Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Today we see that the Liberal Party of Australia have not only deceived the people of Australia but they have also deceived their so-called coalition partners, the National Party, by deliberately lying to them regarding the role of the diesel rebate in the budget. The Liberal Party have, once again, wiped their feet on the doormats of Australian politics—the National Party. For those over there from the National Party, do not worry; you are not alone. There are millions of Australians who know how you feel, who know what it is like to be deceived by the Abbott government, who know what it is like to be lied to about the budget by Liberal Party members. You are not alone and what of loyal bunch the National Party are to their coalition partners who deliberately deceived them on a very important issue—the diesel fuel rebate.

This budget is a fundamental breach of trust and commitment to the people of Australia. Those opposite claim that there is a budget emergency. They went to this budget claiming that Australia was in an emergency fiscal situation and what did we find yesterday when the national accounts were released? That Australia is growing at 3½ per cent, that unemployment is relatively low, that interest rates are low and that Australia has one of the lowest debt levels in the OECD—the envy of many developed countries and testament, I might add, to the fine job the Australian Labor Party did in difficult circumstances in managing our economy.

I ask the people of Australia: how on earth does a nation get a AAA credit rating from three ratings agencies, one of only 10 nations throughout the world to do so, when you have a budget emergency? How on earth do you say to the debt ratings agencies, 'We should get a AAA credit rating but, by the way, we have a budget emergency.' You would not find one of those other 10 nations with a AAA credit rating claiming that they have a budget emergency. The government have misled the Australian public regarding the state of our nation's finances. They have compounded this mistrust by breaking their election commitments. It was the Prime Minister who said a couple of days before the election, 'No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no changes to pensions and no cuts to the ABC and SBS.' They have broken every single one of those commitments and more in the name of a fake budget emergency. This is the act of an immoral, deceitful, duplicitous and we now know divided government.

I must take issue with the previous member's comment that none on this side has ever worked in small business. I point to the member for Hunter, who ran his own small business as a tradesman for 10 years. He is a fine example of a Labor country MP who stands up in this parliament for country people and for country businesses. Not only is this budget duplicitous; it is also unfair. The burden will be felt by those most vulnerable in our community— pensioners and those on fixed incomes, their purchasing power reduced because of this budget. They are forced to pay $7 every time they visit the GP.

Military pensions: it is wonderful see the member for Fadden here. What a fine job he is doing standing up from military pensioners! The Assistant Minister for Defence is standing up for Australian veterans and letting this go through in the budget. They are making life harder for families, making them pay more for petrol. The schoolkids bonus is being cut and single parents will have family tax benefit B cut once their child turns six. Pressure on cost of living is going to increase because of this budget and this government. In education, from kindy to Professor we have seen cuts in support for education from this government, making it harder for our kids to get an education, making us a regressive nation when it comes to education.

In early childhood development they are reducing standards, cutting standards and making it more difficult for parents to get their kids into preschool. In schools they have blown the Gonski reforms to smithereens. They have absolutely decimated the Gonski reforms and completely ignored the needs of our kids, particularly those in public schools. And the lowest of low acts is cutting funding to our schools for kids with disabilities, cutting support for kids with disabilities. I do not know how any of those on the other side could vote for an act such as that. They are making universities unaffordable for the poor. Even in overseas development aid we have seen cuts. I want to finish with this quote from the foreign minister of the Marshall Islands who said:

Australia has always been our friend, but the change in their government last year has resulted in problems.

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