Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have said I withdraw. I am more than happy to. In 2002, this Prime Minister, the Prime Minister for broken promises, promised a surplus from his government each and every year. Well, we are into the second year of this government, and guess what? They cannot even get their budget through. It is that bad that their magic pudding has gone flat. They promised to deliver a surplus and they cannot even deliver a budget. You only have to look at the opening remarks by the lead speaker for the government, whose first comments were, 'Back in 1986.'

Whenever the government talk about economics in this place, the first thing they do is go back and talk about last century. No-one has told them that we are now in the 21st century. That could explain a lot of the ideas that they bring forward all the time. Peter Costello, the man they usually bow and scrape to, described this Prime Minister perfectly when it comes to talking about economics and budgets. He said he is 'an economic illiterate'. That explains what the Prime Minister does. That is why he attacks pensions. That is why he attacks schools. That is why he attacks health.

An opposition member: And universities.

And universities. They attack them to make sure that our kids are going to paying a lot more to go to school and get a degree. But the one thing they did not do, the one thing they ran away from so quickly, scurrying like little crickets in the headlights, when there was talk about taxing multinational companies for the profits that they make here in Australia and then they offshore, was support taxing large companies. These guys, every single one of them, sat there and went quiet. But they are more than happy to rip every red cent they can off a pensioner or off a young person. That is why their budget has failed.

This is a government that sit there and say, 'Well, if you get unemployed for some reason, not your own fault'—if one of the industries that the government have been very proud to close shuts down—'you can go without unemployment benefits for six months if you are under the age of 30.' In McEwen, we have a high rate of under-35s—young people starting families and buying houses. This government say to them, 'If you lose your job, stiff'—no support, no income support, no help. But they will jump on a plane and fly down to a birthday party and sing happy birthday at the taxpayer's expense, but they will not attack multinational— (Time expired)

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