Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The one consistency we can talk about with the government is that truth is never at the forefront of their thinking. Each and every day we come in here and we hear mendacious claims by ministers and backbenchers about things that are just factually not correct. Today, we have heard it again, about defence. We supposedly cut defence spending to its lowest level in history. It is just not true. The Howard government did that. What we do know is that, when the government talk about spending money, all they do is spend money. They don't deliver anything. We know that from French Prime Minister Macron, who knows that he was lied to about the submarines. It has cost us $4 billion and there is not one submarine. Every day in here we have had to listen to those opposite saying, 'We're building ships.' You've built nothing on that side. It's all nothing. It's empty promises. That's why this government has been in the second-highest taxing government in history. So, if you want to talk about history, I say to the former Deputy Prime Minister, 'You were Deputy Prime Minister in the second-highest taxing government in history.' There was only one higher, and that was old mate Johnny, Johnny Howard. Remember him—the one that sent us to a war on a lie? Why? Because it's consistent with what we hear from the other side.

We see millions and millions of dollars being channelled into their mates at the expense of Australian families. We can't get a RAT. We've got a company here in Australia that makes them every single day of the week, and the hapless little minister over there quaintly just doesn't do a thing, doesn't go and say, 'Let's get Australian made product.' We hear all this garbage, 'We've got to have sovereign building,' and all this. They wrap themselves in a flag, put on this faux patriotism, but, at the end of the day, they deliver nothing. When RATs are being made in this country and exported overseas and people in aged-care facilities can't get them, something is wrong. That something is a government that puts itself before the Australian people.

We now have a trillion dollars worth of debt. That is a figure that was never, ever going to be thought of. But they sit there proudly and say, 'Look what we've done.' We hear a misinformation campaign each and every day. Whatever happened to 'back in black'? Remember, they promised, 'We're back in black next year'? They promised here, in this place, they would deliver a budget surplus each and every year in government. Well, you have been in government eight years, and what have you delivered? Highest debt, highest deficit and money going over to your mates at the expense of Australian families. Why do people in aged care have to suffer? Why is it that every promise that the government make they break? We know why they don't want a national integrity commission. Let's face it, there would probably be no-one on the front bench. They would all be tucked away because of what's been happening. We see money going out each and every day and no accountability.

At the last election, the government promised all this money for busting congestion. Where did that get to? Nowhere. Every single promise they have made, they have broken. Australians know that, when the Prime Minister puts his hand out and forces them to shake his hand, they should count their fingers. You never know what's going to happen with the government, except for one thing—they consistently don't be honest with the Australian people. They break their promises. They have spent money. They have put our kids and grandkids into debt, higher than ever before. The highest taxing governments have both been on the conservative side. The second-highest one has members serving in this government. Yet they come in here and make these false claims: 'Oh, Labor is going to spend all this money.' The truth is in the pudding. Have a look at what they say and what they do. What we find out is that this government couldn't deliver a pizza, let alone a budget surplus or look at after aged care. We sit here every day and hear about how people are suffering in aged care. Not one of them over there has said, 'Gee whiz, we're sorry we made that mistake, we're sorry we misled people, we're sorry we didn't get RATs, we're sorry didn't do the work, and we're sorry we didn't give people in aged care PPE.' The minister would rather spend more time at the cricket than go and see people in aged-care facilities, and that is a national disgrace.

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