Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister that since Friday five boats carrying 300 people have already been intercepted off Christmas Island, with over 10,000 people arriving illegally in Australia this year alone. With the rate of arrivals increasing, does the Prime Minister stand by her forecast that spending on border protection will fall by 50 per cent over the forward estimates?

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

During the course of question time we have spoken about the budget numbers and the Secretary of the Treasury's verification that had the pre-election fiscal outlook been produced on budget night it would have had the same figures in it. Yet again, we have the opposition attacking Treasury. Why are they doing that? They are doing that because on many occasions they have engaged in this game of saying that they cannot be clear with the Australian people about their cuts to the bone until they see the pre-election fiscal outlook during the formal campaign period. Unfortunately for the opposition, that excuse has now just been shattered. The opposition now know that the numbers in the budget are the numbers that they should be working against.

For every expenditure that the opposition says it wants to engage in it should nominate a saving. When it repudiates $5.5 billion of mining tax revenue, where is the matching cutback? When it repudiates more than $20 billion of carbon pricing revenue, where is the matching cut? That is the position that the opposition is in, so before any other opposition spokesperson comes to the despatch box and points to budget numbers they should have the honesty and the decency to verify when the Australian people will hear from them and where their cuts to the bone will fall. How much out of Medicare? How much out of hospitals? How much out of schools? How much out of family payments?

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

The Prime Minister will return to the question. The Prime Minister needs to be relevant to the question.

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

That is the task for the opposition, not these continuing disgraceful attacks on Treasury.