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

My question is to Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister of the Treasurer's response when he was asked recently about 10-year budget forecasts and I quote:

Can I just say this about a decades: it is very difficult to do absolutely reliable ten-year figures.

Does the Prime Minister agree with the Treasurer?

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

I thank the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition will, of course, see the budget when it is delivered at 7.30 this evening. As I understand the Leader of the Opposition's statements in recent days on DisabilityCare and on a another major item of reform in nation, our school improvement plan and school funding plan, he has been advocating that the government show over the long term how these major new programs for our nation's future, these smart investments, should be funded. I direct the Leader of the Opposition's attention to the budget when it is delivered.

Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the government working to protect jobs, support families and invest in a smarter, stronger and fairer Australia?

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

I thank the member for Robertson for her question and note her commitment to her local community but in particular, as a former schoolteacher, her absolute passion in this parliament about education—a passion that I share. The government has been working hard to make sure that in our country no-one is left behind. That is why we are committed to making smart investments for our nation's future. We have been working to sign up every state and territory to start DisabilityCare in Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I can report to the parliament that we are now in a position to say such agreements have been struck to cover 90 per cent of the Australian population, and we will be working to get an agreement with the Premier of Western Australia.

We are absolutely committed to DisabilityCare because for far too long people with disabilities in our nation and their families and carers have been subjected to a cruel lottery. The amount of assistance you got depended on where you live, the circumstances in which you got your disability and whether or not you got in before the services available had run out because they were capped and they were queued. This is a campaign for reform that has been advocated by disability groups, the disability sector, people with disabilities and their carers and families for decades. I am very proud that this government listened to the disability sector and we are now delivering DisabilityCare.

I am also very proud that we are pursuing opportunity for every child—making sure that every child in every classroom and their teachers have their education properly resourced, not just for today's children but for the generations of children to come. I am pleased that we were able to strike an agreement with New South Wales which will see an extra $5 billion in extra funding go into the classrooms of New South Wales. We will pursue getting agreements with other states because this is right for our children and our nation's future.

I am pleased that we have also been able to announce the Defence white paper to enter a new strategic partnership with China. All of these things are about ensuring that our economy is stronger, that our nation is smarter, that we are a fairer society. That is what guides this government. It is what will guide the budget delivered by the Treasurer tonight—stronger for the future, smarter for our children's education and fairer with DisabilityCare extended right around the country. It is plan for our nation's future, a plan we are very proud of.

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

My question is again to the Prime Minister. I remind her of the emphatic commitment in the 2011 budget speech that:

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

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

Will the Prime Minister apologise to pensioners and working people for failing to achieve the 'no ifs, no buts, it will happen' budget surplus?

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

To the Leader of the Opposition: the only person volunteering an apology to Australia's pensioners should be the Leader of the Opposition because of his active plans to reduce the pensions received by Australian pensioners. Let us be absolutely clear: this is a government which has engaged in an historic increase in the pension because we wanted older Australians to be treated with dignity and with respect to get a basic level of fairness in our society, something denied to them for far too long by those opposite when they were in power.

Come the next election, the choice for Australia's pensioners will be us continuing to invest in the aged-care pension versus the Leader of the Opposition's plan to cut back Australian pensions. The Leader of the Opposition stands for that plan just like he stands for the end of the schoolkids bonus to make families with children worse off; just like he stands for getting Australians to pay more tax by changing the tax-free threshold, putting it down, making sure Australians pay more tax; just like he stands for the eradication of the low-income superannuation contribution so more than three million low-income Australians—predominantly women—miss out. That is not the government's way.

The government's way, as will be shown in this budget, is to ensure that we protect jobs and growth, that we chart a path to surplus, that we make the smart investments for the future and that we continue to work with Australians to support them with the services they need. The debate in Australian politics today is between that plan and that vision of the future and the Leader of the Opposition's plan to cut to the bone—to cut the services that Australians need, to put our economy into a standstill as a result of that reckless austerity and those cuts. The Leader of the Opposition will have an opportunity on Thursday night to outline the details of his plans to cut Australian services to the bone, to rip away from Australians the supports that they need.

For the government's budget tonight, what you will see is a government focussed on jobs and growth, proud that we have created around 950,000 jobs since we came to office, proud that we have worked for decency for working conditions in those jobs, proud that we have increased pensions, proud that we have worked with Australian families through things like the schoolkids bonus and increasing the tax-free threshold so that they have more supports than they used to under the former government. There is a choice, there is a contrast here. It is a very clear one and I hope the Leader of the Opposition details his on Thursday night.

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

Madam Speaker, I ask the Prime Minister a supplementary question. Can the Prime Minister confirm that she opposed pension increases when she was Deputy Prime Minister?

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

Hasn't that just told us everything about the Leader of the Opposition's inability to deal with the economic debate? Here we are on budget day 2013 and he is throwing back to a debate during the election in 2010. How pathetic! I refer the Leader of the Opposition to the statements—

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

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Prime Minister referred at length to increasing the pension in her answer to the Leader of the Opposition's question. She has been asked a very straightforward question and she should be asked to answer it.

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

I was actually going to ask the Prime Minister to return to the question, but you would not have been able to hear over the hubbub from the other side of the chamber. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I answered this question three years ago. I refer the Leader of the Opposition to that answer three years ago. Isn't the Leader of the Opposition embarrassed to be so pathetic on budget day that he has nothing new to say about jobs, the economy, smart investments for the future or treating Australians fairly? This is a man who is simply not up to it, and that question shows it very, very clearly.