Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think everyone just needs to take a big, deep breath after that contribution. Let's get back to some facts, shall we? Let's get back to living in the real world, after the diatribe we just heard from the Leader of the Nationals. Those opposite come into this place and talk about taking Australia back. I'll tell you where they're going to take us. They're going to take us back to cuts, culture wars and climate denial. You only have to look at what their record was when they last had a chance to sit on the treasury bench. When the Leader of the Opposition was last in government, he tried to cut the pension. In 2014, when the Leader of the Opposition was the health minister, he tried to cut billions from Medicare. He tried to rip money out of our hospitals and make Australians pay each and every time they go to the GP. We had huge queues in our immigration department. Those opposite wanted to cut child care. They wanted to cut all the services that Australians rely on.

If you think they've changed their stripes, they haven't. While we've been in government, those opposite have voted against tax cuts. They've voted against cheaper medicines. They've voted against free TAFE. They've voted against Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. They've voted against reducing HECS debts. They've voted against increasing the minimum wage. Today, they voted against cheaper child care; they voted against the three-day guarantee. There hasn't been a policy to take the edge off and help Australians that they haven't opposed.

They just want to cut government services, and you have to think, 'Why on earth do they want to do that?' It's because they've got some crazy ideas they want to fund. They've got some big, expensive toys that they want to buy that make absolutely no sense. We've been listening to the Leader of the Nationals talk about how they want to come in and reduce costs for Australians and how Australians can't afford all of these different things. When Australia can't afford a whole range of different things, what's the answer? I'll tell you what the answer isn't: $600 billion for a nuclear energy program. Those opposite have been fighting renewable energy because that is in their DNA. Fighting renewable energy is part of the reason they don't hold many of the seats that now belong to the crossbench. It's why we hold Higgins, Reid and so many other seats that have changed hands because those opposite have this absolute ideological desire to fight renewable energy. The markets aren't doing that; the markets are fighting to invest in renewable energy. But those opposite have this climate denial. When the Leader of the Opposition had a quiet little moment with a couple of former prime ministers over a little—

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