Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline the impact of Labor's constant opposition to repealing the carbon tax, repealing the mining tax and cleaning up Labor's debt on the Australian economy, particularly for the good people of my electorate of Wright?

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

They are good people in Wright, and they have a good representative as well. On 7 September the Australian people voted emphatically in favour of our policies to repeal the carbon tax, to repeal the mining tax and to fix up what they knew to be Labor's budget black hole. That is what they voted for. I am afraid the opposition have not come to terms with that. I understand that, but the fact is that they are voting against everything we are trying to do to fix up the mess that they have left for the Australian people.

They have terminated the carbon tax termination. It was their term to say the carbon tax was terminated. Now they have terminated the termination. And now they are in favour of the carbon tax, which is a hit on Australian business, which is a hit on Australian families and which is a detractor from economic growth, and the Labor Party want people to lose jobs, which is part and parcel of the carbon tax. So the Labor Party now are going down the path of punishing the Australian people for opposing the carbon tax.

And the mining tax—a net cost to the budget of $13½ billion—is a flawed tax that has cost jobs, that has created sovereign risk and that has had a negative impact on Australian government debt. The Labor Party now say they want to keep the mining tax and all of its associated expenditure. Again, the Labor Party are failing to recognise the decision of the Australian people.

When it comes to dealing with the budget deficit: I wish the first question in question time had been addressed to me from the Leader of the Opposition. Don't leave me out of it, Bill! Ask me a few questions about the cuts, because they are the Labor Party's cuts! What chutzpah, to come in here and complain about cuts that the Labor Party started just a few weeks ago when they were in government! What chutzpah that they should do that—complete hypocrisy from the Labor Party, but no surprise. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. And why? Because 7 September never happened, in their own minds. There was never a change of government. They rotate through the leaders but it is still the good old Labor Party on the Treasury benches. It is just temporary that they are sitting over there.

Well, here is a newsflash, and the flash is this: the Australian people made an emphatic decision on 7 September to get rid of a bad government. They voted to get rid of the carbon tax, they voted to get rid of the mining tax and they voted for responsible budgeting. I say to the Labor Party: enough is enough. You did so much damage in government; do not continue the trend in opposition.