Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable the member for Brand proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the HHHHouse for discussion, namely:

The urgent need for the Abbott Government to release the National Commission of Audit report before the Western Australian Senate election.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The MPI today notes the urgent need for the Abbott government to release the National Commission of Audit report before the Western Australia Senate election. Members will be aware that, as of yesterday, Western Australians began voting in the biggest by-election in the history of our nation. From Rockingham to Marble Bar, from Esperance to Broome, Western Australians began voting yesterday. The election day is not until 5 April, but Western Australians has already begun voting. But as they vote, they do not know the content of the Commission of Audit report, which is in the hands of the Treasurer and the Prime Minister. They do not know what cuts are in store, what services will be removed or what infrastructure will not be funded. They do not know what the impact of the Commission of Audit report will be on their families, on their communities and on their business, yet they are being asked to vote.

What I find even more curious about that is that yesterday the Western Australian Liberal Party circulated to all Western Australian voters a how to vote card. That how to vote card directed Western Australians to vote for the Liberal Party. The how to vote card was circulated as a simple election campaigning technique and it invites Western Australians to vote for the Liberal Party in box 'R'. Here is the point: when Western Australians do not know the cuts that are in store for them, when Western Australians do not know the services that will be removed, I know that Western Australians will kick the Liberal Party right in the arse. They will do that because Western Australians do not appreciate being taken for granted by this government. Western Australians do not appreciate that they should be asked one more time to turn up at the polling booths, one more time to cast their votes, one more time to cast their votes for a Liberal Party and for a Prime Minister who do not treat Western Australians with the regard that all Australians demand and that all Australians should reasonably expect.

We were told before the election that there would be a Commission of Audit, that that Commission of Audit report would be published and that that Commission of Audit report would be available before the budget in May. What we now discover is that 1¼ million Western Australians will be turning up to vote without knowing the impact of the cuts to education, to health, to pensions, to the ABC or to the SBS. We do not know the impact of those cuts on the tourism industry or on the resources sector. We do not know the impact of those costs in a state with an economy that desperately needs infrastructure. Yet Western Australians from Wyndham to Eucla, from Esperance to Marble Bar, are being asked to turn up to vote—and they should vote. When they vote, they will kick the Liberal Party in the arse. We know that because the Western Australians will not be taken for granted.

It is simply unacceptable that Mr Hockey says that the government hopes to adopt a great majority of the recommendations from the Commission of Audit, while the government keeps the Commission of Audit report and the cuts under wraps. The issue does demand enough time and it deserves the consideration of the Western Australian people. They should be able to understand the cuts that are before them in the Commission of Audit. It seems to me to be reasonable, to be transparent. It seems to me that it is about openness and about certainty. But the only certainty is that the Commission of Audit's draft report has been in the hands of the Prime Minister and of the Treasurer now for many weeks. We are told that it is 900 pages. We are told that it represents a lot of thinking. But we also know it is cloaked in secrecy. We can only then assume that it is hiding wrong priorities and nasty cuts because we have not been told of the contents of this Commission of Audit report before the election.

Western Australians know all too well that Liberals often say one thing before an election and then do quite the opposite afterwards. They have seen Colin Barnett's broken promises on health, on education and on road and rail. They should be rightly worried about what the current Prime Minister's secret Commission of Audit has in store for them in their health and education services. This time last year the Prime Minister said how much he respects the Premier of state of Western Australia. He said how much he has learnt from the Premier of Western Australia. The current Prime Minister also said how much he wished to model himself on Colin Barnett, should he be elected to lead our country. The Prime Minister said that on 17 February last year.

Colin Barnett lost Western Australia's AAA credit rating—actually lost it is not true, he gave it away. He gave it away with wrong spending priorities, with imprudent budgeting manners and with an incompetent approach to budget management which is reminiscent of what we see now in the secrecy that cloaks the Commission of Audit report. An example of the cuts made by Premier Barnett in Western Australia, fully endorsed by the federal Liberal party—by every single federal Liberal in both chambers of parliament—was the $185 million cut from WA schools, including the sacking of 350 teachers and education assistants and the 30 per cent cut in support to school programs for children with learning difficulties and literacy and numeracy programs. All of this came from a Premier who did not tell the people of Western Australia about the cuts that he had in mind.

I remind members of this chamber that the existence of a secret document purporting to make cuts to spending in the state of Western Australia is a serious matter. We know of the Western Australian government's own incompetence, losing their AAA credit rating, and that the Fiona Stanley Hospital is being delivered a year late after mismanagement from the Barnett government. We know that the promised $180 million redevelopment of the Royal Perth Hospital has been shelved. We know that 40 hospital beds and 200 staff will be cut from the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth. These are all major public hospitals in Western Australia. One hundred and eighty-eight million dollars has been cut from hospital upgrades in regional Western Australia, including in Karratha, Tom Price, Newman, Collie, Northam, Katanning, Merredin, Narrogin and Manjimup. These are communities that do not simply contribute to the great wealth of Western Australia; they are communities that contribute to the great wealth of our nation. They are communities that contribute to the wellbeing of our nation. They are being to asked to vote today but have not been told of the content and the nature of the cuts that are in store in the Commission of Audit report that is currently cloaked in secrecy in the Prime Minister's office and in the Treasurer's office.

We have seen this before. Tony Abbott says one thing before the people vote but he plans to do exactly the opposite after the election. The Western Australia Senate election is on 5 April and early voters are out there voting now. Do we, in this place, think it is reasonable that they should cast their votes without knowing the content of the report of the Commission of Audit? Of course we don't. It is a disgrace. It is an outrage. It is actually an embarrassment and an affront to our parliament and to our democratic system that people should be asked to vote without knowing what this government has in store for them. We do know the government has received the report, we know the report is 900 pages long, we know it is cloaked in secrecy and we know it goes to every area of federal government operations—we know it goes to schools; we know it goes to health care; we know it goes to hospitals; we know it goes to roads; we know it goes to grain rail infrastructure in Western Australia. As our farmers are once again seeding their crops in the dry farming wheat belt of Western Australia, they will not know the circumstances that underpin the funding of grain rail infrastructure by this Commonwealth government, because this government will not tell them. Western Australians will be required to turn up to vote, and they should vote. And when they vote, Western Australians will carefully consider that ballot paper. The ballot paper is one metre in length and contains more political candidates than we have ever seen in Western Australia. It provides the perfect opportunity for Western Australians to treat this government with the contempt that they deserve—for Western Australia is to kick this government in the Rs.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think that last word might be better withdrawn from the Hansard.

Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, the last word I used was taking the letter R and making it a plural—Rs—because that is where they are on the ballot paper.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I read it differently so I thank you for the clarification.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those of us on this side of the chamber were sitting, listening and waiting for the killer punch from the Labor Party. Perhaps we were a little misled because, as is traditionally the case with the Australian Labor Party, there was no knockout blow. All we got was wet lettuce, a bit of whiffle and a bit of waffle on how the coalition government should be held to task by the electors of Western Australia. The fact is that the people of Western Australia have spoken once and they will speak again. The Australian Labor Party may need reminding of what the message was at the last federal election from the people Western Australia. I have got every confidence, knowing the quality of Western Australian representation on this side of the chamber, that the people will deliver a clear and consistent message once again to the Australian Labor Party. The Australian Labor Party simply is not listening. The message they delivered at the last election, and the message that I am very confident Western Australians will deliver again on 5 April, is that they want anti-Western Australian taxes like the carbon tax and the mining tax to go. They clearly said to the Australian Labor Party 'We do not want your mining tax and we do not want your carbon tax.' Those two taxes, more than any other crazy notion that the Australian Labor Party put forward over their six years of government taxes, have been positively working against the Western Australian economy.

When I see the shadow minister stand up at the dispatch box and when I hear the shadow minister from Western Australia say, 'Well, do you know what, Western Australians do not like a government that says one thing before the election and then does something completely different afterwards', I scratch my head. I remind the Labor Party, I do not think that it was too long ago that this was exactly what Western Australians got from the Australian Labor Party. Who can forget Julia Gillard who, down the barrel of the camera, said 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' Then the Australian Labor Party was elected and it introduced a carbon tax. Who could forget the Australian Labor Party wanting to burden one of the pinnacle industries of Western Australia, the mining industry, with its so-called resource super profits tax. They sent off more money through the minerals resource rent tax. We know that the Australian Labor Party liked to do all kinds of modelling saying that this mining tax was going to generate some $15 billion or $16 billion worth of revenue, only to find that in reality it delivered a miserly $300 million or $400 million and at the expense of imposing huge amounts of red tape, driving down investment, increasing sovereign risk and, ultimately, increasing unemployment. All of this was as a consequence of Labor's mining tax.

The other interesting thing that I heard the Western Australian shadow minister say was, 'Western Australians should be concerned because they don’t know what the impact is going to be for tourism, they don’t know what the Commission of Audit's impact will be on education and they don’t know what the Commission of Audit's impact will be on the resources industry.' I say to the Australian Labor Party that I guarantee that the impact will be less than that of the six-year debacle we saw under the Australian Labor Party, because we have to start the fiscal repair job. We have started that walk, but it is going to be a long journey. Western Australians know that it takes a coalition government to make the tough decisions that will put this nation back on the right path to restore fiscal credibility—something that the Australian Labor Party was willing to sacrifice on the altar of a quick political fix.

The reality is that when I sit in this chamber and hear a Western Australian say to me, 'We're very concerned about tourism,' I think, 'Why don't you walk the talk?' When the Labor Party were in government, why did they materially disadvantage, for example, the tourism industry by imposing $2 billion of new tourism taxes? Why did the Australian Labor Party increase—by something like 30 per cent or 40 per cent—the passenger movement charge, so the Australian tourism industry and in particular tourism operators in Western Australia were materially disadvantaged? Why did the Australian Labor Party, when they were in power for six years, introduce policies which saw the domestic tourism industry materially disadvantaged because of the carbon tax, where if travellers chose to go overseas they did not have to pay a carbon tax? So, do not lecture the coalition about policies in relation to the tourism industry.

What about education? It takes an incredible amount of hide—you would have to have the thickest hide in the industry—to stand up, earnestly rub your hands together and say: 'I am very concerned about education in Western Australia. What are the secret cuts in relation to education?' You know what? Western Australians remember it was your government that ripped $1.2 billion out of the education budget and that it materially affected Western Australia and Queensland.

Mr Gray interjecting—

So do not come here with your faux concern, because everyone on this side of the chamber can see straight through you, mate.

I know that the voters of Western Australia will see straight through the Australian Labor Party as well, because they know that, when it comes to delivery of good policy, it is the coalition that will deliver, not the Australian Labor Party. What is more, they know that faux concern from shadow ministers about cuts to education means nothing when that minister was part of a government that ripped—with only weeks to go to the election—$1.2 billion out of education. So, do not have the audacity to stand up in this chamber and try to pretend to Western Australians that they have something to fear, because the only real fear that they had was a continuation of the former Labor government. Thank goodness they saw the light. We have seen an addition to this parliament of quality people that will make a material difference to the representation of Western Australia. I only wish that there had been another vote for the House of Representatives, because frankly I think it would have been good for us to pick up that seat as well. It certainly would have been in the best interest of Western Australians, instead of the ridiculous MPI discussions that we have seen.

I also found it incredible that the shadow minister railed against the fact that there were 'wrong spending priorities and imprudent budget decisions'. They were his actual words. He said that Western Australians were concerned about 'wrong spending priorities and imprudent budget decisions'. What kind of wrong spending priorities would you be referring to? Would it be grandiose promises of six GP superclinics and only delivering one? Would it be the kinds of decisions that said, 'We are going to attach some $16 billion worth of expenditure to a mining tax that only raised $400 million'? Are they the kinds of wrong decisions that you are referring to, Shadow Minister?

I think Western Australians know that Labor's record in WA is a dismal record. That is why we are very confident that Western Australians will understand our key message. Our key message is this: if they want to see the back of the mining tax and if they want to see the back of the carbon tax, then they have to make sure they support the coalition, and they have to make sure that we remove the log jam that is in the chamber just over there. That is the only way we can do it. With their support, we will be able to make sure that we have senators that are not going to continue to stand in the way of removing the carbon tax and the mining tax—anti-Western Australian taxes. That is the reason why I am supremely confident that they will come on board and support us.

Labor's carbon tax cost Western Australia's economy $626 million in 2012-13. We know what the carbon tax cost some of the biggest industries in WA: Woodside, $172 million; BHP Billiton Worsley Alumina, $56 million; BHP Burrup, $55 million; Yara Pilbara, $35 million. These are the consequences of bad policy that was introduced by the former Labor government. We stand steadfastly opposed to those kinds of ridiculous policies. The reason why we were joined by so many coalition representatives from Western Australia in this House is that the Western Australians sent a clear message to the Australian Labor Party, but you are just not listening. It is time to clear your ears, and it is time to start to hear the message.

The final matter I raise that demonstrates the reason Labor cannot be trusted with the West is that the Labor Party committed some $482 million to two very important road projects in WA: the upgrades of the Great Northern Highway and the North West Coastal Highway, but Labor did not provide any funding. They promise big but deliver nothing at all in relation to the funding. Why? Because the funding was contingent upon the mining tax raising the revenue. So, on every level, Labor has been a failure. That is the reason that the people of Western Australia sent a clear message with excellent coalition representation off the back of the last election. That is why they will reject you once again. (Time expired)

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is a great irony here. For the last three years the now Prime Minister stood at this very despatch box and hectored and lectured us about the importance of being honest with the Australian people. Then he crosses to the other side of the floor and now as Prime Minister refuses to be honest with the people of Western Australia. That is what this debate is about. It is about seeking a bit of honesty from this government, a bit of openness from this government, asking for just one simple thing: release the Commission of Audit report before the election. The parliamentary secretary took 10 minutes to talk about that and in the 10 minutes could not even utter the words 'Commission of Audit', which tells you everything that you need to know.

In the Prime Minister's first press conference on becoming Prime Minister he said these important words:

I'm not going to make up promises that I don't end up keeping.

Only a couple of weeks ago on YouTube, he said:

We are honouring our commitments. Indeed that will be the theme of this government this year.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. It is not happening. This government is already breaking promises. This government has broken its promise on the NBN. It promised that everyone would have access to 25 megabits per second by 2016. He broke that promise in December last year. They have broken their promise on education as well, and the promise of a million jobs in five years is looking shaky already as well. That is why this report is important. The people of Western Australia deserve to know if this government is going to break its promise on health or on education or, God forbid, on pensions or the ABC or SBS. They deserve to know that before they go to the polls in two weeks time.

It is important that members remember what the Prime Minister said the night before the election.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Which Prime Minister?

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Prime Minister. This Prime Minister on World News SBS said:

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.

Well, I will bet that is not what the Commission of Audit says. What does it say? What is in it? Why are you refusing to release it? Why are you delaying releasing this report? Is it because it is 900 pages of nasties? Is it because it is full of broken promises? Remember, this is a Prime Minister who said on the 7.30 Reportthat you could not believe anything he said unless it was written down. This is written down—900 pages of it. It is on his desk and he refuses to release it. If he wants the people of Australia to trust him and trust his word that he will do everything he says, then he needs to release the report now to prove to the people of Australia, and prove to the people of Western Australia in particular, that he is a man of his word.

I am particularly concerned about potential cuts to the ABC and what that means for regional Australia. This Prime Minister has said that he will not cut the ABC. In Senate estimates, the head of the ABC was asked if the ABC is cut whether he could guarantee that there would be no cuts to regional radio. The head of the ABC said no, he could not guarantee that.

That is what is at stake here for National Party members in Western Australia and right across Australia, and why they need to stand up to this Prime Minister now, and why we need to know what is in this report. Regional radio provided by the ABC provides important local news, important sports news and important emergency broadcasts when there are cyclones or bushfires in places like Karratha and Broome or right across Australia. If there are cuts to the ABC, then potentially there will be cuts to regional radio. That is why I am saying to Liberal members and National Party members: grow a spine and stand up to this Prime Minister. Release the report and tell us whether there are going to be cuts to ABC regional radio.

It is an issue for ABC regional radio, but it is bigger than that. It is an issue of integrity. This is what the now Minister for Communications said of the now Prime Minister after he was rolled by him only a couple of years ago:

… there is a major issue of integrity at stake here and Liberals should reflect very deeply on it ... Many Liberals are rightly dismayed that …we are now without integrity. We have given our opponents the irrefutable, undeniable evidence that we cannot be trusted … If they cut in these areas, that will be more proof again. (Time expired)

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance put forward by the member for Brand. In his MPI he spoke of 'the urgent need for the Abbott Government to release the National Commission of Audit report before the Western Australian Senate election.' As a Western Australian and along with other members from Western Australia, it should read: 'the urgent need for the Abbott government to repeal the carbon tax and the mining tax before the Western Australian Senate election.' That is what the opposition should be doing. It should be going to the people in the Senate and saying, 'If you want to help Western Australia, repeal the carbon tax and repeal the mining tax.'

We heard the member for Brand talking about the fact that the people are already voting. I would say that most of the people in Western Australia have already made their minds up about how they are going to vote and they are just going to repeat the success that the Liberal Party had at the last Senate election.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How demeaning to the voters!

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It surprises me that we even know that the member for Brand does not support the mining tax and does not support the carbon tax. Not once in the six years he has been here has he stood up before on an MPI in this place. But two weeks before an election, he decides to stand up for Western Australia. He stood up in the MPI the other week and made it quite plain what these MPIs are about. He said that Western Australians should know what it is before them when they cast that most important vote in the biggest-ever by-election in Western Australia in Australia's constitutional history and he said he was taking the opportunity before our parliament to ask that. So all he is doing is pleading for votes for the Labor Party

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not going to work!

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is his whole intent in being involved in moving this MPI.

Ms Burke interjecting—

Is that the member for Perth I hear interjecting?

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, it is the member for Chisholm.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not a bad spot, I hear.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Out of her place in the chamber too!

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. But we heard the member for Blaxland talking about memory and making statements before elections, and that is what we heard from the former member for Lalor when she made the statement, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' In 2007—Western Australians heard it loud and clear, and we heard the member for Pearce talk about it in the MPI the other week—Kevin Rudd stood in Western Australia and made a commitment to give the Western Australian people $100 million per year for an infrastructure fund, which we never saw. So, if Western Australians want to know where their voting direction should be, they should keep their memories wide open and say, 'This is the history of the Labor Party and how they treat Western Australians.'

Everyone knows in Western Australia—you can see it in the result of the last election—what Labor think of Western Australians and how Labor treat them. I will just remind them of that. According to the Clean Energy Regulator, Labor's carbon tax cost the Western Australian economy $626 million in 2012-13.

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We doubled the expenditure on roads—$700 million a year.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Now I do hear the member for Perth interjecting, and I would like to quote something she said back in November 2006 in an extract from Hansard in the Western Australian parliament. Alannah MacTiernan, who last week introduced an MPI that there should be more funding for infrastructure in Western Australia, was at that time the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure in Western Australia. She responded to a question from the member for South Perth, John McGrath, on the Manning Road on-ramp. She said:

I understand that the on-ramp would be very desirable for the residents of his electorate. Technically, of course, it can be done.

It can actually be done.

From an engineering point of view it is not a challenging project and it certainly could be done. Indeed, the planning for this project was undertaken in the 1980s—

can you believe?—

and the metropolitan region scheme was amended to make provision for it.'

These are all terrific words, but she went on to say:

This is not a project that the government believes would reach the top of the priority list over the next five years. In fact, the government is keen to find the reserves to provide for the member’s electorate a train station at South Perth—

which no-one in South Perth wants; everyone wants the on-ramp—

which would be a far more useful exercise for the member's constituents.

So there we have an opportunity. We have seen the member for Perth is not prepared to provide any infrastructure, and that is another example of how Labor treats Western Australia. That is another example of how Labor treats Western Australia.

Labor also saddled Western Australians with a mining tax that raised a fraction of what was promised.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

Yes, okay. I am waiting for the 'sweetheart' comment to come back now. Yet the mining tax burdened business with millions of dollars of red tape, as well as costing jobs and driving away investment. So, if we need to say anything to the voters in Western Australia, we need to say to them: 'Be reminded about how federal Labor, over the last six years, treated Western Australians. They imposed a mining tax and a carbon tax, and they will continue to do so.' So what Western Australians need to do is give their support to the Liberals and tell Labor to go to the Senate and repeal those taxes. (Time expired)

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about the Commission of Audit and why its report should be released urgently.

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

Tell us about Tasmania!

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will actually talk about Tasmania a bit later on, but this is about Western Australia and the 1.3 million Western Australians who are starting to vote from yesterday and are voting in the dark, without the Commission of Audit's report. Interestingly, we have already had two speakers from those opposite, and they do not mention the Commission of Audit at all. What are they hiding? Why don't they want to talk about it? We are not really surprised that they do not want to talk about it—900 pages, and we have had a few leaks about what is in this Commission of Audit report. No wonder they do not want it out there: a GP tax, $6 to go to the GP, which will cost Western Australians $59 million each and every year, going up, to go and visit their GP. There are nervous pensioners on the disability support pension in Western Australia, waiting and wondering what is in the Commission's of Audit's report as they go to vote. There are age pensioners wondering what is going to happen when they go to vote. There are people with disability wondering about the NDIS before they go to vote.

And why are they so concerned? They are concerned because they have already seen cuts from this Abbott government. They have seen $500 million cut from public rail infrastructure that was to be built in Western Australia. They have already seen cuts to the Regional Development Australia Fund, cuts to the tennis sporting hub at Busselton, cuts to the surf club for the Secret Harbour community and other cuts right around the community in Western Australia. There have been cuts to the Building Multicultural Communities Program, cuts of $140,000 to the Multicultural Services Centre of Western Australia, cuts of $26,000 to the Shire of Mount Magnet, and a whole range of cuts from this government right across the community in Western Australia. People are worried about what is next, what this government is hiding and what they will see in this Commission of Audit report, and they have a right to know before they go and place their vote.

As we have heard, Western Australians are voting already. Pre-poll voting started yesterday, and 1.3 million Western Australians are going to cast their vote without any idea about what this government will do with the Commission of Audit's recommendations. We have heard from Treasurer Joe Hockey that many of the recommendations are likely to be implemented, so why not tell Western Australians what you are planning? Because you do not want them to know before they go to cast their votes, because there will be a whole range of cuts recommended by the Commission of Audit.

Interestingly, this Commission of Audit was considered urgent after the September election, but we have had the release of the report put off three times: before the Griffith by-election and before the Tasmanian and South Australian elections and now, surprisingly, there is a Senate election in Western Australia, and what have we seen? It is sat on again. It is sitting on desks of ministers in this government, and they should be releasing this document urgently to the people of Western Australia.

Tony Abbott promised that he would lead a government of no surprises. The Prime Minister also promised that his would be a government of no excuses. There are plenty of excuses about why this Commission of Audit report is not going to be released, and we know that there are going to be plenty of surprises in it when it turns up. We have seen many surprises and excuses so far from those opposite, and the fact that they are sitting on this report just demonstrates that there is so much more pain and there are so many more cuts to come.

Pre election, we heard Mr Abbott say there would be no cuts to education or health, no change to pensions or the GST and no cuts to the ABC or the SBS. What we have seen in government, of course, is a very different thing. We have seen cuts of $10 million of cancer workforce money to Western Australia; that was a cut to health last time I checked. We have seen winding back of Gonski right across the country; that, of course, is a cut to education. We are hearing all sorts of things about the DSP changes that may be coming; that, of course, is a cut.

We heard today from the shadow minister for communications that there are plans to cut radio in regional Australia. People in regional Western Australia have a right to know what is coming from this government. They have a right to know what is in that 900 pages, and the government should be releasing that 900 pages of the Commission of Audit urgently so that the people of Western Australia, as they go to vote in coming weeks up to and including 5 April, actually have information before them on what is going to happen. (Time expired)

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I have listened to the three contributions from those opposite I see confected outrage, that unembarrassable quality, and Western Australian voters, of course, have seen it before. You would think from listening to them that Western Australian voters are going to forget that the two biggest issues in that state at the election just over six months ago were the carbon tax and the mining tax. The voters of Western Australia sent a message loud and clear to the Labor Party, and your response back to those voters in Western Australia is that they got it wrong.

We saw this confected outrage start with the member for Brand, who moved this matter of public importance on the Commission of Audit and the state of Western Australia. He and those other speakers conveniently forget their approach in government to weighty documents. As the Prime Minister has outlined, the government has received phase 1 of the Commission of Audit. He has not received phase 2, and it is right and proper that government ministers consider a weighty document and what is to come before making decisions. This is a report to government, not of government.

For those opposite to come in here with confected outrage to try to whip up fear amongst Western Australian voters to cover their policy failures on the carbon tax and the mining tax is to be expected. With the exception of the member for Perth, who I will come to during my contribution, they all sat there through the last parliament; and Wayne Swan, the member for Lilley, as the Treasurer received the Australia's future tax system review a couple of days before Christmas. He had this to say:

As I have been saying for some time, the Government will consider the review and release it in early 2010, along with an initial response.

One hundred and thirty days went by. The member for Brand, who has obviously had an irony bypass, did not seem at all concerned that, when it was finally released a week before the budget—we went through January, February, March, April and into May—it of course contained what new tax? It contained the mining tax. What did the member for Brand say publicly at that point? What did other Western Australian members say about that mining tax and the damage it would do to their state? Where were they standing up for Western Australian voters at that time? You heard complete silence. It was as if they had been muted by a TV remote control. You heard nothing from the member for Brand.

The member for Perth, we were told a few weeks ago, told the Labor caucus that the mining tax was damaging. I am not getting any shaking of the heads. I am presuming I am right.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We do not say what happens in caucus.

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'We do not say what happens in caucus.' There is confirmation here in the House of Representatives that the member for Perth was opposed to the mining tax. Like so many other members of the Labor Party, it appears the member for Perth has been reprogrammed. My friend the Minister for Communications might know what software was used! But today the member for Perth said, 'It is complete nonsense to say that the carbon tax or, indeed, the mining tax has in fact had a negative impact on the Western Australian economy' in complete contradiction to her earlier point and in complete denial of the fact that last year, as we have heard from speakers on this side, the carbon tax cost Western Australia alone more than $600 million.

Those opposite are doing two things. They will run a scare campaign and they will do it to try to cover the fact that they are defying the will of the electorate, particularly in Western Australia, on the carbon tax and the mining tax. For those voters in Western Australia, every time they hear a Labor scare it is confirmation that Labor is ignoring them and Labor is still attached to two damaging taxes that have damaged their economy and, if Labor has their way, will continue to do so.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The confected outrage that the former speaker just mentioned reflects the genuine outrage that exists in the community. What we are doing today is calling on the Abbott government to end the uncertainty, to come clean on what is contained in the Commission of Audit before the WA election, to come clean on their plans for public servants, for Defence personnel, for DMO personnel, for those on pensions, for the ABC.

After the election last year the Treasurer said on 22 October 2013:

Every area of government will be examined. There are no restrictions.

Every area. I send this message to Canberrans, to all Australian and, most importantly, to Western Australians. Remember: 'Every area of government will be examined. There are no restrictions.' I am calling on the Abbott government to end the uncertainty, to come clean.

You have also said that there are no cuts to pensions. Why is it that since the election you have had leaked reports of four or five different positions on the disability support pension? I have members of my electorate ringing me up in tears, fearful about what is actually going to happen to them—women, single mothers who are battling on their own with multiple sclerosis, wondering what their future is.

I am also asking you to end the uncertainty about what is going to happen with the ABC and SBS. Prior to the election the now Prime Minister said there would be no cuts to the ABC or SBS. There are very strong rumours that the Australia Network is going to be abolished by the Abbott government. The Australia Network is an important arm of our public diplomacy. I can imagine those sitting opposite will all be there tonight, hugging B1 and B2—in between the two of them hugging them. Are you going to tell B1 and B2? Are you going to tell the assembled ABC members tonight what their future is, given you have made this commitment that there will be no cuts to the ABC and SBS? There is very strong talk of the Australia Network going. The member for Wannon knows the importance of the Australia Network. He is a former foreign affairs and trade official. He knows the importance of public diplomacy. He knows the importance of having a footprint in the Asia-Pacific region. Those opposite are doing nothing about standing up for the Australia Network.

I am also wanting the Abbott government to come clean on the Commission of Audit, to end the uncertainty around the Public Service. According to the Parliamentary Library, there are about 7½ thousand Commonwealth public servants in Western Australia. What is their future? What is contained in the Commission of Audit about their future? Coalition governments have form in terms of axing public servants. In 1996, they got rid of 30,000 public servants nationally—15,000 in the ACT. What is the plan for the 7½ thousand public servants in Western Australia? What is the plan for their future? What is the plan for their families' future? Come clean on what is in the Commission of Audit.

Finally, I am asking the Abbott government to come clean, end the uncertainty and release the Commission of Audit to let Defence public servants know what is going on and, importantly, DMO public servants. According to the defence annual report, in Western Australia there are about 3½ thousand ADF personnel, nearly 400 Defence public servants and over 200 DMO public servants, totalling nearly 7,000 ADF and Public Service workers in Western Australia. What is their future?

What is the future for those public servants, particularly the partners of ADF personnel who have been posted to Western Australia and are working in civilian jobs there for the DMO and for the Public Service? Come clean on what your plans are for the Public Service, for defence, for the ABC, for pensioners, for disability pensioners and for women like the single mothers in my electorate who are battling on their own, trying to get through but are faced with the great uncertainty surrounding the disability support pension. You have to stop hiding behind this Commission of Audit. If you have nothing to hide then why don't you release it? Why don't you just do that and come clean?

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to follow the member for Canberra, because I think she eloquently summed up everything that is wrong with the Labor Party in relation to Western Australia. The fact that in the last half an hour we have had about 25 minutes of discussion about the ABC tells me that they do not understand Western Australians and the reason why there are only three Labor members in this place and only one Labor member elected at the last Senate election. The member for Brand in particular made an eloquent case when he made fun of the Liberal-National coalition drawing box R—the box we have drawn for the ballot coming up at the next election. I can inform the House he did miss something which I think is important and relevant to this discussion. The Labor Party have also drawn a box on the ballot for this election and they have drawn box F. It does sum up a lot of things about the Labor Party's approach to Western Australia. Box F is quite appropriate. The only danger for Labor at this election will be if voters give them a score on their performance. That will be the only danger at this election.

The member for Brand talked about Rs, but we can talk about Fs. Let us talk about some of the failures of the previous government. The Labor Party committed $482 million to two road projects, but of course failed to provide the money from the mining tax. Fail. On GP superclinics, F for fail there. I think that is an F-plus. The GP superclinics policy from the last Labor government—

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

F-minus.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, an F-minus—I have been corrected by my Western Australian colleagues. And there have been the border protection failures by those opposite which impacted so many of the communities in Western Australia in particular. This government has corrected that.

It is ironic, as the member for Swan eloquently pointed out, that the member for Brand can come into this place as a Western Australian member and tell us that his concern is with this government not keeping its promises. The member for Brand was right about one thing: we do have a program of cuts. That is very true. He said we have a program of cuts but that we cannot quantify them. We can quantify those cuts and we can identify what they mean. We are going to cut the carbon tax. We are going to cut the mining tax. We are going to cut red tape and regulation. These are quantifiable cuts and they will save Western Australia hundreds of millions of dollars in productivity, time spent working for the government, carbon tax payments and flawed mining tax payments. That will result in greater productivity and boost investment and growth in our key state.

It is funny that the Labor Party stump-up the member for Canberra to talk about public servant job losses in Canberra and somehow that is relevant to people in Western Australia. It is also funny that they stump-up a Tasmanian—a state that is basically subsidised by the hard work and productivity of Western Australia—to come in here and complain about Western Australia and our approach to Western Australia.

The coalition government have a plan for Western Australia—that is, to take the shackles off that Labor was so intent on putting on. In fact, it would not be unfair to characterise the last Labor administration as perhaps the most unfair to WA in the history of the Commonwealth. Most of the measures that it took, whether it be the carbon tax or the mining tax, triply impacted on Western Australia. They have impacted so much that voters were not fooled by the last government. That is why they only elected one Labor senator at the last election. If only the members opposite would get a signal from that. One senator is an awfully low proportion of the vote in Western Australia.

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is an F-minus.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, that is an F-minus from the voters at the last election. There are reasons why people did not vote Labor at the last election. It was because of the Labor-Greens alliance, which resulted in the world's highest carbon tax, punishing Western Australians in particular. It was because of the unusual superprofits tax and then the mining resource rent tax that were personally negotiated by a Labor Prime Minister and a Labor Treasurer. That was a personal package from the Labor Party for Western Australia, designed by a Labor Prime Minister and a Labor Treasurer. It was personally negotiated by them for the state of Western Australia. No wonder Western Australians have emphatically rejected the Labor Party at the last few elections. No wonder we stand here today in this debate hearing from Western Australian members like the member for Moore, who is also about to explain why Western Australians do not want a return to Labor government.

There is a way that voters can help at this coming election, and that is to vote box R. Do not, as much as you want to, give the Labor Party an F. We all understand that instinct, but box R is the way to give the Labor Party an F.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will reflect very briefly on some of the previous contributions today on this matter of public importance, which were extraordinary in respect of their complete unwillingness to address the issue of the National Commission of Audit report. Members opposite had a range of opinions about a range of topics but certainly not the topic that is currently before us today, and that is the urgent need for the Abbott government to release the National Commission of Audit report before the Western Australian Senate election. It would seem that members opposite do not think that the people of Western Australia deserve to know what is going to happen prior to an election. They do not seem to think that the people of Western Australia would want to know. There are some members opposite who indeed suggest that the Senate by-election is almost a pointless exercise, because people are going to go in and do exactly what they did before. I heard one member suggest that. Well, I might suggest that members opposite are taking the people of Western Australia for granted, and I do not think the people of Western Australia are, for one moment, going to cop that silently.

I echo the call from the member for Brand earlier, on behalf of all Western Australian people, for the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, Senator Cormann, Senator Johnston and all other WA federal executive members to end this game of secrecy and to make good on the promise that this government had to release the Commission of Audit report to the public and to release it now. We have already seen, as speakers prior to me argued, that this report has been delayed at each and every by-election. This will be the fourth delay, if we do not see the report released prior to 5 April.

Unfortunately some Western Australians have already missed out on what is potentially vital information for them, as voting in the Senate by-election started yesterday. It is beyond belief that members opposite do not have a high enough regard for the people of Western Australia to enable them to make an informed decision before going into a polling booth to cast a vote. It is extraordinary that there would be an expectation that people do not need that information, that they are somehow just going to rubber-stamp an exercise from last September.

Those who have voted do, however, have a taste of what is to come, because the conservative state government has already embarked on a very broad range of cuts in Western Australia that are eating into jobs and services in WA. What voters can be sure about with the Abbott government is that it cannot be trusted, and that is a profound problem—a profound lack of trust. What is the Abbott government hiding? In particular, what is it hiding from Western Australians? Is it hiding further cuts to education, health, pensions, the ABC or SBS? This report, which has been sitting on the Treasurer's desk since January, represents some 900 pages of deep thought, we are led to believe, from this government. We can only assume that the failure to release it is because of the cloak of secrecy that this government continues to operate under. It is hiding what we believe to be very wrong priorities for this government and the nasty cuts that we were not privy to prior to the election.

It is unacceptable that the Treasurer says that the government hopes to adopt the 'great majority' of recommendations from the Commission of Audit but keeps those findings and cuts completely under wraps and away from the public. It is unacceptable that he can make an assertion that the great majority of recommendations would be adopted before even seeing the report. I will say it again: this government cannot be trusted. The people of WA deserve much better.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The National Commission of Audit report is an essential step in addressing Labor's record of waste and mismanagement. The Commission of Audit was a key election commitment of the coalition. It will assess the role and scope of government, as well as ensuring taxpayers' money is spent wisely and in an efficient manner. The Prime Minister has set the tone of how this government will go about the business of governing in a purposeful, methodical and logical way, without making hasty or rash decisions. Labor has left a legacy of $123 billion in budget deficits, the largest budget deficits in Australia's history, and national debt approaching $667 billion. This government will make the difficult fiscal decisions to get the budget under control and Australia back on track to economic prosperity.

The Western Australian Senate election has nothing whatsoever to do with the timing of the Commission of Audit report being released. So important is this issue to those opposite that there is not one opposition member from Western Australia present in the chamber! The Commission of Audit's final report will form part of the 2014-15 budget process which is due in May and should not be rushed. The commission's work is very complex and addresses issues such as the division of responsibilities between local, state and federal governments. It is a process that has involved public and private hearings, submissions from stakeholders and input from government departments. It is a considered and robust process which should not be rushed. The Western Australian Senate election has nothing to do with the Commission of Audit report. It is a mere distraction, a red herring, a smoke screen.

If those opposite wish to question the commitment of this government in Western Australia, let us first consider Labor's record in when in government. Based on information from the Clean Energy Regulator, between 2012 and 2013 Labor's carbon tax cost the Western Australian economy $626 million. Western Australian power companies were hit with a $260 million impact from the carbon tax, affecting all sectors of industry, the economy and consumers.

Western Australia's mining industry, which has seen a slowdown in activity affecting many mining workers and allied industries, has been particularly burdened by the carbon tax, for example: Woodside Energy, $172 million; BHP Worsley Alumina, $56 million;    BHP Burrup, $55 million; Yara Pilbara, $35 million.

On top of the carbon tax, Labor burdened Western Australians with a mining tax that raised a fraction of what it promised yet saddled business with millions of dollars in compliance costs and red tape—costing jobs and discouraging investment.

Labor committed $482 million to two very important road projects in Western Australia—the upgrades of the Great Northern Highway and the North Coastal Highway—but did not fund these projects, because funding was contingent on the mining tax which did not raise sufficient revenue.

What is required in Western Australia is a strong team of senators who are prepared to stand up for their home state, Liberal senators who are prepared to support the work of the 12 government members of the House of Representatives.

Debate adjourned.