Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will just make this final comment. I would just note how outrageous it is that we are being asked to sign off on a half a billion dollar cut and the Treasurer will not even do us the dignity of explaining where the cuts fall. The Treasurer is asking us to accept amendments to cut a government agency. He is giving us the schedule that lists what the funding for the agency is going to be. When he is asked the reasonable question, 'In what years are those cuts going to fall, given that you have given us a schedule?' he will not answer. I cannot recall any other instance in which a Treasurer has come into this House and said, 'I want you to pass a budget cut but I won't tell you when the cuts fall. Just accept the numbers I put in front of you.' This is treating this House with contempt—an unwillingness to simply say when these cuts are going to fall. 'I want you to vote on it right now, but I won't tell you when the cuts are going to fall.' I cannot recall a single instance in which this House has been treated with such contempt.

When the more questions you ask the less information you are given, it is crystal clear that there is something wrong with this dodgy deal. When our Treasurer, who is in charge of the finances of the nation, cannot even tell you when the cuts are going to fall, something is wrong. That is why his bill should be opposed.

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