Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You know you're under the government's skin when a wannabe stands for 10 minutes and lectures us about his own obsessions, his own fantasies, his own private world over there—nothing whatsoever to do with the topic of the MPI today. Not one minute was spent trying to justify this government's use of $80 billion in precious taxpayer funds whilst at the same time cutting all the essential services required in our community. This man, I understand, heads up the 'Parliamentary Friends of Payday Lenders'. This man stands in this chamber to defend the indefensible, the very companies that prey on the most vulnerable and marginalised in our community, the very companies that stand to gain so much from government policies. These members opposite dare to stand up in this chamber and pretend to occupy some high moral ground now.

I'm sorry; that doesn't cut it with people in the gallery or in Newcastle. When I'm in my community, what do people want to talk to me about? It is exactly the things articulated by the Leader of the Opposition a few minutes ago. What are you doing to health and education? Let me tell you about your decision, your choice, to waste $17 billion of precious public dollars—not your money—by giving it away to people like the four big banks. Well, I've got to tell you: if anyone on the government side can stand up and tell me who in the community actually backs that in, I will be flabbergasted. That is because I am yet to meet a single Australian who says: 'Do you know what? Despite everything I've heard in the royal commission, those guys need a break. They need a $17 billion break. Don't give that $17 billion to my local schools. Let's not fund education. God, no! Who needs those dollars? Do our kids? Not at all!'

In Newcastle, I've got schools that are all facing cuts, that are all not getting the money that was once promised. There was that unity ticket—remember that famous interview with the member for Warringah? We were 'on a unity ticket', with 'not a cigarette paper' between us on health and education? Remember that? Well, every school in Newcastle is losing $350,000 on average each year, this year and next year. I have not met a single parent who says: 'Give those banks a break! Our P&Cs don't need the money. We'll just keep fundraising. We'll just have more fetes, more lamington drives. That's fine; that's how we'll fund our schools from now on.'

What about hospitals? In my electorate of Newcastle 10 million bucks is coming out of hospitals. That's dollars that are not going into additional nursing staff, reducing waiting lists, helping out on security matters at the hospital—for example, in those ever-burdened emergency departments. There is $6.8 million out of the John Hunter Hospital, a major regional hospital. Mr Deputy Speaker Hogan, I know people in your own electorate would be coming into the John Hunter Hospital for emergency care and treatment—6.8 million bucks ripped out of that hospital. Calvary Mater Newcastle—$1.6 million ripped out. The kids' hospital, the John Hunter Children's Hospital, isn't even spared from these cuts—$1.2 million out of that. How many nurses is that that we lose from delivering quality health care in our towns and cities?

There is nothing that defines the difference between the government and the members on this side of the House now more than those choices we make. We make no apologies for funding health and education and no apologies for not funding big banks, which, frankly, have spent years ripping off the very vulnerable people that that member just previously tried to defend, the very people that get attacked by payday lenders—the blokes he thinks are on the money in this House.

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