Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

I was sitting in your chair earlier on, Madam Deputy President, when I heard Senator Macdonald talk about the standards in this chamber and how they've slipped over the last 28 to 29 years he's been here, and I can say that over the 14 years I've been here the nastiness has been just incredible. I've seen it myself from the time Mr Abbott took over the leadership. Standards really did drop. I don't think I'd get much of an argument from those of us who aren't Liberal senators.

Senator Macdonald also talked about the lies perpetrated in this chamber, and in the other chambers, that are gotten away with. But there is a greater lie here. We are not back in the black. We're not. There's still debt. It's projected that we won't be back in the black until next year. So there's another blatant lie that's being peddled by the government. We understand that their backbench senators get wheeled out and have to run the party line, and that's a classic example. I'm not blaming Senator Paterson, because it's what the Treasurer's saying and what the Prime Minister's saying, but I want to quote one page of an article that's come to my attention. It's by Greg Jericho from The Guardianand it's under the heading 'The seven graphs that expose the Coalition's 2019 budget fairy tale'. I won't go too far into it, but he does say:

Tax cuts, surpluses and fancifully optimistic forecasts add up to a make-believe budget.

He says:

Morrison splashes the cash in final election sell to the suburbs

The rosy forecasts in Frydenberg's budget—and the big assumptions behind them

I'm quoting him. If it were me saying it, I'd refer to their proper titles. He also says:

This year's budget is an odd mix of tax cuts and spending measures targeted to win an election, but with assumptions so joyous and optimistic that you could be forgiven for thinking the Liberal party wants to lose just so it can blame the ALP for not living up to their predictions.

People are a wake-up to this. The media are a wake-up to this.

This has been a really strange session. I'm not using these as props, Madam Deputy President. I just want to put them under my nose so I can refer to them. Something was brought to my attention by Senator Gallacher this morning. I hadn't noticed it. This is the first time it has happened in living memory, certainly for me—and I'd be interested to hear from other senators, especially you, Madam Deputy President. Normally in the newspapers after the budget there is a photo of the Treasurer looking like a leader. You know how the cameramen get down and they make the Treasurer look like they're huge and this is a thumping win for our nation. What do Australia's papers carry today? Can you believe that just about every paper in this nation—I'll hold them down here so I don't get told off—features cartoons?

In The Australianwhich I call the paper they give away for free at the airport—there is the Treasurer, Mr Frydenberg, and he's got no clothes on and he's sitting on a cloud. He's the love cherub with a bow and arrow. He's smiling and he's got big rosy red cheeks. He's shooting arrows out there, and there's money being aimed at a nurse and a construction worker, I assume, with a helmet on. But, in the background, there is a big black ominous cloud with lightning flying out of it.

Then we go to The Fin Review, one of the last organs you would think would turn the budget into a cartoon, but here they have Mr Frydenberg on the back of a truck, with 'Back in Black' written on it, and he's playing a guitar. There's the Prime Minister drawn in the cartoon. He's playing a flute or something. They're mimicking the AC/DC video for 'It's a Long Way to the Top', down Swanston Street. But there's a big road sign saying, virtually: 'Look out. There are holes in front. Roadworks.' This is how seriously they're taking it.

Here's the front page of The Daily Telegraph. We've got The Terminator—I was going to say 'The Cormannator'—puffing on a cigar. He's with others, and they're cooking a barbecue, and the headline takes the mickey: 'Prime cuts'. Then we have this one here, The Canberra Times. They have Mr Frydenberg dressed up as a yodeller in the mountains , and he's got funny pants on with money falling out of them. Then they've got the Prime Minister sitting on a bull there, ready for the 'election rodeo'. I'm not making this up.

Wait till we get to this one, the Herald Sun. Oh my goodness me. I'm not allowed to use it as a prop, and I wouldn't dare, but, anyway, here's a picture of an overweight Prime Minister with a pair of shorts and a footy jumper on. He's kicking the ball and showing hairy legs. It just keeps getting worse. Then we have this one here, The West Australian. They've got Mr Frydenberg as some genie rubbing a bottle, hoping for wishes, and it says that you get 30 wishes, not three. It's an absolute joke. They're a wake-up to you.