wrong. It is inequitable. It is unfair, and it is an unnecessary drain on the public purse of $20 billion at a time when this government cries poor. That reveals, on another level, the dysfunction of this coalition. They have not even got an ideological line that they can follow through.

While rolling out an unfair, gold-plated Paid Parental Leave scheme at a cost of $5.5 billion each year, Tony Abbott has decided to hit pensioners and families with savage cuts. In the same breath as awarding $50,000 to a millionaire to have a baby, he is cutting the age pension, cutting the disability support pension, cutting the carer payment, cutting support to young job seekers, cutting family tax benefits and cutting $80 billion from schools and hospitals. To add insult to injury, the Prime Minister it is also imposing a $7 GP tax, forcing many low-and middle-income families—and those, critically, with chronic disease and illness—to have to decide whether they buy groceries or take themselves or their sick child to see a doctor. Families, pensioners, carers and the disabled are having their support slashed, only for those dollars taken from them to be doled out to those who need them least. Put simply, Tony Abbott is robbing the poor to pay the rich.

In parliament this week, I was gobsmacked to hear Tony Abbott say:

… this is the budget that the Australian people elected us to bring down.

A budget that cuts pensions and family support? A budget that cuts funding to health and education and increases taxes? He has got to be joking. All this, despite the government's pledge—the Prime Minister's own pledge on the day before the election—that there would be no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to pensions and no new taxes. This is a Prime Minister who has traded in deceit—so much so that deceit is now the official currency of this government. We even have Liberal members of parliament backgrounding the media on their constructed and determined deception of their National Party colleagues over a proposed increase in fuel tax, backslapping and praising each other for tricking those on their own side. The Liberal Party hoodwinked the Nationals into supporting higher fuel taxes through a ploy to abolish the diesel fuel rebate. Australians were lied to, and the Nationals have been lied to by their own partners. The fuel tax is a massive kick in the guts for regional Australia. Our regions have been completely betrayed. They need somebody to stand up for them and that is why, as a duty Senator for seven electorates—five of those in regional areas—I want to put on the record today that we cannot allow this terrible piece of policy to become part of the fabric of this society. In fact, it would not become part of any fabric—it would rend the fabric apart.

This budget exposes the Liberal Party as the far right ideological beast it has become. But even within that narrow Liberal church some of the parishioners—such as Senator Bernardi and Senator Macdonald—are peeling off their support. Somewhere they understand that what this policy reveals is a complete lack of care for fairness—a complete misunderstanding of the concept of equity and a disdain for fairness. It will not deliver for any ordinary Australians, but will deliver more to those who already have the most.

The PPL is a shining light. The fact is this government came up with this policy because they fail to respect the community. They failed to consult the National Farmers Federation. They failed to consult the Country Women's Association. They failed to consult any Australian who has a deep sense of equity or a vision for this country where all Australian children get a fair go, not a slanted go, from the day they are born. I look forward to the Liberal and National Party senators crossing the floor in great numbers against this disgraceful piece of public policy proposed by the Liberal Party. (Time expired)