Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. The Australian people know that this government is unfair and out of touch, and they know it is chaotic and incompetent as well. They know that, at the heart of the matter, this Prime Minister has no judgement. This Prime Minister has no judgement when it comes to important decisions or important statements. The Australian people never know what is going to come out of his mouth next and nor do the people sitting behind him. Nor do the people sitting behind him know what he is about to say next; who he is about to insult; what policy he is about to change on the run; what captain's pick he is about to make in this 'Captain Chaos' government.

At the heart, we have a Prime Minister and a Treasurer who are not up to their jobs. A Prime Minister and a Treasurer who are not up to the task given to them by the Australian people. At its heart, we have a Prime Minister and a Treasurer who have failed in everything they have set out to do. We have a government which campaigned across the country on debt and deficit—they called it a disaster—and yesterday the Prime Minister says, '50 to 60 per cent is a pretty good result'. No wonder those behind him, and the Australian people are shaking their heads at his lack of judgement, at his lack of a strategy, and his lack of an economic plan. He pulls things out of the air. He insults the Australian people. He insults the intelligence of commentators. He insults the House. It is all an excuse and an alibi for his failures.

But there is one thing that does not change. The excuses change, the alibis change, the story changes day-to-day and hour-to-hour, but one thing never changes—the people who pay the price. The ordinary Australians who are working hard right across the country. Australia's pensioners pay the price for this Prime Minister's lack of judgement and this Treasurer's lack of competence. They are the ones who daily pay the price because at its heart the one thing that never changes is this government's prejudice—prejudice against working Australians; prejudice against Australia's pensioners. That is what never changes. We have a government that campaigned on debt and deficit that then doubles the deficit, and then boasts that they have halved the deficit. It is like Uncle Arthur's car yard! They put the prices up the day before the sale, and then say it is half price.

We have this government which treats the Australian people with such contempt, which pretends that the last election campaign never happened. They would like to pretend the last budget never happened as well, but the Australian people know the last budget happened. The government might prefer to forget it. The Treasurer might pretend it never occurred. The Prime Minister might say: 'We won't make that mistake again. We won't be doing that again.' But the Australian people know what this Prime Minister and this Treasurer in their hearts really want to do.

If they ever get the chance again, they want to do everything they attempted in the last budget and more. They want to cut the age pension. They want to take the age pension down to 16 per cent of average weekly earnings. That is what they want to do. It has been a bipartisan policy for 40 years. Forty years ago an Australian Prime Minister said that Australia's pensioners deserve a share of our growing prosperity. Forty years ago an Australian Prime Minister said that Australian pensioners should have their incomes grow as Australia's wage incomes grow. It was Gough Whitlam who said that. And it was a bipartisan policy—Whitlam was followed by Malcolm Fraser, followed by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, followed by John Howard—until this Prime Minister and this Treasurer, without a skerrick of a mandate said to Australian pensioners: 'You do no deserve to share in our prosperity. We will make you pay for our mistakes.' That is what we get from this Prime Minister and this Treasurer, who are not up to the job.

They talk of the Intergenerational report, a document that is the property of the Treasurer, that the Treasurer wrote. We had the Prime Minister yesterday claim that the budget will be back in broad balance in just five years—another one of his great statements that his backbenchers just could not wait to hear. The sermon he presented—that the budget will be balance in just five years

Forget about the 40 years of deficits after that. 'Nothing to see here,' says the Prime Minister. 'Don't worry about that job, our job is done.'

As Peter Costello said, there is a problem with the government's narrative—there certainly is—but, more importantly than that, there is a problem with the government's substance, there is a problem with the government's competence and, most of all, there is a very big problem with this Prime Minister's judgement. At heart, this Prime Minister is not up to the job. This Treasurer is not up to the job. The Australian people have given them a great honour and, in return, they have insulted them. They have given them policies which cut their incomes; they have given them policies which are bad for the economy as well as bad for Australian families. The Prime Minister said this week: 'We won't make Australian families pay for the return of our budget to surplus.' He tried that last time. The Australian people know he is just not up to it.

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