Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. There are many words that could be used to describe the way in which Australians feel when they think about what Labor promised before the election and has since failed to deliver. One I am hearing increasingly is ‘conned’. I am also hearing ‘duped’, ‘scammed’, ‘ripped off’, ‘gulled’, ‘deceived’, ‘swindled’, ‘hoaxed’ and ‘defrauded’. The people of Australia feel betrayed by this government, which promised so much but has delivered so little. This big-promising Labor government is big on blame, big on excuses and light on action—spin, no substance; talk, no action; blow, no torch. This is a government that has simply failed to deliver. In seven months and two days it is already out of ideas.

Don’t tell me the Prime Minister is actually walking out—he is not even prepared to answer for his actions! The Prime Minister is leaving the chamber, not prepared to account for his government after just seven months in office—seven months of failure; already out of ideas. This parliament has spent fewer days sitting than any other in modern history. We are about to go away for almost nine weeks on one of the longest winter breaks ever recorded and we are doing that because the government have run out of business. There are no bills. The bills that we have dealt with, apart from the budget group, were mainly leftover, B-grade legislation from the previous government. They are peppering their speakers list with 25 speakers discussing a bill that is about whether we should have three people or five people on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. This is the kind of legislation that is left for the government to bring forward to the place.

What are we going to do with the government after so many promises and so little delivery? They have commissioned 135 reviews. You would think that 11½ years in opposition would be enough time to actually think up a few ideas about what you might do when you got the government. You would think they would have been ready for action. We got all this rhetoric about how hardworking the government were going to be. No-one could take more than Christmas Day off; we were going to have parliament back before Christmas; the ministers could not have any holidays. Well, it was weeks and weeks after Christmas before parliament got back, and when we did get back there was no legislation for us to deal with. We only sat for a few weeks and we were gone again. The government were out of ideas and had nothing to do. So what we have instead are summits, reviews, inquiries and focus groups—nothing to deliver any real benefits for the Australian people.

While we are away for eight weeks the Prime Minister is going overseas again another three or four times. In fact, he is the most travelled Prime Minister in history in his early days in office. That, again, is a bit of a surprise because before the election we were told the country was in a derelict state. The economy was a mess. There was no proper investment, no proper planning and we would be so busy—so busy that he spent one month out of his first four out of the country visiting the world, telling other countries how to do things. Maybe the problems in Australia were not so bad. And he was away for three weeks during the critical budget preparations.

But let us look at what the government have actually delivered. They said they would put downward pressure on petrol prices, but they have gone up. They said groceries would be cheaper, but they have gone up. Interest rates would go down, but they have gone up. They would improve housing affordability, but housing affordability is worse and rents are higher. They were going to deliver fast broadband, but they axed the OPEL contract, and who knows whether their own scheme will ever get off the ground? They were going to spend more on roads and infrastructure, but they have spent less. They were going to save the whales, but they have rolled over and wimped out on their promised legal action. They said their expenditure would be open and transparent, but billions of dollars are covered up in Labor Party promises. They said they would get rid of regional programs that were criticised by the Auditor-General, but they have slashed the Auditor-General’s budget and developed a giant new rorts program for which only Labor candidates could apply and the applications are already closed. They said they would protect workers, but strikes have gone up sixfold. They said they would secure the future of the aged, but they have ignored pensioners in the budget and $50 billion has been slashed off their superannuation in their first six months. The stock market has plummeted. Unemployment is to rise by 134,000. And they said they would end the blame game, but they have become the blame kings—75 per cent of questions without notice have been answered by blaming someone else. (Time expired)

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