Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

to make up for those opposite's propensity to make big announcements but not actually fund them in the budget. Let me give you a few examples, Mr Speaker. For example, the former government jumped up and said they were going to fund 50 per cent of the Olympics in South-East Queensland. They budgeted precisely zero dollars for that task. Those opposite had the My Health Record system, which is used by millions of Australians to store personal health information, not funded beyond the middle of this year; the eSafety Commissioner, which is responsible for keeping our kids safe online, not funded; and the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency, in charge of disposing of radioactive materials, not funded. MyGov is not funded in an ongoing way. This is the way that those opposite went about vandalising the budget. They were notorious for making the big announcements but not funding them in the budget.

The Leader of the Opposition can't distance himself from this behaviour. He was a member of the Expenditure Review Committee that made these decisions. He sits over there hoping that if he doesn't ask any questions the voters of Aston won't notice and won't remember who the Leader of the Liberal Party is in Canberra.

They were notorious for doing this, Mr Speaker. Those opposite should take responsibility for the mess that they made of the budget, in the same way that we take responsibility for cleaning it up.

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