Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on today's matter of public importance, which is actually about broken promises. To those opposite, who may not understand what a promise is: today's matter of public importance is about the fact that Tony Abbott said one thing before he came to government, and did exactly the opposite once elected. He broke the promises he made to the Australian people, and particularly to people in the regions, like the people in Bendigo. And when he was in Bendigo, he did not mention a word of what was in last night's budget. In fact, when Tony Abbott stood out the front of the Bendigo hospital in September 2012, he made no mention of the health cuts we saw in last night's budget. He actually said that the Bendigo hospital budget was already under pressure, and that it would only get worse under the then current government. The only problem with what the then Leader of the Opposition said was that he was about 12 months too early: the budget for the Bendigo hospital got worse on the day of the election of this government—because the Prime Minister did not keep his promise and he has cut funding to the Bendigo hospital.

On local radio in my electorate of Bendigo, a regional community, the Prime Minister also said on schools in Bendigo that they would not be worse off. He said, 'We don't want any existing schools to be worse off'—another broken promise. Last night in the budget, the government did proceed with cutting funding to schools in the Bendigo electorate. And it was not just the fourth and fifth years of the Gonski reforms; it was also the funding for students with disability. Schools desperately need this funding to help the students in the most need.

The broken promises do not stop with the Prime Minister. Last year, we also had a visit to the electorate by Joe Hockey, who dared to turn up at a manufacturer in Bendigo and walk around in his high-vis vest, shaking hands with the workers—and not once did he to talk to them about the fact that he was going to increase the petrol tax. Not once did he talk to them about the fact that has was going to introduce a GP tax. If the then shadow Treasurer had been genuine and honest about engaging with those workers, he had a chance to be up-front and to tell them exactly what he would do in his first budget. But he did not. He lied. And he broke a promise. When he said there would be no new taxes, he lied to those people in Epsom. He lied by introducing—

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