Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

There is a great irony here. For the last three years the now Prime Minister stood at this very despatch box and hectored and lectured us about the importance of being honest with the Australian people. Then he crosses to the other side of the floor and now as Prime Minister refuses to be honest with the people of Western Australia. That is what this debate is about. It is about seeking a bit of honesty from this government, a bit of openness from this government, asking for just one simple thing: release the Commission of Audit report before the election. The parliamentary secretary took 10 minutes to talk about that and in the 10 minutes could not even utter the words 'Commission of Audit', which tells you everything that you need to know.

In the Prime Minister's first press conference on becoming Prime Minister he said these important words:

I'm not going to make up promises that I don't end up keeping.

Only a couple of weeks ago on YouTube, he said:

We are honouring our commitments. Indeed that will be the theme of this government this year.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. It is not happening. This government is already breaking promises. This government has broken its promise on the NBN. It promised that everyone would have access to 25 megabits per second by 2016. He broke that promise in December last year. They have broken their promise on education as well, and the promise of a million jobs in five years is looking shaky already as well. That is why this report is important. The people of Western Australia deserve to know if this government is going to break its promise on health or on education or, God forbid, on pensions or the ABC or SBS. They deserve to know that before they go to the polls in two weeks time.

It is important that members remember what the Prime Minister said the night before the election.

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