Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

For the sake of the House, I withdraw—but he is wasting my time. As far as Mr Piccoli is concerned, yes, the state education minister did come yesterday and he did speak to the Nationals about the Gonski plan.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

All I say is: hold fire on that criticism of me, because there are some aspects of the Gonski plan I actually agree with, Member for Moreton. There you go; that might surprise you. John Harding, the president of the Wagga Wagga branch of the Association of Independent Retirees, feels that they have been left in a state of uncertainty, and he is right. He said:

Dom and Larissa Byrne of Wagga Wagga are about to welcome baby No. 6 in July—and congratulations and good luck to them on that. They are certainly doing their part for the nation. But they believe the government is 'making it more difficult for young couples to start a family'. Mr Byrne expressed his concern, saying:

He is a good man, Dominic Byrne, and I agree with him wholeheartedly on that point. Despite claims from the government that it offers hope and assistance for families, the coalition know—and, more importantly, the taxpayers of Australia know—that this is far from the reality.

At the 2010 election, the Prime Minister promised Australia's net debt would peak at less than $90 billion. This year's budget revealed net debt will now peak at over $191 billion, which is more than double the Prime Minister's original promise. But the Australian public are used to this Prime Minister not exactly keeping all her promises. She promised that there would be no carbon tax, but there is. She guaranteed that there would be a surplus—in fact, she guaranteed there would be a surplus 165 times—but there is not and there never will be under the current Labor government. When was the last time a Labor government produced a surplus? It was in 1989. This budget is the 12th deficit from Labor's—wait for it—last 12 budgets. Last year, the Treasurer promised a surplus of $1½ billion a dozen times or more—instead he has developed a $19.4 billion deficit, a deficit as big as the surplus he originally promised.

Australian households are under pressure. University students of the Riverina are under pressure. The irrigators of the Riverina are under pressure. And they are under pressure because of this government. They are under pressure because this government delivers no hope, no certainty. I hope that, come election day, the government are sent packing, because that is what they deserve.

I am very, very concerned about this government's treatment of veterans and of the Defence Force more broadly. As members are well aware, Wagga Wagga in my electorate is a tri-service city. It has the Army, the Air Force and the Navy—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Stop interjecting! Please stop interjecting and just hear me out, because you actually might learn something. Part of our defence strategy needs to be that we do not pare back defence, that we do not cut it to the bone like your mob has. Last year, $5½ billion was stripped out of the defence budget, and there was no confidence this year either—not only that but the DFRDB and DFRB entitlements of veterans are not being indexed as they should. Your government, despite the rhetoric we have heard from the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, has not come good on any of its promises to properly and fairly index these payments—payments to people who put their lives on the line for our nation. And what is your side of politics doing for them? Nothing. Nothing at all. You just make it hard for them to make ends meet. The amount of correspondence I get from Bert Hovey and others—they are good people, they put their lives on the line for this nation, and what do they get in return? Absolutely nothing. It is shameful and you know it. The defence budget has been absolutely cut to the bone. It is an absolute disgrace.

As I said before, the spending on tertiary education is also shameful, with $20 million taken away from Charles Sturt University, an absolute leader in tertiary education. Don't raise your eyebrows at me; it is true. Its funding has been cut by $20 million. Charles Sturt University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Vann, said that the cuts were 'short-sighted and unwise', 'illogical' and 'undercutting our future prosperity'. We should be doing everything that we can in this place to better prepare our nation for the future, to better prepare for our future generation so that they have some prosperity. Your side is doing nothing about it, but we have a plan. We have a very good plan to put this nation back on track—

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