Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a shame. It is an absolute disgrace. There is a stimulus package to oil the Australian economy during tough economic times, and then there is plain, unadulterated incompetence, gladhanding and—dare I say it—electoral pork-barrelling. The Tax Bonus for Working Australians Act miraculously managed to do both at the same time.

Let us look at the other ways Labor have wasted the taxpayers' hard-earned dollars by handing out cheques where it was impossible for them to stimulate the Australian economy. Last year—four years after the global financial crisis—15,000 cheques were handed out, totalling $13 million of borrowed money. It just does not make sense to me. Over 16,000 stimulus cheques have been sent directly to taxpayers living overseas. I do not know about you, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I do not understand how sending cheques overseas is going to stimulate the Australian economy. That is around $14 million Labor borrowed to stimulate our economy, and they sent it overseas. It just does not make sense. I suppose it was the global financial crisis—'Think global, act local,' they say on that side—but this might be taking it a little bit too far. We all know that Kevin Rudd thought he was the Prime Minister of the entire world, but really he was just the Prime Minister of Australia, and he was sending cheques to all these people living overseas.

You would think that would be it, but there is more and it gets worse. Here we are, years on from the GFC, and we are still handing out $900 stimulus cheques to people who have passed away. The Labor Party just do not seem to get it. Dead men do not tell tales and dead men do not splurge at Myer sales. The Labor Party still have not come up with a plausible explanation for this particular act of administrative incompetence. Why would they be sending cheques to people who have passed away? I would absolutely love to hear a plausible explanation of how they could possibly do that and think that it is okay. The Rudd-Gillard government made over 21,000 payments to people who had passed away, which represents more than $1.8 million of borrowed money that was sent to people who had passed away. It just does not make sense. But there is some good news. The coalition is here to put a stop to this waste—to put a stop to the abysmal waste and mindless spending of other people's money that became a hallmark of the former administration.

The bill deals with just one example of Labor's waste, and unfortunately it represents only a small portion of the taxpayer dollars that they wasted. The release of the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook in December last year ruled off the legacy of the former Labor government. The MYEFO forecast a $47 billion deficit in 2013-14—a $47 billion deficit—and $123 billion worth of cumulative deficit over the forward estimates. It is just unbelievable. We have the Labor Party to thank for this debt. We have the Labor Party to thank for the fact that, if the coalition had not formed government, the budget would not have returned to surplus for at least another 10 years.

Thankfully, the coalition did form government. Thankfully, the adults are now in charge. Thankfully, we are ending the waste. This is our first repeal bill to sort out the mess that Labor has left behind. We are doing what we said before the election that we would do, and that is to end the waste and return the budget to surplus. I made a promise to my electorate, a promise to the people of Solomon, to end the waste of their hard-earned tax dollars. That is exactly what I am doing, standing here today in support of the Tax Bonus for Working Australians Repeal Bill 2013.

The budget this government has inherited is simply unsustainable. We must act quickly but responsibly, and that is exactly what we are doing. Responsible governments know what they are spending and what their financial liabilities are. The Rudd government started this stimulus program having no idea how much they would be handing out, and, quite frankly, it shows, because five years later we are still handing out these cheques. As a responsible government, the coalition will be ending the waste by halting programs that are unsustainable and uncalculated.

The Labor government spent $14 million stimulating the Australian economy, as I said, by sending money overseas. I am sure that my constituents in Darwin and Palmerston could think of much better ways to stimulate the Australian economy with $14 million. How about spending it here, for starters? Spending $14 million in Australia is a pretty good way to start stimulating the economy, isn't it?

That $14 million could have been spent on the extensions of Tiger Brennan Drive, the highway in Darwin. The Labor government had previously committed $70 million to that project, then they removed it in the 2013 budget, thinking no-one would notice. But we noticed. Territorians are smarter than the Labor Party think they are, and they demanded that their funding be reinstated.

So I had Minister Bishop visit my electorate. On behalf of the coalition, we committed to that project and to bringing forward the funding so that the works on Tiger Brennan Drive could begin this financial year. And that is what it did. Thanks to the coalition government, Tiger Brennan Drive is being expanded right now, as we speak.

I know someone else who might have liked the $14 million. That was the Jingili BMX Club. They were promised $1 million by the Labor government in 2009 or 2010, and it was only in the lead-up to the 2013 election that the Labor candidate re-announced those same funds and the club actually received the funds to build their all-weather track, allowing our local BMX riders to get through the wet season.

Today I have talked about a number of examples of the waste that the Labor government bestowed on the Australian people, so I am proud to be able to speak to this first piece of repeal legislation. I understand that many pieces of legislation are going to be repealed, which is going to stop the waste and mismanagement that the Labor Party bestowed on us in the last six years.

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