Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

This government claims it is going to build 12 new submarines at $36 billion, and there is $16 billion for the Joint Strike Fighter, which it delays; it says the money is somewhere in the forward estimates. Well, it is not there. Then we have the dental care program—the one going through the parliament now—with $4 billion.

But the mother of them all, if you like, is the Gonski review, with $6½ billion, but probably really more—$8 billion a year. The Prime Minister said: 'Don't worry. Every school in the country will be better off.' We would love to promise that. We would love to say that every school in Australia is going to get way more money than the six per cent annual increase already budgeted for. We would love to say that. You know what? They will not say where it is coming from. But we know where it is coming from, because there is someone running around out there saying: 'Hang on. We should break into the government Future Fund, the money that was set up and put away by the coalition for the future challenges—the superannuation needs into the future—so that our children and grandchildren will not have a debt burden.' We put that money away. We did not spend it. We put it away, and what do Labor want to do? They want to break into that. You know what that is the equivalent of? That is the equivalent of saying to a parent: 'It's okay. Don't worry about your retirement. Don't worry about funding yourself and your family into retirement. You can break into your superannuation now in order to fund your children's education.' You cannot apply one rule to the government and not apply the same rule to everyday Australians. You cannot break into people's savings for one purpose and not another.

We asked the Treasurer explicitly in question time today: 'What is the answer? Yes or no? Are you going to break into this Future Fund, which Australians have put aside to deal with the challenges into the future and to protect our children?' You know what? He would not answer the question. He was prepared to answer the member for Bass in the caucus yesterday. He was prepared to answer a question on death duties in this place, but he was not prepared to answer the question about breaking into the Future Fund.

You know what comes out of all of this? The government's total indifference to the welfare of Australian families. How can you say to a family on a household income of $68,000 a year, 'Guys, you're going to have taxes that increase your cost of living by at least $1,000 or $2,000 a year'? How do you say that to them in this environment, when so many people are uncertain and nervous about the future? How do you say to those people, 'We're going to make it much harder for people into the future under Labor, but don't worry; it's all accounted for'? It is not accounted for. That is the Labor way. They said before the last election, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' The Prime Minister looked the Australian people in the eye and pledged there would be no carbon tax, and the Treasurer looked the Australian people in the eye and said it was a hysterical allegation that there would be a carbon tax. So too do they look the Australian people in the eye today and say, 'Don't worry; it will be all right.'

It will not be all right under Labor, because they are A-grade hypocrites. They are indifferent to the welfare of Australian families. They are indifferent to the welfare of Australian businesses. They just do not understand that taxpayers' money belongs to taxpayers. It is not theirs to splash around for the re-election of the leader of the Labor Party, Julia Gillard. It is not their opportunity to try and hold government based on taxpayers' money. It is their solemn responsibility to protect taxpayers, to give Australians hope, to allow Australians to gain the reward from their effort and their hard work and to ensure that as a nation we have the opportunity to do better. The handbrake of Labor must come off. It is time for them for once to be honest with the Australian people. (Time expired)

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