David Hawker (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In speaking to the appropriation bills, which of course encompass the first budget of this new Labor government, I have to say that, maybe having been spoilt by the previous budgets presented by the honourable member for Higgins, Peter Costello, this budget came across as a very big disappointment. It was a very pedestrian performance. I think it really did show that it is classic Labor and we are back to the old style. There was a lot of talk and hype beforehand about this being a tough budget but, when we look at the so-called savings and new spending, we find that it is two for one: the spending has gone up $2 for every $1 that was saved. As I say, this is a classic Labor budget. In fact, we have seen an increase in spending and an increase in taxes. In actual dollar terms, it is the biggest spending and biggest taxing budget Australia has ever seen.

Really, there were two messages that came out of this budget. It was a squandered opportunity. The first budget in a new parliament is the time when a government can really do some important things to set the scene, but very little has happened. We are very much seeing a return to many of the old Labor values. As the Australian of 17 May put it: ‘We are going to see a sharp rise in central state planning.’ In other words, rather than a fresh face, we are very much seeing a return to the old Labor values.

When we look at some of the aspects of the budget, we have to remember a bit of the background of the people who have been directly involved. If we look at both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, we see that they were trained in Queensland, where they learned the art of parochialism and the art of ultrapopulism, and I think that is really showing through in their whole approach to this budget. But the thing that really does concern me, as someone who represents a regional seat in this parliament, is that we have seen a real push back to city values and a city focus. This should not come as a surprise if you look at the make-up of the Rudd cabinet. There are 20 members of the cabinet and, if you do a quick analysis, you find the answer to what I have said: eight of the cabinet ministers come from Melbourne, six come from Sydney, three come from Brisbane, one comes from Perth, one comes from Adelaide and one—the token regional representative—comes from Newcastle. That is seriously scary, and I think it shows in the thinking of these people, who are very much city oriented. This is going to be the shape of decision making for this current government. It will be very much a city based thinking government. I remind honourable members that, when we look at the make-up of the House of Representatives, we see that, of the 150 members, a third of them come from regional Australia—and yet there is one token regional member in the cabinet. That is a bit scary. For people who do not live in the major cities, it is a very big worry.

This government inherited an economy that is the envy of most of the world. If ever a government was given a golden chance to really do something, it was this government. It inherited this economy and yet already we are seeing a budget that has almost got shades of the Whitlam era. And the events of last week will add to a major decline in public confidence in the ability of this government when it comes to addressing the real challenges that we are facing in the world today—and let us not underestimate it: there are some very big challenges.

When you look at the specifics of this budget, you see that there is a $40 billion infrastructure fund but there are no details; there is no convincing explanation of how it is going to be spent. There is a very real fear about how funds will be spent. I think we have already seen some indications in the by-election in the seat of Gippsland that this money is being saved up to be used not for the most important challenges of infrastructure in the country—whether it be for new roads, transport links or other infrastructure—but to try and buy some votes in the lead-up to the next federal election.

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