Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member opposite raises the issue of the Charter of Budget Honesty. It was an important piece of legislation that was introduced by those opposite but then shredded in the lead-up to the last election, where they did not have the guts to put their own policies out there for independent costing. We know why: there was an $11 billion black hole in their costings, because they cannot count. They have learnt nothing over the last 12 months because they are now arguing amongst themselves about how they fill the next big black hole in their budget costings—a $70 billion black hole in their proposed budget.

They do not like public servants, and we have heard from those opposite—the member for Goldstein and the member for Mackellar—that they do not trust them. We already know that they intend to sack 12,000 of them if they ever find themselves over on this side of the House. We can understand from the contributions of the member for Mackellar and others on that side that probably a whole heap of Treasury officials' jobs are on the line if those opposite get their way. They do not like public servants, they do not like the Department of Treasury, they do not like economists as a breed, they do not like scientists. In fact, the list of people that they do not like seems to grow by the minute. Basically, the only criterion needed to find yourself on the hit list of the coalition is to disagree with any of the policies that they have the temerity to put up.

Their list of enemies is growing daily because those opposite are waging a war on knowledge, a war on expertise, a war on science, a war on economists, a war on anybody who has the temerity to disagree with their ridiculous propositions. Their serious proposition to deal with climate change is going to lead to individual households being whacked with an additional $1,400 per annum. These are the sorts of things that they put up. Instead of being engaged in a serious debate about an important initiative, they are using this debate in a cowardly attack on high-ranking former public servants and anybody else who happens to disagree with their view of the world. I commend the bill to the House. It is worthy of the support of all members.

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