Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, we have had two years of Abbott government lies, and in regional areas that is actually two years of National Party lies. So let's reflect. Two years ago today, we had the Prime Minister promising Australians under his government there would be 'no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no changes to pension, no change to the GST, no cuts to the ABC or SBS'. Well, let's see what has happened in two years since then. When it comes to education, we have seen them cut $30 billion from schools. They have cut funding from universities and training and they have also tried to enforce $100,000 university degrees. Let's look at health. We have seen them cut $50 billion from hospitals, and they have also put in place a GP tax as well by stealth. Then we had the claim of no change to pensions. Well, they have cut over $2 billion from pensions. Then we also heard them say 'no changes to the GST'. Now we hear the Prime Minister saying there is a very powerful argument for increasing the GST. So those were all lies that he said before the election. Let's have a look at ABC and SBS. They have cut funding to both of those by over half a billion dollars. These cuts are absolutely outrageous, particularly in regional areas when it comes to National Party lies.

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