Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise not to oppose the Labor 2013-14 Budget Savings (Measures No.1) Bill 2014 before the House tonight but to point out the rank hypocrisy of the government. Australian people do recognise one thing, and that is that you cannot trust the Abbott government. They say one thing before the election and another thing after the election. They constantly change their policies, they are a high-taxing government and they are a government that has not delivered what they promised to the Australian people.

When the Abbott government came to power, it was with one of the best performing economies in the developed world. We had a triple-A rating by all credit agencies. Since they have been in power they have done nothing but trash the economy. Every time we hear the Treasurer open his mouth he is trashing our economy. Business confidence is at an all-time low. People could be forgiven for thinking that this country was in a very sorry state. But even with the Abbott government in control and even with the current Treasurer we have, we are still performing quite well.

The mantra when the government was elected was, 'The adults are back in control.' One thing that adults do is take responsibility for their actions. If I could say, this government has at no time taken any responsibility for its ineptitude and for its failure in the area of economic management. I think that they stand condemned. The one thing Australian people are looking from their government is honesty. They want a government that is actually truthful, they want a government that does not govern with three word slogans, they want a government that has got a plan and they want a government that is actually really looking at strong economic management.

If I could just refer to the member for Lyne's contribution to the debate, he talked about debt and deficit. He was saying that the government has not finished yet. I think the Australian people need something a little bit more honest than that. What really has happened is that the government has not started yet. It is not finished; it has not even started! What it has done is lead to a massive increase in our debt and a doubling of our deficit. If that was what the government was elected to do, then it has succeeded. Unfortunately, the Australian people put faith in the Abbott government. The Australian people thought they could actually deliver on their promise to get rid of the deficit and to lower debt. But the government has done anything but that.

Along with that, the government have cut funding to education, they have cut funding to health and they have broken every promise they made to the Australian people before the election. I do not think that is good enough. I really do not think that is good enough. It is a high taxing, big spending government. That is what Australia has got: a high taxing, big spending government, where debt has blown out and the deficit has doubled. I think it is high time that they really looked at themselves, looked at their policy and decided to inject some fairness into it and deliver to the Australian people.

This year's budget and budget changes built on the unfairness of last year's budget. Last year's budget was inherently unfair. It targeted those people who could least afford to be targeted. It targeted people who look to government for support. Instead of getting that support, what this government delivered was GP taxes and freezing the rebate paid to doctors for a four-year period, which I might add is still in place. That in effect will lead to GPs being tax collectors. Eventually, doctors are going to need to charge a fee so that they can survive. The best information that I have been able to receive is from the AMA president, who indicated that that increase will be in the vicinity of around $8 a visit.

I implore the government to actually act as adults, take responsibility for their poor economic management, take responsibility for the skyrocketing debt in this country and sit down with the opposition. We are happy to help them out and we are happy to work with them to address some of the economic problems that seem to be just a little bit above them. We understand that, as I was saying, fairness is not one of the strong points of the Abbott government. We understand that putting tax on petrol at the bowser is something that the Abbott government does not understand. It does not understand the impact that it has on people, like on families and on low- and middle-income earners. I think it was the Treasurer that said that if you are on a low income, it will not affect you.

You may ask why that is. The Treasurer believes that lower income families do not drive cars. In Shortland electorate, it is a relatively elderly electorate. We have got a lot of pensioners. I think in New South Wales, where Shortland electorate is, it is the electorate that has the most pensioners of any Labor electorate. It has the fifth most pensioners of any electorate in NSW and about the seventh most pensioners of any electorate in Australia. I might say that the median income is fairly low. Those pensioners struggle. But the way the area that I represent is set out, you cannot rely on public transport. That is because it is a very spread out electorate. It is a series of little villages that have come together to grow into suburbs and grow into regions, like Lake Macquarie and the Central Coast. For people in those areas, no matter what their income, if they do not have a car, they are unable to get to the shops, to the doctors, to travel and visit their friends and families, and to survive.

The statement by the Treasurer shows just how out of touch the Abbott government is with the Australian people. It shows how they do not understand that the changes and cuts that are going to cost Australian families $6,000 a year will really hurt. They do not understand the impact on charities like the Salvation Army, which had their Red Shield Appeal last Saturday. I was very happy to go out and assist with that. I knocked on one person's door, and this guy was a cement renderer. He said:

I don't have much money. I lost my job last week, but I have some change in the middle of my car.

He came out with a handful of coins and threw them in. He said:

I know that it is hard times. I know that jobs are hard to get, and I know that the Salvation Army is being called upon to provide a lot these days.

So I say to those members on the other side of this House—the government members of a high-taxing, big-spending government who cannot bring the deficit under control, who have seen debts skyrocketing out of control, and who took over at a time when we had an AAA rating from all rating agencies—to be honest with the Australian people. I ask them to deliver real economic reform, and deliver it to all Australians, not just a few selected Australians. Tell the Australian people that you are not up for the job, that you are unable to manage the economy, and that you are unable to deal with the debt.

We hear in this House every day how the government is delivering increased spending in every area, yet on the other hand we hear how they are cutting and making savings. Please! That is conflicting. Surely, they are either spending more, or saving more. Or maybe it is the extra taxes that they are putting on the Australian people?

I am not rising to oppose this legislation. I am rising to point out to the Australian people just how inept the Abbott government is—how unable and incapable they are of handling the economy; how they have let the Australian people down; and how they have promised one thing before an election, and delivered something else after the election. Time and time again, they have told this House that the 'adults are in control', but, as adults, they have been unable to accept responsibility for their poor management of the economy. They have been unable to accept responsibility and show real leadership to prepare Australia for the future with jobs for the future.

They have been unable to accept responsibility for cutting from health—they are saying that they are spending more. They have been unable to accept responsibility for making sure that every Australian will have access to quality health. They have introduced legislation that is only going to deliver hardship to all Australian families.

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