Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

adequate services for pensioners, a decent retirement or income for pensioners, the government go berserk, because their priority is always those millionaires and billionaires. We get it. We understand that's the priority for the member for La Trobe and the member for Fisher, who are in the chamber. That's their top priority. They're proud of it; they stand by it—that's the centrepiece of their budget.

The centrepiece of the Leader of the Opposition's budget is delivering fairness and opportunity for middle Australians, giving 10 million Australians a fair dinkum tax cut—doubling what the government has on offer— delivering real tax reform for middle working Australians. They laugh at that. They think it's funny that workers have not had a real pay increase, that inequality is at a 75-year high. The government laugh at it. They think it's all a joke. Well, come and talk to the people in my community, in Redbank Plains, in Goodna, in Gailes, in Camira. Laugh at them—those families that are struggling to make ends meet, to get their kids to school, to get the shiftwork, to get the pay increases. They're the families in my community that don't want millionaires and billionaires and banks and multinationals getting a tax break. They're the families who just want a fair go for them and their kids. This is another central piece of this government, no matter how those opposite or the Treasurer wants to dress it up: this government, when it comes to debt and debt management, is a failure. Since coming to power, net debt has doubled to more than $350 billion.

A government member: Who started that debt?

We've just had an interjection from a member of the government, saying, 'Who started the debt?' That's the interjection from the government. It's not about how we're going to fix the debt and not about how we're going to lower the debt. We now have a government so intent on this that they have given up on debt management. They have completely given up.

Let's put the facts on the table. Gross debt crashed through half a trillion dollars on the LNP's watch for the first time in history. They're remaining pretty silent now as I give that fact. We know that will remain well above half a trillion dollars. Those opposite are proud of it. They are absolutely proud of it. After five years and six budgets being delivered, they are proud. They're proud that our debt is the highest it's ever been in this country. Look, I know they don't like it. I know it's painful. When the facts are placed on the table, they squeal and they yell. The community across Australia is demanding better management of our economy than we're getting from this Treasurer. It's not often that I would say this, but I would say bring back Joe Hockey. That's what I would say. That's how bad this Treasurer is.

This year's deficit, in 2017-18, is six and a half times bigger than what the members of the government predicted in their first horrific budget of 2014. All of this was confirmed through a recent OECD report, which stated that the Australian government has added more to their debt over the past five years than almost any other developed country. The biggest problem overall is that the government has nothing to show for it. A mountain of debt has been delivered under the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. That's a huge amount of debt that Australians have to pay back under this government's watch, but they have nothing to show for it. There has been no global financial crisis for this government to deal with. Actually, rather than a GFC, they've had global economic conditions that have been improving, yet they have nothing to show for this enormous blowout in debt.

However, for some unknown reason, the days of talking about the budget emergency and the debt truck are never to be seen again. Where's the debt truck? That's parked at the back of someone's house at the moment. The wheels have fallen off. That's never to be seen again. They don't like it when we talk about that. Under Labor, it was a budget deficit emergency—I think that was their slogan. But when the debt is tripling under this government, they are remaining silent—nothing to be seen or heard here. We know that these cuts are as a result of their reckless mismanagement of the economy. In my own home state, we've seen a real cut to hospital funding. In hospitals right across Queensland, particularly in the Caboolture Hospital, we have seen cruel and savage cuts by this government. The government are not interested in the outer suburbs of our community. They're certainly not interested in the south west of Brisbane.

Thank goodness, we have Susan Lamb in Longman fighting for a decent health system for her community. In the south west of Brisbane, we have terrific candidates. We have Corinne Mulholland, who will be our new voice for the people of Petrie, and Ali France in Dickson. We have a whole range of strong advocates, rather than the do-nothing MPs who we see across the city of Brisbane. We know that the LNP, when it comes to infrastructure, really is trying to pull a swiftie on the people of Australia and particularly the people of Queensland. There is no funding for the Cross River Rail—zilch, zero. The Cross River Rail is the No. 1 infrastructure project in the country, which will mean families getting home with real time savings. This government is not interested in that at all.

So, this budget is one of lost opportunities. We know that it still contains the horrific cuts we have seen time and time again from this government—a real cut for hospitals in Queensland, schools across Brisbane and the wider metro region are facing some of the biggest cuts they have seen from any Commonwealth government, and no real funding for infrastructure for my state. I'm disappointed that this government has failed to deliver for my community and the wider community in Queensland. I will keep fighting to make sure that they have equity and fairness in a future Labor budget.

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