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 her of the government's declaration in the 2011 budget speech:

We will 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.

Why is the government, in its own words, pushing up the cost of living for pensioners and working people by breaking its promise to deliver a surplus this year?

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

Once again the Leader of the Opposition comes to the dispatch box and shows his inability to deal with economic concepts and economic facts. I would direct the Leader of the Opposition to the current inflation rate. I would direct the Leader of the Opposition to the Reserve Bank's remarks about the low level of the current inflation rate. I would direct the Leader of the Opposition to those facts, something that the Leader of the Opposition is not overly familiar with. What the Leader of the Opposition would recognise if he looked at the facts is that we have low inflation; we have low interest rates; we have a government that has been prepared to work with families and pensioners to assist them with their cost of living, whether it is our historic pension increase, whether it is our changing of the tax-free threshold so that working people, particularly working women, can earn—

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

Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order. The Leader of the Opposition asked about the disappearing surplus, and the Prime Minister needs to answer that question.

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has the call and will return to the question before the chair.

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

I am directly on the question, because the Leader of the Opposition asked about the government's budget strategy and cost-of-living pressures and impacts for low-income Australians and for pensioners. That was the question, so I am talking about cost-of-living pressures for pensioners and low-income earners. I am pointing out that we have low inflation and low interest rates. We have provided a historic increase to pensioners. We have provided a change in the tax arrangements which means that low-income workers—and they tend predominantly to be women—can earn $18,200 before they pay a dollar of tax. And then, of course, if they are buying a family home, they are also in the circumstance where they are paying $5,000 less for a $300,000 mortgage than they used to when those opposite were last in government. So, in terms of cost of living, in terms of working with pensioners and low-income Australians, I refer the Leader of the Opposition to the facts—to the clear economic concepts and to the facts.

On the government's budget: nothing asked by the Leader of the Opposition and nothing asked by the shadow Treasurer actually would cause an observer to conclude that they know that a global financial crisis happened and that they recognise that, as a result of that global financial crisis and other pressures in our economy, we have seen huge revenue write-downs—indeed, $160 billion in revenue write-downs across the period of the GFC. You have to ask yourself the question in those circumstances: do you support jobs? We always will. When the Leader of the Opposition has been called on to come into this place and put his hand up for jobs, he never has. (Time expired)

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

I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Can the Prime Minister explain this simple proposition: how can meandering back to surplus be bad for people at budget time but good for people now?

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

Once again the Leader of the Opposition shows his inability to deal with economic concepts. I refer the Leader of the Opposition to our fiscal strategy and budget rules. I know that this will all be alien language to the Leader of the Opposition. A fiscal strategy—what is yours? Budget rules—what are yours? Budget positions—what are yours? Offsetting savings for expenditure—where are yours? Why am I sitting opposite the only person in this parliament, the Leader of the Opposition, who since 2010 has not delivered one policy with proper costings and has not delivered one policy with credible savings—not one policy with proper costings or one policy with credible savings?

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will return to the question.

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

The terminology used by the Leader of the Opposition in his question is ridiculous and wrong. We have a clear fiscal strategy to which we are adhering. In adhering to that fiscal strategy, we have needed to make a choice about whether we also seek to offset revenue write-downs, and we have made the choice that that would be too dangerous for jobs and growth. We are standing up for the jobs of working Australians. If the Leader of the Opposition has a criticism of that budget strategy, he should table his own. If he cannot do so, then Australians are entitled to conclude that he is not up to the job of managing the Australian economy. (Time expired)