Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is patently obvious that the borrowing and shovelling of money out the door have created a substantial debt that the government is fast realising will have to be dealt with at some time in the future. The debt, of course, is accompanied by interest payments. Together, they should see the government’s reckless borrowing, huge debt and expensive waste become a hangover for future generations.

I want to spend some time looking at the issue of unnecessary debt, although in five minutes it is hard to cover all the points of waste. I will start with BER, or the copyrighted term ‘Building the Education Revolution’. This is a very expensive program designed to provide a vertical surface for the Deputy Prime Minister to place a plaque on. My question is firstly about the name, as there is nothing new about buildings. As usual with the Labor Party propaganda, just because you say it often enough does not make it true. What we do know, however, is that the program has wasted a great deal of the taxpayers’ money, or the borrowed money, whichever way you would like to think about it. What we do know is that there are schools around the country that already have libraries but that have been told they can have one more. There are schools that have undercover areas that have been told they can have another one. And that is all before the Auditor-General has looked at this program, who, as we know, will reveal the significant problems that revolve around the program.

Before I finish on the BER, I would like to reflect on the attitudes of people that I have spoken to about the program. People ask me why when we had a surplus we could not afford this sort of spending and why, now that this country has been dragged deep into debt, somehow we can. I have lost count of those conversations. But what I say to these teachers and parents is that you should apply and get your fair share of the money, because in the end you will still have your fair share of the debt.

The BER is somewhat similar to the National Broadband Network, an expensive fiasco of a policy that has only served to provide one outcome: the demonstration that the minister is incompetent and would struggle to buy a beer at a bar. The NBN has been floated with a massive price tag of $43 billion but no business case, and I fear that if the NBN ever does surface it will be an albatross around the Treasury’s and the taxpayers’ necks, as well as being too expensive to attract subscribers.

I said before that the people of WA will get more than their fair share, because this is particularly true in our home state of Western Australia. Already the GST share has been wound back, and the royalties of offshore oil and gas productions are flowing strongly to Canberra. That is in spite of the pre-election statements by Kevin Rudd that WA would get a fair share under him. The reality now is that in this sea of debt, emphasised in mismanaged programs and wasteful spending, the Labor Party will need the royalties coming from the sea off Western Australia. The Prime Minister’s lengthy and exceedingly strident speech in question time yesterday foreshadowed that he sees that his debt and his interest payments will be offset via the hard work of companies and the people of Western Australia. In fact it was abundantly obvious that, in the same way that he falsely claimed the credit for the Gorgon and Pluto projects, he will claim the royalties to service his debt. Far from giving WA its fair share of the royalties generated from WA, he will take even more of it to Canberra.

As an aside, I also note that, thanks to his legislative support of the militant union the CFMEU, there have been some 140 right of entry claims on the Pluto site alone since July. So much for all our hopes of remaining a reliable supplier now that Kevin Reynolds and his boys are back in town! I add to this clear evidence of this government’s blatant disregard for economic productivity the effects of their flawed and dumb ETS, which will undermine the efforts of business to be competitive and to work on a level playing field across the world.

As I have laid out in my contribution, there has been wasteful spending, there has been duplication and there has been inappropriate spending not supported by business cases or any demonstration of economic productivity. There have been changes to laws and legislation proposed that will undermine the economic effectiveness of Australian businesses. Yet it is those very businesses that this Labor government will depend on for its future. The logic is simply bizarre.

I have covered the royalties issue, but before I conclude I will make mention of the review of taxation. A number of serious and disturbing revelations have been made about tax increases. Fortunately, some come from unreliable sources like the Minister for Health and Ageing. Others come to us through the media. What is clear is that astronomical amounts of money have been spent on programs that have not provided the best sorts of returns in terms of economic benefits for the country. The money has been borrowed, put on the taxpayers’ credit card and then shovelled out the door. But the fact remains: one day someone will pay, and it will be our children and our grandchildren.

See this speech in context