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

a budget coming to surplus in 2012-13 as promised. If the Leader of the Opposition had his way, the cost of his negativity would be a huge deficit. A skills package delivered $3 billion in skills to get Australians the benefits of opportunity around the country. The cost of the Leader of the Opposition's negativity is he wants to rip money out of apprenticeships and out of skills. The recent budget invested more than $2 billion in mental health—something that you can only do if you balance the government's budget, not create a black hole. The cost of the Leader of the Opposition's negativity would be a black hole which means initiatives like mental health initiatives could not be funded.

Better help for families with teenagers was in the recent budget—something that the Leader of the Opposition has never shown any care or concern about. School uniforms were in the education tax refund in the recent budget—something that the Leader of the Opposition has never shown any care or concern about. The childcare tax rebate was moved to fortnightly payments to assist working families with the costs of paying for child care, a better circumstance than ever provided when the Leader of the Opposition was a cabinet minister. Low-income Australians get the benefit of the low income tax offset being brought forward. We care about the circumstances of low-income Australians. The Leader of the Opposition cares only about his negativity. And, of course, we earlier this year delivered a healthcare agreement, which means more doctors, more nurses, more local control and less waste. We have delivered the package which will enable Queensland to be rebuilt while we pay as we go. That is something that the Leader of the Opposition opposed and then he produced a package which fell apart within days. We have delivered the structural separation of Telstra, reform above and beyond anything the Howard govern­ment was capable of. The NBN continues to roll out, including with today's announce­ment. And the list goes on.

I can tell from the look on the Leader of the Opposition's face that he will never be interested in positive plans for the nation's future. He will never be interested in the benefits being provided to working families. The only thing he is interested in is negativity, and the problem for working families is that that comes at a cost to them. His negativity comes at a cost to them. We will let him play the silly political games he is going to play today and we will get on with the job of helping families around the nation. (Time expired)

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