Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we have seen from those opposite in this debate is the fact that we do need a new vision for this country, because what we've seen is a really motley crew of an excuse for what they tried to elaborate as their vision for this government. But the reality is we have seen no vision from them. All we have seen is slogans that mean nothing and deliver less for the Australian people. There has been no better example of that in recent days and weeks than the Treasurer, Scott Morrison, lecturing us that inequality has actually been getting better in recent years, proving not only how out of touch he is but also, at the same time, his lack of political acumen. In this chamber, we get lectures about socialism from the finance minister—the guy who's best known for smoking a cigar just prior to delivering the worst budget in living memory. Now what we see is a $122 million survey that will be his legacy as finance minister. So there is no doubt that there needs to be a new vision.

The comments and contributions from Senator Macdonald and Senator O'Sullivan need to be touched on as well. They came in here and mentioned the importance of coal in regional Queensland. As a Queenslander, I am someone who understands that. But they obviously missed the memo from Scott Morrison, who said that cheap coal-fired power is dead. They obviously failed to pick up that from his contribution.

But why do we need a new vision? I think it's important to highlight just some of the reasons why that is necessary when you look at the record of this government. We know about the comments from Treasurer Morrison around inequality. However, since the mid-1970s, real wages have grown by 72 per cent for the top tenth of workers but just 23 per cent for the bottom tenth. For all their talk about jobs and growth, the key parameters in this year's budget have actually been downgraded. Growth is down, wages growth is down, employment is down and the unemployment rate is up.

When it comes to power prices, we see the ongoing debacle from those opposite, where they have failed to address it in their caucus despite it being such an important issue. They can have all the cups of tea that they like, but they need to reach a conclusion on the clean energy target. Basically, what that means for everyone out there is that they have to declare a winner between the Prime Minister and the former Prime Minister. That's actually the debate that is ongoing at the moment. But we know that a number of people have seen that wholesale power prices have doubled under Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. Only last week, the Reserve Bank governor added his voice to the long list of business voices that have said this government must adopt a clean energy target. We know what they did with education and the cuts to the Gonski funding, we know what they've been doing with their undermining of Medicare over a long period of time, and we know, despite all the rhetoric that they had in the lead-up to the budget, that they've done nothing to target or do anything about housing affordability. So the case is clear about why we need a new vision when it comes to these important issues.

The pleasing thing is that federal Labor have been leading the policy debate on these important issues. On secure jobs and fairer wages, we won't be slugging those who earn less than $87,000. Importantly in the current context, we will be reversing the cuts to penalty rates so that, for those people who can least afford a cut, Labor will be there to support them. On rising power prices, as I mentioned before, Labor stand ready to work with the government once they've declared a winner between the current Prime Minister and the former Prime Minister about who we need to talk to to get in place a clean energy target, which will be so important to providing stability and, in the long term, lowering the cost of electricity. On education we're very clear: we will restore the $22 billion that they have cut from all Australian schools. On housing affordability, we will reform negative gearing so that you can only negatively gear newly built homes, and reform the capital gains tax concessions that are unfair to so many people trying to enter into the new housing market.

But it's amusing to watch those opposite flounder about as they try to provide an example of what their vision is for this country. Speaker after speaker came in here, and you did not get a consistent message from any of them. That's because they don't have it. They are unsure what they will do to dig themselves out of their hole, whereas federal Labor will continue to provide the leadership that this country is looking for and provide the answers that the people want in this regard.