Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I was asked about bipartisanship, and let me tell you where it can start. It can start with delivering the Medicare levy surcharge changes the government has reintroduced into the House today in order to give hardworking Australians some tax relief. He could indicate some bipartisanship by saying that he regrets showing the economic vandalism and irresponsibility that the Liberal Party showed in the Senate this morning. He could show some bipartisanship on the delivery of the government’s budget.

The Leader of the Opposition is a man who claims to know something about economics. Well, you do not need to be an expert to come to this very simple conclusion: in uncertain global economic times, the last thing that we can afford is budget uncertainty here at home. In uncertain economic times globally, we need to deliver budget certainty. If he is offering bipartisanship, that is where it should start—deliver the budget, deliver it in whole and deliver the Medicare levy surcharge.

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