Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I think it is really important to understand what is going on here. What is going on here is that we have a piece of legislation that is going to result in a saving of $6 billion; it is an incredibly complex piece of legislation. For the benefit of the new senators, who have not even had the opportunity to look at this legislation in detail, the legislation involves the abolition of Medicare-funded dental care for young children—something that was negotiated as a result of the 2010 parliament. Medicare-funded dental care to the tune of $1,000 for young children: gone, under this budget savings measure.

It involves the abolition of the clean energy supplement—something that will hit and target the most vulnerable people in the Australian community. That is something that, again, some of the new senators in this chamber may not be aware of—a billion dollars taken out of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. It involves slashed funding for education. There is a budget measure in here that says: if you are on a disability support pension and you have a mental illness, you will have that support removed as a result of you being prosecuted for having committed a crime because you suffer from a mental illness.

This is a wide-ranging, far-reaching piece of legislation that deserves scrutiny from the crossbench and from the Senate. It is remarkable.

I understand why the coalition would want to see this rushed through the parliament—$6 billion worth of savings; money taken away from renewable energy; money taken away from the most vulnerable people in the Australian community. The Labor Party, who with the Greens helped establish the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, are now prepared to see it gutted. For the Australian Labor Party to take away legislation negotiated with the Greens to provide some support through the clean energy supplement to the most vulnerable people in the Australian community, that will be gone. And, of course, with the abolition of the child dental benefits scheme, there will be no more Medicare-funded dental care for young children.

All this has been done under the cloak of secrecy and done in a week so that we do not have the opportunity for this Senate to interrogate why it is that we as a parliament should be seeking to achieve budget savings on the back of these regressive measures, and measures that take us backwards when it comes to addressing dangerous climate change. This is remarkable.

I call on the Labor Party to ensure that we have the scrutiny that this legislation deserves. This is an ominous sign. While the Labor Party have not said yet whether they will support these measures, the fact that they want them rushed through this Senate and dealt with as a matter of urgency says to me that they were going to join in with the coalition to slash funding for renewable energy and to take money out of the pockets of the most vulnerable people in this community. At a time when we have growing out-of-pocket healthcare costs, they are going to take $1,000 of Medicare-funded dental care from the over 3½ million Australians who are eligible to receive it.

So we urge and we plead with you: reconsider. Give this legislation the scrutiny it deserves. Have some respect for the new crossbenchers so they can properly do their job and interrogate the huge list of savings measures listed in this legislation—$6 billion.

If you want to balance the budget, there are many other areas where we can do that. Let's take away some of the support that is given in the form of cheap fuel to mining companies. Let's make sure that we deal with negative gearing—and we agree with the Labor Party who indeed have supported our position on negative gearing. Let's ensure that we do not have property investors who are effectively getting subsidies while we see both the major parties wanting to take money away from the most vulnerable people in the community, slash publicly funded dental care and slash funding for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Reconsider your position. Let's extend the time line for this inquiry and let's ensure that this Senate does its job. What we do not need is a rubber stamp from the Labor Party to the coalition allowing them to pass through these regressive and unsustainable measures.