Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

Lucky they are not in business—absolutely. And the prospects are not too much better for the future. The promised $22 billion is now down to $3.3 billion. As a result, they have had to go in and axe programs like the regional investment fund—$2 billion gone from the promises made to regional Australia. I wonder where the member for Lyne and the member for New England are. These are the people who backed the mining tax because they were given a promise that there would be investments in regional Australia. That promise was broken this week in this budget. The $2 billion promised is gone—the spreading of the proceeds of the boom that no longer exists. The government often talk about the extra tax that they would receive if they collected the same share of GDP as the Howard government collected. Well, if they spent the same share of GDP as the Howard government did, they would be in surplus.

Families have nothing to show for this government and its expenditure. What we got on Tuesday night was more debt, more deficits and more deceit. The Prime Minister's 'we will all share in the gain' mantra has now turned into 'we will all share in the pain'. Australian families are to be slugged with $25 billion in higher taxes over the next four years. There are more taxes on super, the higher Medicare levy, the removal of promised cuts to family tax, and a range of other tax increases. Labor like to say that they have made $43 billion worth of savings in this budget, but of that $43 billion worth of savings $25 billion is actually new taxes. It is not savings at all; it is taking more off Australian families and businesses for Labor's spending program.

The Treasurer has now confirmed that the gross government debt will not just exceed the $300 billion debt ceiling but bust it wide open at $370 billion. Yesterday in question time, when asked about this matter, the Treasurer said that gross debt in 2012-13 is $292.8 million; in 2013-14, it will be $321.3 million; in 2014-15 it will be $345 million; and the peak is $356 million. Putting aside the fact that he got his millions and billions mixed up—not altogether surprising for this Treasurer, particularly when he is drawing up his expenses and his receipts—he actually stopped the answer because, if he had read one more year, he would have got a peak of $370 billion. When they legislate to increase the credit card limit, which is what will have to be done for the fourth time, they will need a minimum of about $400 billion to keep up with their runaway expenditure—the debt that Australians have to pay back. The government cannot make light of it; it all has to be paid back.

It is even worse when you consider that they inherited, in the bank, $70 billion. They have squandered the inheritance, and the money that was put aside to help future generations pay for the extra health and welfare costs of an ageing society has all been spent and wasted rather than being a legacy that could be used when it is going to be needed to meet the extra costs of an ageing society.

When the previous Labor government left office, they had a $96 billion mess of net debt to be cleaned up. Paying that back took the coalition government the best part of a decade. It required prudent and responsible economic management by the Howard government and a really mature and patient understanding from the Australian people. There are 16 of us in the coalition who were ministers through those years, and we know the discipline that was required. It is staggering to think that paying back Labor's debt over the same period would require a $30 billion surplus every year. This government has never produced a surplus. The next government is going to have to find a surplus of $30 billion a year just to remove the debt, let alone starting to rebuild the nest egg that is going to be necessary to meet the cost as our society ages and to meet the costs that will be required to manage our economy and our society in the way we would wish.

Labor's idea of prudent financial management, at a time when cost-of-living pressures are skyrocketing, is adding more baggage to families and to businesses to further constrain the economy. The Treasurer keeps saying that, no matter who is in government, they will have the same challenge of falling tax receipts, which would have to be confronted in a tough budget. Well, the basic premise that receipts would have fallen even under a coalition government is wrong. Falling revenues directly correlate to the crisis of business and consumer confidence that has been created by this government. Hopefully, we will do things better, take advantage of the global situation and be able to build on Australia's natural strength. We have seen failed policies that impinge on investment—like the mining tax, the carbon tax and the chopping and changing in superannuation taxes that undermines people's retirement savings. Families are frightened about what is going to happen next under Labor. They are fearful that, if they stick their heads up and make a go of something, this government will come down on them like a tonne of bricks. Business investment is being deferred, and big-ticket consumer spending is also being deferred.

The government is always desperate for excuses, but each one of these excuses is hollow. The Treasurer said again today that the high value of the dollar was the reason why the government was in financial crisis. Well, the reality is that the government does not get many figures right in its budget—some say it gets none—but, in the 2012-13 budget, the government predicted that the average value of the Australian dollar would be US$1.03. And guess what it was: US$1.03. That was the only figure the government got right. It budgeted on it being US$1.03, and now it wants to make an excuse because it got its budget right on one number.

They said, 'The trade weighted index has moved against us.' They got that right. They predicted it would be 77 in the last budget, and that is exactly what it has turned out to be. Now they want to use that as an excuse. This government has placed intolerable pressures on Australian families. Since Labor was elected, electricity has gone up by 93.8 per cent, water and sewage by 63.1 per cent, utilities by 79 per cent, gas by 61.8 per cent, insurance by 45.4 per cent, education by 38.7 per cent, rents by 30.2 per cent and housing by 29.6 per cent. Labor has imposed all of these additional burdens on families at a tough time. Yet through this budget they have means-tested family tax benefits. They have got rid of the baby bonus. They have frozen family tax benefits A and B. They introduced a flood tax in a previous budget and now there is a levy on Medicare. The government has cut and capped the childcare rebate. They have means-tested the 30 per cent rebate on private health insurance. They have means-tested the medical expenses tax offset and now require an extra amount before anyone can claim it.

There are dozens of these additional tax burdens that Labor has imposed on Australian families. This is a government that has lost its way. It cannot balance a budget. It has no idea how it can turn our nation to prosperity to pay off its own debts. It has no plan for the future. The only way Australia will ever get its budgets balanced and be able to work with families to achieve a better life style for themselves and for their communities is for there to be a change of government. May the next budget be delivered by a different Treasurer and a different government which will be competent and manage our economy properly.

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