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

I say to the member who asked the question I agree with him it would have been wrong to say to Australians, ‘Shoulder this burden entirely through a levy.’ So we have not done that. For every dollar we will ask Australians to contribute to this levy, we have found $2 in savings or deferrals in the federal government budget—not easy decisions. The Leader of the National Party interjected before about infrastructural deferrals. The single biggest infrastructure deferral actually affects my electorate—not easy decisions, but the right decisions in the national interest.

You can come to this place and say, ‘I will always look to do what’s popular,’ or you can come to this place and say, ‘I’m determined to do what’s right.’ On this side of the chamber we are determined to do what is right. We ask the Leader of the Opposition just once—just one vote on one occasion—to set aside his political interests and to vote in the national interest.

See this speech in context