Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be able to speak on the appropriations legislation before us today because this legislation is a very clear way of seeing what the priorities of the government are and what they have been since coming to office. It is particularly important to look at the appropriations that we are considering today, and those that have been made since the government came to office, in the context of the very many challenges that the Australian nation has faced during that time and the way that the government has navigated the nation through them. The spending priorities that are set are a pretty clear reflection of the kinds of priorities a government has for the nation.

It is very interesting in that context to reflect on some of the contributions made by members in this debate, and in broader debates throughout this place, particularly since the commencement of this parliamentary year. I am thinking particularly of those opposite who have contributed to the debate and have largely forgotten, it seems, about two of the very significant things that have impacted upon our economic circumstances and our fortunes generally, namely, the global financial crisis and the significant natural disasters that our country has faced. In the midst of all of these very difficult circumstances for individuals and for our country, this government has consistently shown that it prioritises jobs and that it will support the kinds of social reforms that Labor has always stood for. This includes things like supporting people on a pension, ensuring that families have an opportunity to get a decent level of financial support to be able to look after their children well and provide for their futures and ensuring that our country gets the kind of health and education commitments that it needs in order to become a better country and that its citizens need so that they have a very good quality of life and good prospects in the future. It is extraordinary that some of the comments of those opposite have revealed how little regard they have for such very significant events as the global financial crisis. Indeed, as recently as yesterday, we heard the member for Goldstein speaking in the House during the matter of public importance and mentioning the GFC as some sort of by-line, some sort of anecdote in history, just a blip—

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