Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government has gone back to the three-word slogans. We are hearing about Operation Budget Repair. I know that the three-word slogans worked a treat in opposition, but they are no way to run a government. But, if it is going to be three-word slogans, how about Operation Cut Unemployment? We now have unemployment at 6.4 per cent nationally, the highest level in 12 years, with 789,000 Australians out of work. In my home state of Victoria unemployment has now reached the quite unacceptable level of seven per cent. Youth unemployment in Victoria is at an even more disturbing 15 per cent.

The Liberal government is undermining young Australians looking for work with its savage cut of $1.2 billion to income support for people under 30. From 1 January next year, job seekers under 30 who need Newstart and youth allowance will be forced to wait six months before receiving any support. As a delegation from the Australian Council of Social Service, who visited me this week, pointed out, 'What will they live on if they cannot find a job?' Requiring job seekers to apply for 40 jobs each month is ludicrous. The jobs simply are not there. It is simply a recipe for red tape for business. This budget risks condemning a generation of young Australians to a vicious cycle of poverty.

If it is going to be all about slogans, how about 'operation keep your word'? They promised to take the pressure off the cost of living, but then they cut child care and increased the cost of pharmaceuticals. They promised no new or increased taxes and then gave us a new GP tax and raised the tax on petrol. They promised no cuts to health and then cut $50 billion from hospitals. They promised no cuts to education and then cut $30 billion from schools, $1 billion from skills and $5 billion from universities. They promised no increase in university fees, but fees are set to double and triple. They promised to create a million new jobs, but unemployment is on the rise and youth unemployment in Victoria is at 15 year highs. The Prime Minister promised to be the Prime Minister for Aboriginal affairs and then cut $500 million from essential health and services. They promised no change to pensions but then cut pensions by $23 billion over the next 10 years—$80 a week from the pockets and purses of pensioners.

On this day last year at Rooty Hill, the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister, promised Australians 'no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts or changes to pensions'. What a difference a year makes. And Education Minister Pyne said in a media release of 26 August last year, just over a year ago:

While we welcome debate over the quality and standards in our universities, we have no plans to increase fees …

What is he saying a year later? Last weekend he said student protesters should 'get some perspective' because the government is 'not exactly asking for their left kidney'. Well, I checked this out, and it turns out to be even worse than that. I looked up the Transplant Australia website. It says the cost of a kidney transplant from a live donor is $75,000 and the cost of a kidney transplant from a deceased donor is $65,000. So getting a new left kidney would be less costly than the debts many graduates are going to pay if this government's budget passes.

Under this budget, university fees are set to double and triple. The government wants to cut funding for undergraduate places by up to 37 per cent, deregulate fee levels and allow universities to charge what they like and, outrageously, introduce a compounding real interest rate of six per cent for all student debts. We will see science degrees increase from the current average of $44,000 up to $170,000 over 20 years; nursing degrees rise from $23,000 to $62,000; and teaching degrees rise from $32,000 up to $87,000.

This is not a government of adults. This is a government of intergenerational warriors taking the under-25s off Newstart and fitting students up with 60 per cent of the cost of their education. It is a shameful way to treat our young people, and this government should be condemned for this unfair, short-sighted, incoherent dog's breakfast of a budget.

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