Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is not a prop, it is just the notes that I am referring to, where in large print it says:

Budget News

Bill Shorten MP

A budget surplus for a strong economy – spreading the benefits of the mining boom to all Australians.

I will table that for the benefit of the Australian Labor Party.

In addition to that we have:

Australia's economic report card.

There is a great big tick and:

Back in surplus, on time, as promised

In these uncertain global times there’s no clearer sign of a strong economy than a surplus. We’ve delivered a surplus, on time, as promised.

Again, that is from the Leader of the Opposition's newsletter and I table that as well because this is what is fundamentally wrong with Labor. Labor has no credibility.

The problem for the Australian Labor Party is that you cannot just whitewash history. Australians know that you cannot put out electorate-wide newsletters, you cannot run around on over 430 occasions and promise budget surpluses and you cannot tell people at school forums and at public forums that you have delivered a surplus if it is just not true. Labor can come in here and say, 'Well, here are the warped priorities of the Abbott government,' but the reality is that the fundamental difference between the coalition in government and the Labor Party in government comes down to this—and it was put very eloquently by the Prime Minister: 'When we were in opposition we fought hard to get Labor to keep their promises, but now when Labor is in opposition they're fighting hard to stop us from delivering on our promises.'

And that is the fundamental difference! We are a government that is about delivering. We are a government that is about implementing the reforms that we undertook to the Australian people and said we would implement. We are a government of action! A government that is about repairing the fiscal damage that was left to us by the Australian Labor Party. The only people who stand in the way of us achieving our goals, of us delivering on our commitments, of us repairing the damage that was left to us by the Australian Labor Party is none other than the Australian Labor Party.

Earlier today, down at the Press Club, the Leader of the Opposition said, 'Every budget is a window into a government's soul'. They are his words: 'Every budget is a window into a government's soul'. Well let's look at Labor's six budgets. Let's look at that window into the soul that the Australian Labor Party is all about. We know, for example, in the 2010-11 budget, Labor predicted that they would have a deficit of $40.8 billion. $40.8 billion! The actual final budget outcome was $47.5 billion. We know that in the 2010-11 budget, they said that the next year's deficit—that is the 2011-12 deficit—was going to be $13 billion. The actual deficit that year was $43.4 billion dollars. But in the 2010-11 budget, they said, 'Well, in 2012-13 we will be back in surplus, and it is going to be a billion-dollar surplus'. But the reality was that the actual final budget outcome was $18.8 billion of budget deficit.

And this was Labor's gargantuan mountain that they need to overcome. No-one is going to take Labor seriously until they hold their hands over their hearts and they say, 'Mea culpa, we betrayed the people of Australia. We delivered budget deficit after budget deficit. We have indebted generations Australians to pay back that debt for years, for decades.' They will be paying back Labor's six years of reckless spending.

We on this side of the chamber do not want to be lectured to by the Australian Labor Party. We on this side of the chamber say to Labor one clear consistent message: please, get out of our way. Respect the wishes of the Australian people. When the Australian people voted in clear majority to say, 'We don't want the world's biggest carbon tax, we don't want to export jobs overseas, we don't want to see a continuation of the debt and deficit of the last six years', respect their mandate! Free our hands through the Senate so that we can undertake the reforms that will put this nation back on the pathway to consolidating debt and paying down debt.

We do not want to pay $12 billion a year in interest. We want to put $12 billion into roads, into health, into education, into defence—that is how we want use money. We certainly do not want to see a continuation of Labor's failed approach, and they need to own up their largess, own up to their failure and get out of the way so that we can be a government gets on with delivering.

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