Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise tonight to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Family Measures) Bill 2015, which introduces two measures. It makes changes to the portability of the family tax benefit and it makes changes to the large family supplement. Why are these changes necessary? The simple reason is that this country had six years of reckless and wasteful spending by the former Labor government, which ran up debt and deficits year after year. Even after all the hard work this coalition government has done and even after all the savings we have made and the heartache we have gone through to make those savings, with expenditure that has been locked in we are still, as the member for Braddon noted, borrowing $100 million every day. In fact, here in Canberra it is now a little after 6.30 in the evening. In the six-hour period between 6 o'clock and midnight tonight we will need to borrow another $25 million just to keep government functioning. It is completely unsustainable for us to continue in this fashion.

In this debate the member for Jagajaga talked about the fundamental principles of fairness. It is completely unfair to future generations of Australians if we continue to borrow money and leave them with higher interest repayments and debt. It will mean they will have a higher rate of taxation and a lower rate of government services because this generation could not balance the budget. That is why the steps in this bill are necessary.

I get annoyed when I hear members of the opposition yell out from the dispatch box. During this debate we heard the member for Batman, who is currently sitting there, and the member for Jagajaga say that the coalition has doubled the deficit. We know the principle behind that. It has been said that, if you repeat a lie often enough, people will come to believe you and you may even believe it yourself. The coalition has done no such thing as double the deficit. This is a complete distortion; it is a fabrication. It is misleading the Australian public for any member of the opposition to make such a claim.

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