Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

That was a dreadful contribution by the Assistant Treasurer, otherwise known from this side of the dispatch box as ‘Cygnet’. ‘Daddy Swan’ could not come down, so he sent baby along and baby went on with the usual rubbish that he continues on with. It is good enough for the Treasurer to send down his advisers to the dispatch box, to send advice down to ‘Cygnet’, but it is not good enough for the Treasurer to come down and contribute to part of this debate, because that man is completely and utterly out of his depth.

It is a joke when you listen to the rhetoric of the government on the cost of living pressures. They promised the Australian people at the last election that they would bring downward pressure on interest rates; they promised Australian families that they would bring downward pressure on groceries; they promised the Australian people that they would bring downward pressure on petrol prices. They have had six months in government to come up with a plan to deliver on that promise and they have done nothing on this, their major piece of policy announcement since they were elected. The budget that was discussed last night delivered no support to Australian families.

The Australian people will shortly start to understand that this is a government full of style, full of bravado, full of spin but very, very short on substance. They have no substance. The Australian people, when they go to the bowsers this week to fill up and see petrol prices at record highs, will realise that Mr Rudd promised at the last election but in this budget failed to deliver any measure targeted at reducing that petrol price. When the Australian people go to do their grocery shopping at the supermarket shops this week, when they pay higher prices at the checkout, they should recognise that Mr Rudd promised at the last election that he would bring grocery prices down, and he did nothing in this budget to deliver on that promise.

The interesting part to examine is the rhetoric and the debate that took place in the run-up to the budget announcement last night—the period between November last year and the budget announcement last night. When we have seen ‘Daddy Swan’ out and ably assisted on many occasion by ‘Cygnet’, when we have seen the two of them out talking to—

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