Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's statement:

No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.

Does the Prime Minister stand by this statement?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course I stand by all the commitments that this government made prior to the election. If there is one lesson that members opposite should have learnt from the experience of the previous term of parliament it is that you cannot say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards.

Let us never, ever forget the former Prime Minister's statement prior to the 2010 election: 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' What did we get? After the election, in order to save her job, she broke her commitment to the Australian people. In order to win the support of the Greens member of this parliament, in order to stay in government, she broke a solemn pledge. Unlike members opposite, if this government says something, it means it. We will keep our commitments.

It is interesting, is it not, that members opposite are trying to stop us from keeping our commitments, but we will, one way or another, keep our commitments. It is interesting that the Leader of the Opposition has talked about cuts to health and cuts to education. The only government that, in recent times, has cut health and cut education is the government in which he was a senior minister.

The former minister for health is saying it is not true. The former minister for health cut $1.6 billion out of public hospitals. The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2012-13 cut $1.6 billion out of public hospitals. What kind of parallel universe are members opposite living in? Conrobia comes to health policy; conrobia comes to education policy. The former minister, now Leader of the Opposition, cut $3.9 billion out of education. He is shaking his head. He has a terrible case of amnesia. Dr Gillespie, please attend to this man!

The Australian people want a government that is competent and trustworthy. The test of a trustworthy government is: does it keep its commitments? And we will.