Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers to questions asked of a number of government senators in relation to last night's federal budget. As my colleagues have already said, there's really only one way you can describe last night's federal budget, and that is: a massive election con job. This budget last night comes after six years of neglect of the Australian people and, worse still than neglect, outright cuts to the services that so many Australians depend upon right across my state of Queensland and right across this country. Over the last six years we have seen cut after cut from this Liberal-National government to schools across Queensland, to hospitals across Queensland and to infrastructure that Queensland desperately needs as a growing state.

On top of all of those cuts, the other thing that has defined this government over the last six years is absolute chaos. From year to year, from Prime Minister to Prime Minister, the knives have been out constantly, and the undermining has happened constantly as well. I was just thinking before that we're now on our third Prime Minister under this government, and, if they try really hard, they've still got a few hours left to knife another Prime Minister and put in a fourth. That's the kind of thing that you can't rule out from this government, such is the level of chaos we've seen from them over the last six years—six years of cuts and chaos delivered by this government. They're trying to paper over it now with a new Prime Minister, a new Treasurer and a new federal budget. But I have confidence that the Australian people will see through this and that the Queenslanders back in my home state will see through this and will see that this is just an election con job—that a government that is on the ropes, that has neglected them for six years, is trying to rush through in a belated attempt to win them over.

As I was watching last night's budget, it reminded me quite a lot of sending someone a belated birthday card six years after their birthday. For six years, this government has cut back on services to Queensland and neglected what Queenslanders need. Six years later, on the eve of an election, they come out and say, 'Here are a few sweeteners; we'll try to win you over.' The problem this government has is that, in my experience, when you send someone a belated birthday card, all they remember is the fact that you forgot their birthday in the first place. I'm very confident that last night's budget will show that Queenslanders, and Australians in general, will not forget the fact that this government has cut their services and will not forget the fact that wages have barely grown under this government. They'll remember all those things, just like they would remember it if it were a birthday that this government had forgotten and then sent them a belated card six years down the track.

I was also remembering before—we're all reminiscing a little bit, because this is probably the last day of sittings before the next election—former senator George Brandis. Who could forget one of the LNP's shining stars in Queensland over many years? Some of you might remember that he had some things to say about the Queensland LNP before the last state election. He described them as being very, very mediocre. I think that description could also be applied to last night's federal budget delivered by this government: very, very mediocre.

It was particularly mediocre for my home state of Queensland. All last night's budget did—rather than put money back into the services that Queenslanders need—was actually lock in the hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts that we've seen to Queensland hospitals and the hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts we've seen to Queensland schools, TAFEs and apprenticeships. In question time today we had ministers getting up and talking about all this great news about new funding for skills. Why didn't you do some of it sometime over the last six years, rather than pulling it out of the bottom drawer just before an election?

Mackay, one of Queensland's most important regional towns, is now suffering from a skills shortage, with unemployment down to about three per cent and employers struggling to find people for jobs. Why would that be? Could it be to do with the fact that this government has cut tens of thousands of apprenticeships over the last six years? All of a sudden they want us to forget about that and look at the fact that they're putting in a few little trickles of money for apprenticeships and for skills into the future. The budget last night locked in those cuts to schools, hospitals and TAFEs. It didn't reverse them at all. The budget has no plan to lift the wages of Queensland working people, who have barely had pay rises for any of the six years that this government has been in power.

Probably worst of all, there is not a single dollar of funding from the federal government for new infrastructure in Queensland—not just this year but next year as well. They want us to look at all these infrastructure projects they're talking about, but they're years into the distance. Not only would you need to vote for this government at the coming election; you'd need to vote for them at the next one as well. It is a joke, it is a con job, and Queenslanders will see through it. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.