Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House—

(1) notes that:

(a) on Monday 24 November 2014, the Prime Minister stated to the House, "We are applying an efficiency dividend to the ABC"; and

(b) the next day, the Minister for Communications directly contradicted the Prime Minister's statement in the House by stating on Sky News, "It is not an efficiency dividend" and again, "This is not an efficiency dividend": and

(2) censures the Prime Minister for deliberately misleading:

(a) the parliament;

(b) the Australian people when he promised on the night before the last election that there would be "No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST, and no cuts to the ABC or SBS"; and

(c) the Australian people when he said, "It is an absolute principle of democracy that governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards".

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Maribyrnong from moving the following motion forthwith:

That the House—

(1) notes that:

(a) on Monday 24 November 2014, the Prime Minister stated to the House, "We are applying an efficiency dividend to the ABC"; and

(b) the next day, the Minister for Communications directly contradicted the Prime Minister's statement in the House by stating on Sky News, "It is not an efficiency dividend" and again, "This is not an efficiency dividend": and

(2) censures the Prime Minister for deliberately misleading:

(a) the parliament;

(b) the Australian people when he promised on the night before the last election that there would be "No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST, and no cuts to the ABC or SBS"; and

(c) the Australian people when he said, "It is an absolute principle of democracy that governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards".

See this speech in context