Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I actually think the member for Blair believes that. But the Australian people do not. They do not believe it. This bill that I speak on today, the Labor 2013-14 Budget Savings (Measures No. 1) Bill 2014, really goes to the heart that is the hypocrisy of the Labor Party since the election. This government was elected, absolutely, on a platform of national security. I think that every Australian believes that the federal government should take a very strong line to protect our citizens, and that is exactly what we are doing. There is also an absolute expectation for economic security, and that is what we are determined to provide for the Australian people, because, whether it is a family, a small business, a big business, a council, or a state or federal government, they all know that we must live within our means.

What we inherited was debt and deficit as far as the eye could see. Do nothing. And we had $123 billion of deficits in front of us, over the four years of the forward estimates, peaking in 10 years at a debt of $667 billion. With the Labor spending we inherited we had no way of returning in any way, shape or form to surplus, no way of starting to repay the debt and deficit we had inherited from just six years of Labor government. It is quite extraordinary. They were the single biggest-spending government, in the speed at which spending increased over the six years they were in government.

The hypocrisy of what we see before us today is that in the 2013 budget Labor booked the revenue from the deferral of these tax cuts—but they did not legislate this. This was one of almost 100 taxation measures that were highlighted and booked within the spending, within the revenue—and savings, in some cases—by the previous government and never legislated. This is what we inherited. We inherited, beyond the forward estimates, the skeletons in the cupboard, the kickers. Beyond the forward estimates, we know there was $123 billion. What most Australians do not know is that beyond the forward estimates revenue was projected to increase at around three or 3½ per cent but the spending kicked to nearly double that. This is what Labor left us. The task we have is a real task.

We hear so much from those opposite about unfairness. We often hear the word 'unfair'. This was unfair; that was unfair. What is unfair is stealing from the next generation, stealing from my children and their children, with an inability of this generation to be in charge of its own finances. That is the fundamental unfairness of what Labor left this country between 2007 and when they were booted from government in 2013. Look at what they delivered. I have mentioned the debt and deficit, and we are working on that; we have not finished the job. But what we have done—and it is truly a budget measure as well—is stop the 50,000 illegal arrivals that came in the six years under Labor. We have done that job, and the Australian people know that. We have completed that task. And we have removed the carbon tax. That was a dividend, on average, to every household around the country of $550 per year. That was the dividend of removing bad public policy.

What I hear at the listening posts I hold regularly around my large electorate of Lyons is: 'How are you going to do it? How on earth are you going to get on with the task that we elected you to do? How on earth are you going to do it when you are getting absolutely no help from those opposite, no help at all from the Labor Party?' All complaint; no solution. The bad tenant that trashed the house—and then locked the door and will not let us in to clean up. This is the Labor Party of today.

These are not the only measures opposed by the Labor Party that were nominated as their own savings. In addition to standing in the way of this particular measure, which is a $2.8 billion budget-repair measure, Labor is standing in the way of other measures they announced but are now refusing to vote for. I do not understand—and I think most Australians do not understand—how this could be. There are a number of measures for start-up scholarships that were a $2.1 billion saving. There was an efficiency dividend to university, saving $1.2 billion. These are savings Labor had highlighted and now refuses to support. There is an abolition of the discount fees for paying HECS up-front, a $336 million saving.

An interview conducted with the Leader of the Opposition on ABC Radio said it all. Chris Uhlmann asked Bill Shorten why the Labor Party was now opposing its own savings. His only response was: 'We are the Labor Party.' Chris said, 'We'll get to that, but why won't you even back your own cuts?' Bill Shorten said, 'Chris, we're the Labor Party.' I think that says it all, and the Australian public understand it.

The Budget reply was on Thursday a fortnight or so ago. It will need to be a pretty good money tree—because the Labor Party black hole now totals $58.6 billion—if they are re-elected to government, for the promises they have made. But the Australian people understand it simply does not grow on trees. We thought it was the magic pudding but it is now the money tree, and Australians will not buy it.

We must continue the work of budget repair. The deficit we inherited, outlined in the 2014 MYEFO, totalled $123 billion over the forward estimates. And we are doing the job. With no help from those opposite, we have been able to reduce that to $82 billion. It is nothing to be proud of, but we are making steady headway over the next four years

As I mentioned before, government debt was on a trajectory where, if we were to do nothing and if it were left unchecked and allowed to continue, within 10 years, it would have been at $667 billion.

Under the budget settings that Labor left, the budget would never have got to surplus and repayment of the debt would never have started. That is simply unacceptable. It is simply inacceptable in the context of the family budget, it is simply unacceptable in the context of a small business and it is simply unacceptable in the context of the federal government budget. There is a strong economic imperative—indeed, a moral imperative—to change the course and put the budget back onto a secure and stable footing. This is what I hear when I am talking and listening to people in my electorate. They are very concerned about the direction that our nation is heading.

We have seen what has happened in Europe. We have seen the concern there when governments lose control and it all becomes too hard. I have no doubt that there was a time in Greece, Spain, Italy and places like that when there were people who identified that there was a credible way back to surplus. But they did not take those difficult decisions at the time. They left it and it got to a point where it was simply impossible to see a pathway back. Then you start to have the very difficult conversations that are going on in parts of southern Europe at the moment about the right way to deal with these issues and the conflict that that will bring.

It really is a challenge for all of us. In Australia, we are truly the lucky country in every respect. But we must heed the warnings. I believe that Australians understand that we cannot afford to go down that path ever in this country, and that is what they elected this government to do. They elected us to make those difficult decisions. This has been confirmed by Labor's inaction, inability and unwillingness to support their own budget savings measures in the Senate. We are quite clear that the Labor Party will never do this job. The Australian people know that it is up to the coalition to reset the course of the federal budget to head back towards something that is sustainable into the future and not to leave that challenge to the next generation.

In respect of the bill, this was a legacy of, as I say, the Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates and Other Amendments) Bill 2013. It was the final package of bills to repeal the carbon tax. It was introduced into the House of Representatives on 14 July 2014 and it was agreed by the Senate on 17 July 2014. However, a bill to repeal the legislation in the 2015-16 tax changes was no longer part of this carbon tax repeal package. This was the history, if you read through the plan that the previous government had to go to an emissions trading scheme. I think there was maybe even a realisation by those opposite that the policy that had been forced upon them by, effectively, the Greens was failing and that this was a desperate attempt, at that time, to convince the Australian public that they had a credible plan. It was not a credible plan, and the Australian people understood that.

What we see here before us is a measure that was reasonable at the time, that was proposed by the Labor Party when in government but that was not legislated, and I call on those opposite to examine the morality of this. It is not about us, it is about the Australian people, because, at the end of the day, it is we who need to take responsibility as a government. We know we want to see lower taxes, and in the recent budget we have taken a step in that direction with the engine room of the economy—small businesses in this country—being given an opportunity to be their best selves through a reinvigoration: a tax cut for incorporated entities, a discount of five per cent for those entities that are not incorporated and the opportunity for those small businesses, through the $20,000 instant asset write-off, to reinvigorate their businesses, to employ more Australians and to grow the economy.

We want to see lower taxes in this country. But, in this instance, this goes to the very heart of the hypocrisy that was the Labor Party. In government they saw fit to introduce these measures, and now in opposition they are unwilling to support them. Quite frankly, the Australian people understand. The people and families in my electorate know that that is unacceptable. The small businesses know that that is unacceptable. Governments, as well as small business and families, must live within their means. I encourage those on the other side to examine their consciences and support this measure.

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