Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

They are into the self-congratulations again. You had nothing to do with it; it is all them. You only have to look at the Treasurer’s  smug capering on the day that interest rates went up. We remember that. He was like Wile E Coyote in momentary triumph before the anvil falls. You only need to see that to see what he really thinks of Middle Australia. For 10 years he has ignored the long hours they have put in and the sacrifices they have made to achieve our nation’s economic success. And still he refuses to acknowledge that, if we are serious about building our future prosperity, Middle Australia must start getting something back.

Mr Speaker, what has this budget done? When the budget party is over, when the back slapping is done, when the tuxedo has been dry-cleaned and the champagne has run out, what is left in the morning? Nothing to help Middle Australia build the nation’s future prosperity because, to build that future prosperity, Middle Australia needs a lot more than just tax relief. I support the modest, overdue tax relief that Middle Australian families received in the budget. They will need every cent of it, especially when they are facing the triple-whammy of higher interest rates, higher petrol prices and extreme industrial relations changes. So of course I welcome this tax break for the families of Middle Australia. But I make this point: no tax cut can make up for your losing your penalty rates. No tax cut can make up for your being unfairly dismissed. No tax cut can find you extra time to spend with your family. And no tax cut will give back the jobs that the Ballarat apprentice welders lost to Chinese workers.

My point is this: sure, the government is offering tax cuts, and I support them, but I will also deliver job security, education and training, child care and nation building. That is my pact with Middle Australia because, like me, Middle Australia is asking: what else? Where is the down payment on the future? Where is the investment in skills, in kids and in families? Where is the vision that Australia needs—the vision we need to build prosperity?

This budget fails Middle Australia and mortgages our future. It has no plan to take pressure off interest rates. If interest rates go up again, Middle Australia knows who to blame—the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, if your failure to fix the skills crisis forces interest rates up again, the buck stops with you. If your failure to show national leadership on infrastructure forces up interest rates up again, the buck stops with you. And if your failure to turn around Australia’s current account deficit forces interest rates up again, the buck stops with you.

Mr Speaker, there are dangerous holes in this budget. There is no plan to free us from being hostage to Middle Eastern oil prices, no plan to develop new Australian fuels, no plan to fix our crumbling infrastructure—clogged roads, slow internet connection, near empty dams and overburdened ports—no plan to stop kids from being turned away from TAFE colleges or, if they get into uni, ending up with a debt the size of a home mortgage, no plan to tackle the growing crisis in kids’ health and no plan for child care.

We have these plans and we have these ambitions. And I can do these things because there are some things I will not be spending money on. Unlike the Howard government, I will not splurge a billion dollars on advertising—and they have got millions more through these budget papers. I will not spend a billion dollars on their war in Iraq—the wrong war, a war where Australian money bought Saddam’s bullets—and I will never spend half a billion dollars with lawyers and consultants to impose a nasty dog-eat-dog industrial relations system on hardworking, decent Australians.

This government’s legacy is this: a nation not equipped for the future, an economy vulnerable when the sun stops shining, a government that does not reward Middle Australia. Under its watch, the boom times are not building future prosperity; they are building foreign debt. This government is not laying the solid foundation our kids need for a prosperous future. That is what Middle Australia needs—a government that will build a future for our kids and the country—one that builds prosperity; a government with new economic policies based on Australian values—one that will protect the Australian way of life; a government with my blueprints to tackle skills and infrastructure, climate change and children’s health, Australian fuels and national security; a government with my pact with Middle Australia—a pact to end the ‘double drop-off’, to get rid of TAFE fees in trades and child care, to end unfair dismissals, to train Australians first and to give our kids a high-tech future. In short, a pact with one crucial promise: when you put in you get back—a promise at the heart of every policy I will take to the next election.

The Treasurer has always been arrogant. He has not changed. But the Prime Minister has changed. Remember his annual family holidays at Hawks Nest? Not anymore. Now it is Washington, Ottawa and Dublin. When the Prime Minister leaves Australia tomorrow, I will stay and fight for Middle Australia. I will not cut and run from a debate on industrial relations or a debate on our national future or from an election fought in Middle Australia. When I am Prime Minister, expect three things: expect nation building, expect Australian values at work and, most of all, expect me to reward the hard work of Middle Australia—because, under a Beazley Labor government, when you put in you get back. My pact with Middle Australia is the way forward.

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