Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister of her statement a year ago that she wanted to make life easier for Australia's working families. Since then she has announced a carbon tax that will drive up the price of everything, she has re-announced a mining tax that will damage jobs and investment in our most vital industry and she has announced a deficit of $50 billion that makes it more likely that interest rates will rise. Does she understand why Australia's forgotten families think that our country has gone from bad to worse?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the Leader of the Opposition let me say: I understand that families around the country feel the pressures of the world we live in and particularly the cost-of-living pressures on their shoulders. I understand that very, very keenly. That is why we want to work with families on those cost-of-living pressures and why we want to work with them to improve the services that they rely on and to improve their prospects in the future. There is nothing more important to the prospects of Australian families than keeping the economy strong and making sure that people have the benefits and dignity of work, which is why I am so pleased that we were able to manage the economy so that Australia came out of the global financial crisis stronger than any other developed country in the world and that over the next two years we will create half a million jobs.

I am also pleased that we are able to continue our work with families to assist them with cost-of-living pressures. We have of course provided tax cuts for three years. We created the education tax refund to help with the costs of getting kids to school. We have added to that in the recent budget by enabling families to recover some of the money they spend on kids' uniforms. We have worked with families to alleviate the burden of childcare fees, increasing the childcare tax rebate to 50 per cent and, in the recent budget, moving to a fortnightly payment arrangement so that people do not need to be so far out of pocket before they see some money come back from the government. We have also assisted the lowest income Australians, those eligible for the low-income tax offset, by bringing forward some of the payments that they would have otherwise not been eligible for. This move in the recent budget means that they will better see the rewards of work.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. To be directly relevant, the Prime Minister needs to talk about the things that she has done since she was Prime Minister. The things she is talking about were done by the member for Griffith when he was Prime Minister.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister is responding to the question.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For the information of the House, I was referring to a measure in the last budget. I really find it quite offensive that members of the opposition are so cavalier about the needs of low-income Australians that they do not understand a major measure in the last budget involving the low-income tax offset and enabling people to see more money earlier so that they can better see the rewards of work.

We have increased the family tax benefit for the parents of teenagers, a benefit that is worth more than $4,000 a year to families on the maximum rate. Families also rely on services. I want them to have the best of health services, which is why earlier this year I entered an agreement with premiers and chief ministers around the country which means more doctors, more nurses, more local control and less red tape. We will finalise the details of that agreement at the forthcoming COAG.

People in this parliament are aware of my passion for extending opportunity. We have built on our earlier education reforms with a $3 billion skills package in the recent budget. I am very proud that that will enable people to get that all-important training place and get a better job and a better prospect in life. We have also delivered in the context of the recent budget new welfare measures to better enforce opportunity and responsibility around our country. We have done all of that, and we are bringing the budget back to surplus exactly as promised to alleviate inflationary pressures in our economy. I am very happy for the Leader of the Opposition to keep talking about what the government has done in the face of his relentless negativity and just saying no.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a supplementary question to the Prime Minister. Given that almost everything the Prime Minister has just referred to has actually been the work of the member for Griffith when he was in the top job, has the political assassination of a prime minister been worth it?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: that was not a supplementary question. It should be ruled out of order

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on the point of order: she did in her answer almost entirely refer to the work of her predecessor. I admire the work of her predecessor and that is why it is entirely in order to ask her this question.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I simply say to the Leader of the House I was more concerned about the application of standing order 100 to the question rather than whether it was a supplementary question or not. I can only say that—through generations of speakership—leaders of the opposition, as has been given to prime ministers, have been given leeway but that leeway and the way in which in this case the standing orders that apply to the rules for the questions are put in place should not be expected on all occasions. But I allow the question on this occasion.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to the Leader of the Opposition I cannot believe that he is so reckless, so negative and so incompetent that he has failed to absorb any of the detail of the last budget. We know, of course, that he is bored by economics. We know that he is incapable of adding up budget figures, because every time he has tried to do so he has produced a black hole. But this question indicates that he is completely unaware of the measures in the recent budget. I am disgusted by that. It shows complete contempt for the need to keep the economy strong. It shows complete contempt for the need to get job opportunities for working Australians. It shows complete contempt for the measures we have enacted to assist them with cost of living. It shows complete contempt for people who rely on education and health services. So let me again go to matters dealt with in the—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, a point of order, reluctantly, but the question that I asked was whether it has all been worth it, and she should answer that question.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition acknowledges that there was a preamble before those words and, whilst the relevancy rule has been ratcheted to direct relevance, as I indicated, leeway is given either way. I have said before that, if I am to allow the questions, I will allow the leeway in the answer.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the Leader of the Opposition's question, the Leader of the Opposition has asked me about matters I have done as Prime Minister and I am answering them. I am pointing out to him what was done in the recent budget. Because he is so negative he clearly never bothered to read it. Let us go through the recent budget—

Mr Dutton interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Dickson is warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

a budget coming to surplus in 2012-13 as promised. If the Leader of the Opposition had his way, the cost of his negativity would be a huge deficit. A skills package delivered $3 billion in skills to get Australians the benefits of opportunity around the country. The cost of the Leader of the Opposition's negativity is he wants to rip money out of apprenticeships and out of skills. The recent budget invested more than $2 billion in mental health—something that you can only do if you balance the government's budget, not create a black hole. The cost of the Leader of the Opposition's negativity would be a black hole which means initiatives like mental health initiatives could not be funded.

Better help for families with teenagers was in the recent budget—something that the Leader of the Opposition has never shown any care or concern about. School uniforms were in the education tax refund in the recent budget—something that the Leader of the Opposition has never shown any care or concern about. The childcare tax rebate was moved to fortnightly payments to assist working families with the costs of paying for child care, a better circumstance than ever provided when the Leader of the Opposition was a cabinet minister. Low-income Australians get the benefit of the low income tax offset being brought forward. We care about the circumstances of low-income Australians. The Leader of the Opposition cares only about his negativity. And, of course, we earlier this year delivered a healthcare agreement, which means more doctors, more nurses, more local control and less waste. We have delivered the package which will enable Queensland to be rebuilt while we pay as we go. That is something that the Leader of the Opposition opposed and then he produced a package which fell apart within days. We have delivered the structural separation of Telstra, reform above and beyond anything the Howard govern­ment was capable of. The NBN continues to roll out, including with today's announce­ment. And the list goes on.

I can tell from the look on the Leader of the Opposition's face that he will never be interested in positive plans for the nation's future. He will never be interested in the benefits being provided to working families. The only thing he is interested in is negativity, and the problem for working families is that that comes at a cost to them. His negativity comes at a cost to them. We will let him play the silly political games he is going to play today and we will get on with the job of helping families around the nation. (Time expired)