Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy to speak to the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013. I would like to start by responding to some of the unreasonable claims by the member for Corangamite. Firstly, the member for Corangamite would have you believe that there was not a global financial crisis. In reference to the deficit and the debt this country has, one must compare where we found ourselves in confronting the biggest economic challenge in the last 70 or more years with where we are now placed compared to comparable countries within the OECD.

I had the good fortune as the then minister for employment to attend the G20 in Russia earlier this year. From speaking to my counterparts in those countries, I learnt how they looked upon Australia and our response to the global financial crisis. They asked: 'How did you do it? How did you ensure that unemployment was so low? How did you ensure that your debt as a proportion of GDP was one-tenth of the mean average of OECD countries? How were you able to do that?'

So let us not have any misleading or misrepresentations by those opposite that we are in a difficult situation economically. Our economic fundamentals are fine. All we want to do is ensure that those now in government do not ruin them. But let us remember: we have low debt compared to the OECD average—one-tenth of the mean average of OECD countries; the second lowest unemployment rate; and 14 per cent economic growth since the global financial crisis. One of the fastest rates of economic growth in the world since the global financial crisis happened under the previous government. So, try as the former opposition might to pretend otherwise now they are in government, they have been left with the fundamentals of our economy in good shape.

I also want to pick up on a point made by the member for Corangamite in relation to the elevation of the Minister for Small Business to cabinet. I think that is a worthy thing. But, again, let us not have any rewriting of history here: it was the previous government that appointed the minister for small business to cabinet after years of that ministry not being in cabinet under the Howard government. Let us not have any misleading or misrepresentations by those opposite. I am glad to see that that portfolio and my good friend the Minister for Small Business are in cabinet, because of the importance of small business to our economy. There are more than two million small businesses in this country, who deserve proper representation around the most important table of government that we have in this country. So let me just put those matters on the record. You can speak from your government notes all you like, but try to keep it a little bit honest and a little bit real, I would suggest to the member for Corangamite.

In relation to the bill that is before us, there are some measures in it that the opposition and I do support because they are sensible measures and they have been considered. There are other measures that have been considered and they go to a number of areas. They are not sensible, they are not fair and they are not warranted, and I think, therefore, that the government should rethink inflicting some of these provisions on those in our community.

Let us just remember what we have seen already in this place, very recently, from this government. For example, under the attempt to repeal the minerals resource rent tax, there was a small provision in the bill to scrap the schoolkids bonus, affecting millions of families in this country who might be doing it a bit tough, particularly in buying things for school. Whether it is for books or school uniforms, $410 for a primary school student or $820 for a high school student is an important sum of money for families that are dealing with cost-of-living pressures. That is being scrapped by this government, which has no regard for the concerns of ordinary people, whether they live in Corangamite or elsewhere. I would like to know how the member for Corangamite will explain to her constituents why they will not be receiving the schoolkids bonus any longer, once this government repeals that very important measure. It meant $15,000 per student over the school years, so that will have a big impact on families in Corangamite and, indeed, in all electorates across our nation.

There are some other measures that we looked at that we are now concerned about because the basis on which we introduced them at the time was to fund the education reforms that we had put in place. We were looking at a measure in relation to the student start-up loans that was going to provide funding for Labor's Better Schools Plan. What we have seen in the last week is an embarrassing situation for this government. Firstly, this government has fundamentally repudiated its position before the election, turning its back on its commitments to the Australian people after the election. In the last week, we have seen a government that was in denial and then a government seeking to scramble its way out of trouble. But let us just recall what the Prime Minister and the Minister for Education said of this measure prior to the election. On 29 August this year, the minister said:

… you can vote Liberal or Labor and you'll get exactly the same amount of funding for your school …

On 2 August 2013, the Prime Minister said:

As far as I am concerned, as far as Christopher Pyne is concerned, as far as the Coalition is concerned, we want to end the uncertainty by guaranteeing that no school will be worse off …

A further quote from the Minister for Education in The Sydney Morning Herald on 16 August 2013 is:

… no school will be worse off, whether it is a Liberal or Labor government in the next term.

Well, we know what has happened since; this government has turned its back on that commitment. Despite the government's efforts, the embarrassing backflips, to cover up their dishonesty and mendacity, they are not in any way providing the resources they said they would provide to schools across the country. For example, the efforts to provide support to state governments come with no attachments—in other words, no conditions and, therefore, those governments may take the money out as the Commonwealth puts it in. The fact that there are no conditions attached to that funding means that those state governments need not provide resources to those schools and that we will not see the reforms that are required to ensure that our education system is improved. That is a very shameful thing but it is not surprising given the history of the political party that is now in government in relation to education.

I return to the provision I referred to earlier in relation to the bill. As I said, we have a concern about the way in which this provision operates. This provision will hurt students. It is not money that is going to be saved to provide to the education system. There is no basis upon which this measure should continue. For that reason, there will be some amendments to the bill in the other place to ensure that those who will be adversely affected by some of the measures in this bill can be protected against the government, who, as I have said, have shown such scant regard not only for their commitments made prior to the election but for the people who will be affected by this bill.

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