David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer ) Share this | Hansard source

They are not my words but Peter Costello's words. Go and have a look at his opinion piece. Step 1: talk the economy down. Step 2: cost those nasty savings measures but keep them in the top drawer. Step 3: create a commission of audit. If you thought Peter Costello did a good job, I tell you that with a $70 billion black hole the only man for this job is Freddy Krueger. He is about the only one who could slash and slice and dice the sorts of savings that we would experience if the Liberals were to come to power.

So that is the third thing to do. They create a mickey mouse commission of audit, like they did when they were last in government. What they do not tell you is that when they were last in government they came in and said: 'What a disaster. The economy is in terrible shape. We need to make some savings.' So what did they do? They took an axe to health and education. The interesting thing was they had something like a commission of audit, but most of the things that they actually took up were not even the recommendations that the commission of audit outlined. They have already decided what they are going to cut. It is sitting in the top drawer.

The model, the template, is there for people to see in New South Wales and Queensland. It will take an axe to the Public Service. They have at least been a little bit honest about that in mentioning it will be 11,000 or 12,000 people. But they will take an axe to health. They will take an axe to education. That is their way. That is the Liberal way. We invest. We build a stronger economy for the future so that each individual has the capacity to make an active contribution to our economy. They believe that education is only for the privileged. They believe that if you cannot afford to pay for an education you do not deserve one. That is what they think. That is what they have always thought. Unfortunately, that is the future for this country if they get elected.

I have gone through the first few steps, but step 4, which I have already covered, is what they do when they get in, and that is to cut health and cut education. We saw what they did when they came to power in 1996. We have seen what Newman has done in Queensland. We have seen what O'Farrell has done in New South Wales. We have seen what Baillieu has done in Victoria. It is more of that that the Australian people can look forward to. But step 5 is the one. All of the first four steps were pretty predictable, but step 5 is the doozy. This is the one that you have all been waiting for.

There is a bit of an alignment of the stars happening here. They have their $70 billion black hole. How are they going to fill it? They are going to slash services—we know that. But, to give them credit, there have been one or two creative suggestions on their side. It is no more than a thought bubble, but if you pierce the thought bubble you can see there might actually be a kernel of coalition policy. It is a shame the member for Goldstein is not in the chamber at the moment. He came up with this cunning plan that the way he would save money is he would outsource health and education to the states. That is a good idea—they have been doing such a good job! I feel much safer knowing that Barry O'Farrell and Campbell Newman are going to look after health and education policy!

So we are going to outsource health and education completely to the state Liberal governments. Talk about opening the barn door and letting the fox into the henhouse. That is the future under a Liberal government. That is what we will experience under a Liberal government. But the thing about what the member for Goldstein has had to say is that there is a little bit more method to his madness. He is not just talking about outsourcing services to the states—because he knows that, if you outsource services to the states, they are going to want something out of it. Barry O'Farrell told us on the weekend what they want. They want to jack up the GST. The stars are beginning to come into alignment as more and more Liberal governments start to sprout up around the place all calling for an increase in the GST. We can see where it is going. They always wanted to put the GST on everything. They even took it to an election. Deep down in their heart of hearts they want to put the GST on everything—food, education and health. And now they want to get together with their Liberal mates and come back and try and finish the job. Well, we are going to stand up against that. (Time expired)

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