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

I have received a letter from the Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The adverse effects on the nation of the Australian people's lack of confidence in the Government.

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

We have heard in parliament today many statements from ministers opposite about the international difficulties facing the Australian economy. In fact, in defending the government's imminent abandonment of the previous cast-iron commitment to achieving a surplus in 2012-13, they have spoken abundantly of the dire economic circumstances in which our country is now placed. Indeed, there are many economic difficulties facing our country right now. We have the worst retail confidence figures in decades. In fact, we have a retail strike in the shops of our country. We have large companies now announcing a series of significant job cuts. We have unemployment starting to rise. We have the international share market in turmoil. We have some European countries really struggling with their sovereign debt. We have the euro, the world's largest currency, under great pressure.

In the face of all of these difficulties, and in the face of a very fragile international and domestic situation, what is the response of this government? The response of this government is to persist with yet another big new tax. The reason we have this government persisting with a carbon tax that will knock our economy for six in the face of all of these difficulties is that its response to every difficulty is a great big new tax. The mining industry is making big profits, so we have a mining tax. There is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: let us have a carbon tax. There were floods in Queensland: let us have a flood tax. Young people are drinking too much: let us have an alcopops tax. This is a government which responds to every single problem in the community with more regulation and more tax.

The Australian people, I regret to say, are losing confidence in our economy. They are losing confidence in our economic prospects because they have lost confidence in this government. They are absolutely entitled to have lost confidence in this government because, by any reasonable measure, this is the most incompetent government in living memory. It is the most incompetent government bar none. Some people have said that this government is the most incompetent government since Gough Whitlam's, but that is very unfair to Gough Whitlam, who did not lack ideals and never sold the soul of the Labor Party to Senator Bob Brown and the Greens. Wherever we look, there is a web of incompetence and untrustworthiness from this government. This is a government that could not be put pink batts into people's roofs without houses burning down. This is a government which could not build school halls without rip-off after rip-off. This is a government which could not preserve the live cattle trade in the face of a TV program.

With all of the problems of infrastructure in our country—the clogged roads, the queues and queues of ships out the front of ports, the railroads that have not been extended in some cases in 100 years—what is this government going to do? Spend $50 billion it does not have putting fibre to people's homes whether they need it, want it or can afford it—and the $50 billion it will spend is just to connect to the fibre, not to use it. This is the most incompetent, the most extravagant government in living memory, and now this government wants to be trusted with the most complex and most difficult tax change in Australian history. This is a government of truly monumental waste and ineptitude.

There was a lot of talk today, a lot of bluster from this government, in parliament about the surplus which, to any acute listener, clearly is never, ever going to be delivered. The promise to deliver a surplus is going to turn out to be just as reliable, just as trustworthy as the notorious promise, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' Let us look at what this government has done when it comes to being prudent, frugal and trustworthy with the Australian people's money. It inherited a $20 billion surplus in 2007-08 and boasted it would deliver a $22 billion surplus in the following fiscal year. What did it actually give us? A $27 billion deficit. But they are never satisfied with mere mediocrity; this government wants to achieve records of incompetence and wastefulness. In 2009-10, not satisfied with a $27 billion deficit, they delivered us a $55 billion deficit. Just to ensure that the $55 billion deficit in 2009-10 was not a fluke and they were absolutely committed to waste, incompetence and extravagance, they gave us a $49 billion deficit in the current financial year. For an encore, it is going to be a $23 billion deficit in 2011-12. Then, finally, with a miracle to rival the loaves and the fishes, after achieving $150 billion plus in accumulated deficits, they say, 'And we're going to have a $3.5 billion surplus.' At that rate they will have to do it for 50 years just to repay the extravagance and incompetence of the first four years of the current administration. If we cannot trust this government with money, we should never trust them with a new tax.

We should never trust this government with a new tax. Particularly, we should not trust this government with a new tax that is specifically designed to change the way every single Australian lives and every single Australian works, making it deliberately more expensive to turn on our fridges, TVs, air conditioners and heaters, making it deliberately more expensive to buy goods that have to be transported by truck around our country. Even on the government's own figures there is an immediate 10 per cent rise in electricity prices under this tax. There is an immediate nine per cent rise in gas prices under this new tax. We know, because we know that governments put the best possible presentation on these things, that groceries are going up and up and up and that power will go up and up and up in addition to the government's current estimates. There is an estimate from the Food and Grocery Council of a five per cent increase in grocery prices. The automotive industry says there will be a $400-plus increase in the price of Australian automobiles. Is it any wonder that iconic Australian businesses are now restructuring and moving offshore, because this government, at an extremely difficult time in international economic circumstances—at a very fragile time in the economic life of this country—has only one instinct: to go ahead with a bad and unnecessary new tax?

This carbon tax, on top of the mining tax and the treatment of Telstra, is just going to add to the perceptions of sovereign risk that are now damaging brand Australia right around the world. This is just going to add to the job difficulties that this country is likely to face thanks to the policies of this government. Under the carbon tax there have been estimates of 10,000 lost jobs in the coal industry, 23,000 lost jobs in the mining industry more generally, 45,000 lost jobs in energy-intensive industries generally and 126,000 lost jobs right around our economy, mostly in regional Australia—and for what?

This is all supposed to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. But if you go to the document that the Prime Minister released on carbon Sunday, you will see that the carbon tax is not going to cut our emissions; it is actually going to increase them. Here in black and white we see that our current emissions are 578 million tonnes in the current year. In 2020, thanks to what will by then be a $29-a-tonne carbon tax, they go up to 620 million tonnes. What an absurd policy. A policy that is supposed to cut our emissions actually increases them. The only way we actually get our abatement target in 2020 is by buying nearly 100 million tonnes of carbon credits from abroad at the cost of $3½ billion. That is $3½ billion shoved out of the pockets of Australian consumers via Australian businesses into the pockets of international carbon traders—and aren't they an honest and reliable crew? Safe as Solomon Brothers, the international carbon trading fraternity—

An opposition member: Lehman Brothers.

Lehman Brothers. Solomon Brothers are a good firm! But it is $3½ billion into the pockets of the international carbon traders just to achieve the abatement target of 2020.

But it gets worse. This government is going to give us, on its own figures, a carbon tax not of $23 a tonne, not $29 a tonne but of $131 a tonne by 2050. You know what our emissions are going to be? Our emissions are going to be 545 million tonnes. So we are going to go through all this turmoil, all this upheaval, all this investment flight, all these job losses and all this pressure on the cost to Australian families for years and years—four decades of pain—for what? Our carbon emissions go, on the government's own figures, from 578 million tonnes to 545 million tonnes. It is going to achieve its 80 per cent emissions reduction target by spending—would you believe it?—$57 billion buying more than 400 million tonnes of emissions abatement from the carbon traders overseas. This is a lunatic policy. If I had not seen it in black-and-white in the government's own documents, I would not have believed it. I say, through this parliament, to the Australian people: look at the government's own figures. I am not making this up: a $131 a tonne carbon tax. It hardly makes a single difference to our environment but, by God, Mr Speaker, it is going to make a difference to our country. It is going to hurt jobs, hurt investments and hurt the struggling families of Australia.

Members opposite seem to be very interested in what may or may not have been said to Alan Jones. I have got what was said to Alan Jones this morning on the radio by former Labor senator John Black, who was asked about what Labor members of this parliament are doing. He said:

Sweating a great deal and looking for alternative employment.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

So I say to the member for Grayndler: you can crack hardy all you like, but not even your seat is safe, mate. That is why this Prime Minister's job is not safe. A very clear message is going out from the Australian people to this government: there can be no tax collection without an election. If this government had any honesty, any decency, that is what we would have: an election now. (Time expired)

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

I was optimistic—perhaps naive but optimistic—that over the break somehow the Leader of the Opposition would discover some semblance of leadership. But, once again, we have seen today why he is the most negative opposition leader in Australia's history: all opposition and no leader. He is so determined to continue to run on the absurd line that what we need is an election because he does not think he will make it until 2013 as the opposition leader.

The opposition are running a two-pronged strategy here. On the one hand they say, 'Oh, we need an election,' and that the crossbenchers should give them one. On the other hand they abuse the crossbenchers, they go to their seats, they denigrate them, they attack them and they seek to humiliate them. And then they wonder why this government is completely secure and why this government has not lost a single piece of legislation before this House—164 pieces of legislation have been carried and not a single amendment has been carried without the support of the government. It is not surprising, because those people who sit on the crossbenches, those people who view things objectively, know a rank opportunist when they see one.

We have seen it evidenced in the last week. There he was, returned from overseas, and he went on the Alan Jones program. It was not so much Alan Jones interviewing the Leader of the Opposition about what his views were; it was more the Leader of the Opposition going on the Alan Jones program to tell him how terrific he thinks Alan is. Alan put an idea to the Leader of the Opposition and, of course, he agreed with him. He determined that he was on the side of the farmers of New South Wales against the miners of Western Australia. The only problem was that he forgot that he was on his way to Western Australia. So when he got to Western Australia he did a press conference. There, of course, he decided that he was then for the miners and against the farmers—typical Tony Abbott: the inconsistency, the rank opportunism and no platform too low. He is the only living Liberal leader who does not support putting a price on carbon.

Of course, that has not always been the case. The Leader of the Opposition has had a very strong view about carbon over the years, a very strong view indeed on climate change. At one stage he was a non-believer. In October 2009, at a public meeting in Beaufort, he said:

The … argument is absolute crap.

Then he was a sceptic on the Four Corners program on 16 August 2010, saying:

I certainly think that there is a credible scientific counterpoint but, in the end, I'm not going to win an argument over the science, I'll leave that to the scientists.

Then he was a believer. On 3 March 2011 he said:

I think climate change is real.

On 8 March 2011, he went even further. He had always been a believer! He said:

I've always thought that climate change was real.

That was what he had to say then. But then of course, six days later, he was back to being a sceptic. In a public forum in Perth he said:

I don't think we can say that the science is settled here.

The only thing that is consistent is that the Leader of the Opposition says whatever he thinks people want to hear. That is what he does: he travels around the country telling people what he thinks they want to hear.

The problem is that today in modern politics there are things called recordings, there are things like DVDs and there are things like the internet. We know that he does not understand the internet; we know that from the 7.30 Report interview that he gave during the election campaign. He does not understand this new technology thing, but I say to the Leader of the Opposition that he should understand it and he should understand that he needs to be held to account. We saw again on the weekend another Mark Riley moment: another moment where he was asked questions and he just stared at the interviewer menacingly, trying to intimidate them into backing off. We saw that occur.

The fact is that the Leader of the Opposition has failed to wreck the parliament. The parliament is functioning effectively. So now he is trying to wreck the economy, without a care or concern for those who may lose their jobs or businesses—no concern whatsoever. Today again we have seen an announcement by Qantas that is indeed very unfortunate about the shedding of jobs. Senator Eric Abetz has put out a statement blaming Labor's carbon tax for that issue. He has not spoken to Alan Joyce of Qantas. He has not looked at the facts. If you look at the facts, they are these. One is that the measures that Qantas has announced are about what is going on with the globalisation in aviation; it has made that very clear. It is also the case that the carbon price does not apply to international air traffic. The fact is, of course, that the opposition do not worry about those details and facts; they just put out their scare campaign regardless of what the reality is—regardless of the fact that Qantas is saying that the areas of the company that are under pressure are those international routes. The domestic part of the business is, indeed, extremely profitable and doing well. That is why the cutbacks Qantas has announced are about reducing some of its international business. But this opposition is so opportunistic that there is no opportunity it will not try to seize.

The Leader of the Opposition, of course, has to answer some questions about how he is going to fill his incredible $70 billion black hole. I note that the shadow Treasurer last week on television was saying: 'Oh, $50 billion, $60 billion or $70 billion? We can just find that.' It was an extraordinary statement. Seventy billion dollars is the equivalent of twice the current six-year federal infrastructure program, stopping the age pension for two years, stopping Medicare payments for four years, stopping assistance to people with disabilities for three years or stopping family tax benefit payments for three years. It would require savings equivalent to doubling the GST for a year. But that is the position that the opposition have brought themselves into. Why have they brought themselves into that? First, they want to unwind the mining company tax, because of course, although those big mining companies say that they can afford to pay the tax, the opposition are determined to make them not pay the tax. They want ordinary Australian taxpayers to pick up that difference. Of course, there is $27 billion from unwinding the price on carbon, because the opposition are determined that, rather than taxing the big polluters and providing assistance and support to Australian families, to businesses and to clean energy, they will tax ordinary Australians so they can provide subsidies to the big polluters. It is an absolutely extraordinary position.

But nothing is too great in terms of being prepared to talk down the economy. We saw it again in question time today. We saw it in the response of the shadow Treasurer to the Treasurer's ministerial statement. The shadow finance minister—who is no threat, I must say, to the shadow Treasurer; I say that to you in your defence, Shadow Treasurer—said this this morning at the doors: 'No wonder we've got a deficit vulnerable to world meltdown in terms of finances.' He was speaking about world meltdown. The Australian economy is about to melt down according to the shadow finance minister. It is absolutely extraordinary. The fact is that those people opposite are determined to talk the Australian economy down in spite of the fact that we are in the strongest position of any advanced economy in the world. We are in a position where we have strong public finances and strong employment—a 5.1 per cent figure, the envy of the industrialised world. We are in a strong position, with a plan to deal with our infrastructure and skills deficits going forward. We have an investment pipeline of over $400 billion. Yet those opposite say all these industries are just going to collapse. It is absolutely extraordinary.

The $70 billion figure is really just the starting point, because that does not take into account the fact that they have run around the country and made all sorts of promises without having any money attached. There is the Midland Highway in Tasmania. Last Thursday in Hobart I met with all the mayors up and down the highway and with the Tasmanian Minister for Infrastructure. The opposition have said they will duplicate the entire Midland Highway. They have said they will provide $400 million for it. That will not even pay for the land acquisition, before you start to spend one cent on concrete or any other activity. Four hundred million dollars will not pay for the land acquisition. The opposition have said they will duplicate the highway from Geelong through to Adelaide—again, without any money whatsoever. The Leader of the National Party runs around the country making promises almost on a daily basis. He is a bit like the Leader of the Opposition; he has not discovered the internet. He does not know that we are keeping that record of all of these commitments and there will be dollars attached to them, and at the end of the day they will have to come clean about whether the commitments will be delivered and whether they are real or not. In a speech recently the Leader of the Opposition said he would build new motorways and rail lines in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. These things just roll off the tongue without any money being attached to them, and that is before you get to the $70 billion debacle which is there.

The fact of the matter is that this Leader of the Opposition simply cannot be trusted, and he has said that himself. In terms of transport, which he raises, the fact is that in 2007 the opposition went to an election with a comprehensive plan to have the world's most comprehensive emissions trading scheme, and they wanted all transport fuels in. I saw them out there today at the rally on the box talking about heavy vehicles. The fact is that the coalition stated in the document they produced for the 2007 election, with cabinet ministers including the current Leader of the Opposition and the then Leader of the National Party, who went to that election as the Deputy Prime Minister, that the coalition:

… recognises the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, which currently comprise around 14 per cent of Australia's total emissions. By bringing transport fuels into the Australian emissions-trading system, consumers will be given greater incentive to improve the energy efficiency of their transport choices.

They wanted emissions trading to apply to the passenger vehicle, to every vehicle right across the transport sector, something that we have said that we will not do in the position that we have put forward.

The fact is that the Leader of the Opposition will make any claim no matter how untruthful, offer any promise no matter how outlandish, discard any principle no matter how dearly held, vilify any person no matter how well meaning and nonpartisan their motives and betray any loyalty no matter how longstanding. And didn't Peter Reith find that out? The Leader of the Opposition got Peter Reith to run for national president of the Liberal Party and then voted for Alan Stockdale, who won by one vote. That is the integrity of the Leader of the Opposition, who is leading a party of talk-back, not a party of government. The party is irresponsible in the way that it has engaged in the economic debate, including the one that has taken place today. The Leader of the Opposition is a walking vuvuzela with just one noise coming out of his mouth—no, no, no, no. He is incapable of putting forward a positive alternative, and that is why this government is determined to not be distracted by the negativity of the opposition leader. This government is determined to pursue the important reform agenda that it has put forward, including pricing carbon, the national health reform agenda and the MORT, during this sitting of parliament. These important reforms will stand Australia in good stead and further back up the good economic management of this government. (Time expired)

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What an interesting aside that was from the Leader of the House in this matter of public importance, given that the Prime Minister was not prepared to defend herself and her personal integrity, nor was the Treasurer prepared to defend his personal integrity. I have been doing a little bit of research on this the anniversary of the Prime Minister's commitment to the Australian people that there would be no carbon tax under the government she leads. Having a drift through Hansard from 2005, a newer, slightly younger Julia Gillard—

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

at that time said:

… the Labor Party is the party of truth telling. When we go out into the electorate and make promises, do you know what we would do in government: we would keep them. When we say them, we mean them.

I thought, 'Hang on! Is this the same member that is now the Prime Minister, that went to the last election promising to have no carbon tax under the government she leads?' I thought, 'The delusion continues,' because on 20 March 2009 our now Prime Minister said:

I think when you go to an election and you give a promise to the Australian people, you should do everything in your power to honour that promise. We are determined to do that. We gave our word to the Australian people in the election and this is a Government that prides itself on delivering election promises. We want Australians to be able to say well, they’ve said this and they did this …

These are the Prime Minister's own words. This is why the Prime Minister's integrity is in tatters. This is why there is no trust between the Australian people and their Prime Minister. This is why the Australian people have switched off. They have switched off on the Prime Minister, the leader of the nation, because they no longer trust the person in the job.

Trust is a two-way street. Politicians go to the election and they ask the Australian people to trust them with the responsibility of properly running the country and to honour their promises. The flip side is that the politicians have to trust the Australian people, so much so that words are bullets in this game. As has been said before, there are three things in life that can never be recovered: the spoken word, the spent arrow and the lost opportunity. And on this day of all days—the first anniversary of when the Prime Minister spoke the words, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead'—she cannot recover those words. They are spoken forever. And the bullets and arrows that follow are spent forever.

The fact is that there will be no further opportunities for this Prime Minister. There will be no further opportunities for this government because it is a government that has fundamentally undermined the trust of the Australian people in its judgment, its integrity, its honesty, its consistency and its credibility. This is a government that is inconsistent. That is why consumer confidence is down. That is why people are not going out and borrowing money and taking risks. They are afraid that if they take risks in their daily lives the government will come along and either regulate it or tax it, because that is what Labor does. Labor regulates and taxes. Labor wants to control your life. It wants to be intimately involved in your decision making.

The coalition believes in an Australia where people take personal responsibility for their actions. We believe in a nation where people control their destiny; the government does not—the government facilitates their destiny. That is what we believe in. That is what drives us. The government is clinging onto fictional numbers out of a report in the media, fictional numbers about a so-called black hole. Let me tell you this: we make no apology for going after government waste. We make no apology for having smaller government under the coalition. We will not tax Australians as much as Labor and we will not spend as much as Australia has to spend under Labor. Under the Labor Party it is big tax, big spend. We will not have a $26 billion carbon tax and we will not spend $30.2 billion on the other side of the equation. Somehow this mob think in government that Australians are better off when you take $26 billion of a carbon tax off them and give them back $16 billion in compensation. You know what? You only offer compensation if you cause injury. You only offer compensation if people are hurt. Even Ross Garnaut—Saint Ross himself: the person the Labor Party believe is truly the oracle on this matter—has said every single Australian household is going to end up paying this tax. You can tax business, but business is going to pass it through. And, of course, they do not even know how many businesses. Old Swannie comes in here—we love Swannie—

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for North Sydney will refer to the Treasurer by his title.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sorry; we love the Treasurer. We want him to keep his job. The Australian people have such confidence in the Treasurer that a recent survey, which named 10 people and asked who was best placed to lead the Labor Party, did not even ask whether the Deputy Prime Minister was. Not even the pollster thought that was credible. They had the Leader of the Greens and they had someone from the Liberal Party before they asked whether the Treasurer should be leading the Labor Party. That is what he is reduced to—and this is a man running the Australian economy. He writes an article in the Financial Timessaying there is a 'crisis of confidence in the world'. You know what? I do not get any more confident about the world when Wayne Swan is out there. I do not feel more confident about Australia when the Treasurer gets up and says we are in good shape. This is the man that said the carbon tax would be 'roughly budget neutral'. Budget neutral? It is a $4.2 billion hole in the budget.

They said they would deliver a surplus in this budget, and this was only a few weeks ago. I was sitting over here with my colleagues listening intently to the Treasurer and I refreshed my memory of the budget. In the budget he said this:

We'll be back in the black by 2012-13, on time, as promised.

The alternative—meandering back to surplus—would compound the pressures in our economy and push up the cost of living for pensioners and working people.

We will reach surplus despite company tax is not recovering like our economy.

And he also said:

Our spending restraint means real growth in spending averages 1 per cent …

So he said 'things are tough, but we're going to get the budget back to surplus because that takes the pressure off pensioners and working people'. Well, today the Prime Minister conceded that the budget is not going to get back to surplus in 2012-13, which means the Prime Minister has conceded that Labor, under her, is now going to make life harder for pensioners and working people. This is her own Treasurer; this is the guy that stood up in this place and delivered a budget and now he is saying, 'I'm sorry, we're going to have to dump that promise.' Today of all days is the day: 'We had dumped a promise on the carbon tax and now we dump a promise on a surplus.' All of the indicators have been going for months: before he even stood in this place he was recognising that consumer confidence is down, building approvals are down, credit growth is down—all of those things. It was happening months ago, and yet he stood in this place a few weeks ago and said emphatically, 'We will deliver a surplus in 2012-13, I promise.'

Like his Prime Minister, the Treasurer has broken a promise. If he wonders why the Australian people are not listening to him as Treasurer, if he wonders why people are cocooning, saving money, walking away from taking a risk and walking away from discretionary spending, he should look no further than this simple fact: the Labor Party cannot be trusted. The Prime Minister cannot be trusted. The Treasurer cannot be trusted. They are deceiving the Australian people, and the Australian people will punish them at the next election.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We heard the shadow Treasurer pushing piffle and dribbling drivel. What he has not said is a fact. All he has talked about is belief and exposition of his position. Let us give a few facts. Expenditure: under this government, one per cent growth; under the Howard coalition government, 3.7 per cent. Average unemployment: under the Howard coalition government, 6.4 per cent; under us, 5.1. Let us talk about tax on the Australian public. Under this government, if you are on $50,000 a year you have got an extra $1,750 in your pay packet per annum and if you are on $100,000 you have got another $1,900 in your pay packet. That is what we have done. We have also had a historic increase in pensions. If you are a pensioner in this country you have got $128 extra per fortnight and $117 extra if you are a couple. That is what we have done since we have been in power.

The coalition have never supported markets and their position with respect to climate change is one of Soviet centralism, not supporting markets, not supporting the most economically efficient and environmentally effective way to tackle climate change. That is what the Productivity Commission has to say. We get mindless negativity from those opposite, saying one thing to the farmers and saying another thing to the miners. On the east coast you are the farmers' friend; on the west coast you are the miners' mate. You say one thing to Alan Jones; you say one thing to the press gallery here. That is what the Leader of the Opposition does. He will say anything and to do anything. He is like St Paul of Tarsus—he will do anything and say anything in order to win some. That is what his view is in order to gather votes. He is not interested in the households of Australian families; he is interested in the household of the Lodge. That is what the Leader of the Opposition is like.

I see the member for Herbert here. The Leader of the Opposition went on holiday when he was going to go across the country doing forums. They were LNP community forums in Queensland, not real forums; they were simply party political meetings. He did not have anyone in those meetings. And guess what? The Leader of the Opposition did not go to flood affected and cyclone Yasi affected Queensland. He could have come to Blair and enjoyed himself there. He could have gone to Herbert and enjoyed himself in Townsville. He did not go there. He traipsed off overseas. He does not understand the geography, the electoral demography or the flood geography of Queensland. He shows such little regard for the people of Queensland that on 8 February this year, in a speech on the condolence motion, he could not list the flood affected electorates in Queensland. He did not mention Moreton, he did not mention Oxley and he did not mention Blair. In fact, he thought it flooded in Redcliffe and he mentioned Petrie as a place that flooded. That just shows how much he understands.

The Leader of the Opposition does not understand anything about Queensland. He opposed the flood tax. We saw the shadow Treasurer here today and elsewhere saying he would oppose it. The people of Queensland know—and the LNP members across there should hang their heads in shame—that they could not find the $1.8 billion to be raised by the flood tax, a one-off flood tax which is less than a cappuccino a week if you are on about $50,000 a year, and they did not have the wisdom or wit to support what we are doing for the recovery of South-East Queensland and North Queensland. They knew that we had been affected by the floods. They knew it would cost $6.8 billion, but they would not support the recovery of Queensland. They would not support the community infrastructure, the roads and the bridges. The LNP members in this House should be ashamed of themselves. They should have gone to the party room and they should have spoken up on behalf of their constituents and Queensland; they did not.

We know that the Leader of the Opposition does not understand Queensland. On 19 July he was in South-East Queensland. He was in Gatton in the state electorate of Lockyer and in the federal electorate of Wright and he thought he was in Ipswich—he thought he was in Blair. He actually started saying he was in Ipswich. I want to thank the member for Wright—my neighbour and my mate—because he corrected on national TV the Leader of the Opposition because he could not work out where he was in Queensland. That is how much he respects Queensland and how much he wants to stand up for Queenslanders—opposing the reconstruction of Queensland. There is $478 million for local road infrastructure in the Lockyer Valley in the seat of Wright and in Ipswich in the seat of Blair, but guess what? The coalition have opposed it all. They have opposed the funding for the reconstruction of Queensland. That is the situation. The coalition are opposing the Green Army jobs, the job skills and development officers in the Lockyer Valley, in Ipswich and in the Somerset region and all the reconstruction necessary for recovery.

But guess what? We have the coalition here today being proud of the fact they are going to sack public servants and get rid of government departments. They are proud of the fact they are going to cut back $70 billion. They could not find $1 billion. They said they would find it to help with Queensland's recovery. It took them weeks. I see the member for Curtin is here, having fought a rearguard action against the One Nation supporters opposite in the party room when they tried to strip away the funding for foreign aid, taking the idea right out of the playbook of One Nation. That is what the coalition did when they tried to find the money. They could not find $1 billion to help the recovery of Queensland. Where are they going to find $70 billion?

We know they have an $11-billion black hole. That is what the Treasury said after the last election. We would not have known about it but for the Independents insisting on discovering it. They would not have discovered it until they were forced to do it. Now they have a $70 billion black hole. What are they going to do? What projects, what flood recovery in Queensland, are they going to stop? They are going to stop the Ipswich motorway construction. We know they want to stop the Ipswich motorway construction. That is the policy they took to the last election. There are 10,000 jobs at risk in Ipswich in South-East Queensland because of you guys.

We know they do not support community infrastructure. We know they are going to get rid of the regional infrastructure funding. They are opposed to the $4.3 billion for regional universities and regional infrastructure in South-East Queensland and Central Queensland. The member for Flynn is here. Did he stand up for this thing? No, he did not. He wants to get rid of the funding for regional Queensland. Places like Gladstone will suffer because of him. The member for Ryan will not support the BER projects here but went to the BER project at the Pullenvale State School last week in her own electorate. They say one thing down here and say one thing back in Queensland.

The LNP members opposite should be ashamed. They are the ones that are not instilling confidence in the people of Queensland and the people of Australia. We know that the LNP members are like that. They are really proud down here, but back home they will say something very different. Guess what? We know they are inconsistent. It reeks of hypocrisy. We know they are hopeless, hapless and helpless. We know that when it comes to economics. We know that because inflation was higher, interest rates were higher, unemployment was higher and government expenditure was higher under the previous coalition government. They say one thing to the market and they do another.

Did they have the wit or wisdom to ever bring in trade practices legislation in this country? The Whitlam government did that. Did they have the wit and wisdom to reform competition and consumer laws in this country? No. Did they float the dollar? No. Did they bring in superannuation? No. Did they internationalise the economy? No, they did not, because they are always on the side of big liquor, big tobacco and big business and never on the side of the small business sector. Did they ever bring in a national business name registry? No. It is going to save $1.6 billion to Australian business. What about the business hotline? What about the mybusiness website? This government is doing all of that. We are supporting small business in flood affected areas like South-East Queensland, in North Queensland and in Central Queensland that have been so affected.

The coalition is the one not instilling confidence in the Australian public, because what it is doing is damaging the economy. Coalition members are talking it down all the time. They are also damaging the civility of Queensland and Australian life. Some of the things they say and do they should be ashamed of. The rallies they support, what they do and the way they refer to the Prime Minister are disrespectful. I do not care if they disagree with her politics. I do not care for the sexism and the misogyny we see at times from those opposite when we make statements. That is unfortunate.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, on a point of order—

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member's time has almost expired but he referred, as I understand, to the opposition as a group and he did not refer to any individual member. I call the member for Blair.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is exactly right. At the rallies we see placards and we see members of the opposition standing in front of placards that are disrespectful of the office of the Prime Minister. (Time expired)

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate today is about the adverse effect on the nation of the Australian people's lack of confidence in the government. Before we turn to the Australian people's lack of confidence in the government, for starters let us have a look at what Labor insiders are saying about this government. On radio 2GB this morning, Alan Jones interviewed two guests: two Labor insiders. During the course of the interview he raised a whole raft of issues that the government was currently bungling: the carbon pricing scheme, the East Timor solution, and the Malaysian asylum seeker issue. He said:

I mean, the issues are everywhere. How is the backbench reacting to all of that?

He put the question to one Graham Richardson: a former Hawke minister; godfather of the New South Wales Right of the Labor Party; the most recognisable faceless man of the Labor Party, reportedly involved in the political assassination of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the installation of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. This is what he had to say, and he has obviously been talking to a lot of Labor backbenchers. He said:

Well, a lot of them just simply delude themselves into believing that next May when the money starts going into people’s pockets a couple of months in advance of the tax that suddenly there’ll be this massive change of heart and they’ll be saved, they’ll be delivered. I wouldn’t have thought that’s going to happen myself. So I think that’s just delusional, but that’s what a lot of them are doing. Some of the others are ... already looking at what they’re going to be doing next because they know they won’t be in parliament. And some of the others—

and this is Graham Richardson—

are just sitting there scratching their heads and saying ‘what will we do?’ I think there’s a great number in there saying ‘how did we get into this strife and how do we get out of it’ and they haven’t got answers.

This is what a former Hawke minister is saying of Labor members of parliament. If that is what Labor members of parliament are saying about their own government, if that is what they believe are the problems of this government, why on earth would the Australian people have any confidence at all in this government?

The Australian people have no confidence in the Labor Party leadership, and why should they? Again, Alan Jones to Graham Richardson:

Is she up to it?

He asked Graham Richardson, former Labor minister, whether she—meaning the Prime Minister—was up to it. Richardson said:

No. I don’t think anyone really believes it at the moment. She’d have to have a magnificent year to come; this was to be the year of delivery. Well so far the delivery has been pretty poor.

And then, finally, the radio show host put two questions:

... (a) will she lead the Labor Party into the next election and (b) what will happen to the Labor Party at the next election?

Alan Jones's other guest, John Black, a former Labor senator from Queensland, said in answer to the question (a):

Well, I don’t believe that she will and there’s a slim chance for the Labor Party if they changed to the right leader and acted quickly.

Then the last word of course was to Graham Richardson who said:

She’ll lead Labor, it’s far more likely, and I believe Labor will be slaughtered.

That is the view of the insiders of the Labor Party—that they will be slaughtered at the next election. As Mark Latham, the former Labor leader, said of this Prime Minister:

She's the next one for the knife.

So why would the Australian people have any confidence in the leadership of this party? Why would they have any confidence in this government when their own people, people on their own side, believe that it is an incompetent, hopeless government?

Let us turn to the Australian people. Business and consumer confidence is fragile in this country. People do not believe the government spin. They do not believe that this government has any fiscal management skills at all and they certainly do not believe it has the ability to get Australia through the coming months and years, particularly because of the global turmoil. This comes from the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment:

Consumer sentiment fell by 3½% in August, coming after a fall of 8.3% in July.

And as the chief economist of Westpac said:

... this latest fall is sending a significant message ... the index is at its lowest level since May 2009.

He indicated that the index was falling even before the current turmoil in the markets in the US and in European zone. He said:

... this financial turmoil has added another dimension of risk to consumers over and above those issues associated with interest rates, house prices, carbon tax and, potentially, jobs.

The Australian people are concerned because they know that Australia is not in the same shape that it was when we entered into the global financial crisis in 2008. They know that the Rudd government had inherited the best fiscal position of virtually any comparable economy. There was zero government debt—no government debt—and a surplus over $22 billion. There were tens of billions of dollars of savings in a Future Fund, a Higher Education Endowment Fund, and a Health and Medical Research Fund. This government inherited enormous capacity to respond to that global financial downturn.

In the aftermath of the downturn they announced a $10.4 billion stimulus, and we supported that. They were able to do that because they had inherited a $20 billion surplus. But when the government then announced in 2009 a $42 billion stimulus, we knew that that was too large, poorly targeted, and was going into too deep a descent into debt, and we offered an alternative and affordable package. But, no, Labor went ahead and now the stories of the waste and the mismanagement from that $42 billion stimulus package are legendary—the pink batts, the $900 cheque giveaways, the overpriced school halls.

Since 2008 the Treasurer has delivered successive budget deficits. They have been so large that on occasions he has been too embarrassed to even say the amount of those deficits. The cumulative deficits under this Treasurer, under this government, come to $150 billion. In order to fund those deficits they are borrowing and going into debt, and the debt is now $107 billion and increasing. It has gone from zero when they came into government to $107 billion, and it is going up. How do we know it is going up? Because we have a debt ceiling in this country. There is a limit to the amount that the federal government can borrow. It was $75 billion, but in the last budget they came in in the dead of the night and put legislation in this House to raise the debt ceiling to $250 billion. That is where their debt is heading.

The incompetence is not just confined to the waste and mismanagement; it is also in relation to their promises. The Gillard government promised that the budget would be back in surplus in 2012-13. They have promised it—they guaranteed it—but now they have downgraded that promise. Now it is going to be: wouldn't it be nice to be able to get the budget into surplus in 2012-13? The fact is that this Labor government will never deliver a surplus; therefore, we will not have a buffer for the next global financial downturn and it will put pressure on interest rates.

The incompetence is not confined to matters purely fiscal. Australians are well aware of the waste and mismanagement, the debt, the deficit, the reckless spending and the borrowing. Add to that incompetence the border protection debacle, the East Timor solution that never was and the Malaysian swap deal. The Prime Minister claimed the Malaysian swap deal to be one of her achievements the other day. Not one asylum seeker has been sent to Malaysia under it, it is mired in the High Court because of a legal challenge and the boats keep arriving, yet the Prime Minister says that that is an achievement.

There is the spending, borrowing and taxing. There was a flood tax because they could not even find $1.8 billion in reserves to rebuild Queensland after the floods. The mining tax will put a burden on the most productive sector of our economy. Then there is the carbon tax, which no other country on earth is introducing. When the President of the World Bank says that we are entering a new and dangerous phase and when he says this turmoil could be with us for some years to come, this is the worst time for a government to be introducing a job-destroying carbon tax.

The Prime Minister said before the last election, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' She has broken faith with the Australian people. She should do the honest thing and take this matter back to the Australian people in an election because this government has no mandate to introduce the tax. The Australian people have no confidence in this government to manage this economy through a global downturn. This government must go.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There was a time when the role of the opposition was to present itself as an alternative government. That time is in the long distant past. We have not seen that under the current Leader of the Opposition and those who follow him. They revel in the Leader of the Opposition as the champion of doom and gloom. We saw at the end of the last parliamentary session the Leader of the Opposition declare war on science and scientists. He declared war on economics and economists. We see at the beginning of this parliamentary session the Leader of the Opposition and his deputy leader declare war on good news, because that is what this matter of public importance is today. They continually come into this place day after day talking down the country, talking down the economy and talking down the good news. In fact, they have not found a good news story that they would not be willing to go out there and bag. Far from being a group of people who like to present themselves to the Australian people as an alternative government, they come here as the champions of doom and gloom and engage in a relentless campaign of mindless negativity. They have nothing to offer.

Is it any wonder that the Australian people are not buying it? They know there are some things to be worried about in this current Australian political debate. One thing they could start with is the $70 billion black hole that the shadow cabinet is considering at the moment. How on earth are they going to fund the outlandish and outrageous series of promises and cuts they are proposing and do anything to bring the budget back into surplus? They know they cannot do it. They know there is a huge $70 billion black hole in their economic plan.

We already know that their economic plan starts with slashing 12,000 jobs from the Australian public sector. If they are elected to the treasury bench the first act by this group of people who claim to be concerned about job losses will be to slash 12,000 jobs from the Australian economy. We know there will be more to come. We just heard the Deputy Leader of the Opposition express her concern about border protection. She might like to answer this question: how many of those 12,000 jobs are going to come from the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service? We have heard a lot of talk and concern from members, particularly from those who represent rural seats and are members of the National Party, about biosecurity, particularly in relation to fire blight and the importation of apples, which I know is an issue that is very dear to your heart, Mr Deputy Speaker. Members opposite might ask themselves: how many of those 12,000 jobs are going to be ripped from our biosecurity agencies and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry?

It is very easy to talk about 12,000 jobs, but when you have to identify those people and the programs and agencies they are going to come from it is a little more difficult. The Department of Defence, Centrelink, the court workers, the immigration workers and the people working tirelessly at this time of year to ensure that taxpayers get their tax returns paid on time are amongst the 12,000 as well.

We know that you will not find $70 billion just by slashing public servants. You would have to close down more than an entire department to do it. We know that, if they are going to meet the $70 billion black hole in their budget, they are going to have to do a bit more. Here are some other questions they might have to answer in this place and ask their constituents. What are they going to do to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme? How much are they going to pull out of the PBS? How many drugs will not get listed? They currently come to this place and say they are backing those consumer advocacy groups. They say, 'We will get your drugs listed if you just vote for us.' How many of those drugs and much needed services will not make it to the scheme? How much is going to be pulled from the PBS? If you are going to save big money, these are the places you have to go to, and those opposite know it.

What are they going to be doing about Medicare payments? What are they going to do about health and hospital funding?

Are they going to slash the record increases that we have seen under this government to health and hospital funding? It is very easy to get out there as the shadow treasurer and the Leader of the Opposition do and say, 'It's pretty easy for us to find savings.' The hard yards are to go line by line through the budget and find the savings. That is what this government have been doing. We have seen the greatest fiscal consolidation over the last 12 months and we will continue to see the greatest fiscal consolidation in our budget than has been seen in any country anywhere around the world and those opposite know it.

There are many things to be concerned about. Another thing that members of the public will be concerned about is when they look under the bonnet of the opposition's climate change policy. We have learnt today that this climate change policy is, in fact, a subsidy to polluters policy, because what they are proposing to do is to go household by household and say, 'You must pay for our policy which won't work.' In the last session of parliament we knew that the cost was $720 per household. Since the knee-jerk policy reaction of the Leader of the Opposition—this is policy brought to you by One Nation and talkback radio—we know that the blow-out in their climate change policy now brings the bill to $1,300 per household. What we are seeing from those opposite is all slogan and no content.

There are serious issues that we might consider in a matter of public importance debate. After the events of the last month you might think that those opposite might bring in here a matter for debate around the downgrading of the US credit rating over the last fortnight. You might think that we might have a debate in this place about the implications in this country of the riots that we have recently seen in London. They are serious issues worthy of debate. You might think that the upheavals in the Middle East, particularly in countries like Syria and Libya, are matters worthy of debate. You might think the European financial crisis is something that we might have a debate about in a matter of public importance. Instead what we see from the champions of doom and gloom is that they come in here day after day trawling for disappointment—they have never met a good news story that they would not like to bag—trying to drag down confidence in the Australian economy and in our Australian institutions.

The opposition are far from recognising that in this country we are actually in one of the best positions of any country in our region and any country around the world. These are not our words. These are the words of the Reserve Bank Governor, because he has said on more than one occasion that when he travels the world, as he does regularly, and talks to other central bankers, he has not yet met a central banker whose place he would like to trade with.

Let us have a look at the ultimate test of the world's measure of the Australian economy, and that is the Australian dollar. That is where the institutions of the world get to put their money where their mouths are and make an assessment about the strength of the Australian economy compared to every other country around the world. We will not have the doom and gloom scenario proffered by those opposite. They ignore the fact that we have the lowest unemployment rate in decades and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the OECD. They ignore the fact that we are filling the huge black hole that they left behind in infrastructure investments. We have record spending in rail, ports and roads. They ignore the fact that business is actually backing the strength of the Australian economy and we have the capacity to really boom over the coming years with a record pipeline of investment—$400 billion. They bag the NBN; they bag health and hospital reform.

They seem to overlook the fact that we have delivered tax cuts for three years in a row, which means that the average wage earner on $68,000 a year is now paying $1,000 less in tax than when the opposition were sitting on this side of the House. They overlook that and that there are more tax cuts to come. We have a plan to spread the benefits of the mining boom through the minerals resource rent tax. Their plan is to whack households $1,300 per annum and give the money to the big polluters, hand back the money to the big miners and then run round the country and sack public servants and others. (Time expired)

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The discussion is now concluded.