Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Forrest talked a few times about hard decisions, tough decisions, and the willingness of this government to make them. I think, in essence, that is what is so sad about this budget and this government. They are so eager to impose pain on those least able to bear it; so keen to ensure that those least able to pay are asked to contribute the most. Through this debate today, in a parliament which seems determined to debate everything apart from the budget priority of this government, we have seen plenty of bluster from those opposite, those speaking and those interjecting, but no amount of desperation can cover up a very uncomfortable truth for members of the Liberal Party and the National Party: that this budget rests on a mountain of deceit—as everyone in your electorates knows—and will cause untold pain in this community.

When conservatives, like the Treasurer, talk of lifters and leaners, they are deliberately dividing Australians and turning our community on itself. I think we all understand that the lifters and leaners are the haves and have-nots. In recent weeks we have had a big debate about inequality in the developed world, in particular rising inequality in countries like Australia. In most of the developed world this is a matter for concern but, through the Commission of Audit and then the budget that followed very faithfully the Business Council of Australia's script, we have seen almost a how-to guide to boost inequality and to return us to a gilded age where the circumstances of your birth determine your life choices. That might be this government's vision for Australia, but it is not the Labor Party's nor is it the Australian people's.

This talk of shared burden is, in these terms, so very offensive. It is also untrue. Those with the least are being asked to do the most. The cruellest cuts of all actually do not affect Australians. I am talking about the $7.6 billion cut from overseas development aid in this budget—cut from people who do not have any say in these decisions.

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