Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The people of Australia are getting a bit sick and tired of seeing the Treasurer and the Prime Minister use question time as a forum to practise their amateur acting skills. Outside the problems are mounting: the government promises one thing but simply does not deliver. Remember the promise to do something about getting rid of debt? Well, they've actually doubled it. On Friday, in one month, we saw it go up by a massive $30 billion. They promised a surplus, and now they are running away from it at great speed. Remember them promising to knock off $500 from our annual power bills? But the bills are going up! Remember them saying that they're going to do something to look after older Australians? Well, seniors are now struggling to get access to aged care. They were going to do something about the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but people are waiting months and months and months to get a basic wheelchair. They promised to look after the businesses on the South Coast after the terrible bushfires. It's been months and months and not a dollar is flowing through to the businesses that are doing it tough. Australia needs more than this marketing guy with a penchant for coffee cups and baseball caps. Prime Minister, you're always talking about alternative approaches. Isn't it time you tried one?

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