Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. What challenges does the Treasurer face in repairing the budget?

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

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question. He recognises, as I recognise, that the biggest problem that we have in trying to fix the budget is the person and the people who were responsible for the mess: the Australian Labor Party. I am glad to say to the Australian people, to the Prime Minister and to everyone that, as a result of our budget, we can reduce the debt legacy left by Labor by nearly $300 billion. But the impediment remains: the Australian Labor Party, the Leader of the Opposition—a massive impediment. The first challenge they have is to recognise that there is a problem. Two weeks ago and the weeks before that, they were saying to the Australian people: 'There's no train wreck here; there's no problem. It's all okay. Everything would have been fine if we had been in government. It would have surged back to surplus.' You probably would have had the member for Lilley stand up here again and promise four years of surpluses, if Labor had been re-elected. Of course, we knew that was never going to happen. The only problem was that the Labor Party did not know.

So now we have to deal with the problem and we are getting on with dealing with the problem. We have put in place savings measures that actually, over time, will not only reduce the legacy of debt and the legacy of higher interest payments but also give us a fair chance to give back to the Australian people the taxes that they pay so that we can continue to strengthen the economy and create more jobs. But the problem is that, like a sun that is gradually coming up on the horizon, Labor is starting to work out that there is a problem. In his budget-in-reply speech, the Leader of the Opposition said, 'There is a budget task'—a task! And the shadow Treasurer at the National Press Club said, 'Yes, there needs to be budget repair.'

But the fact is that they are standing in the way by opposing $40 billion of savings—and $5 billion are savings they took to the last election as their promises. So Labor are not only trying to prevent us from keeping our promises; Labor are trying to prevent us from keeping their promises. The bottom line is that it adds to the tally. Labor are opposing their savings, they are opposing our savings and they are opposing the savings that are going to fix the budget.

Sooner or later, they need to accept responsibility. After they accept responsibility, they need to provide an alternative. A credible Leader of the Opposition, with any personal integrity, would offer an alternative.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, there are 10,178 families currently receiving family tax benefit B in the seat of Page. Prime Minister, how many families with children over the age of six in Page will have their payments cut? Why should these families suffer because of the member for Page's failure to stand up against the Prime Minister's cuts?

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

It is pretty clear what members opposite are doing today. They are going through the budget striving to find losers. Every Australian was the loser from Labor's six years of incompetence. Every Australian will be the poorer because of Labor's six years of incompetence. This government knows that a lot of people are doing it tough, we know there is not an electorate in the country where there are not some people doing it tough, but we owe it to those people to get this economy back into shape and you cannot fix the economy without fixing the budget. That is what this government is doing. Every single month the people of Page are contributing to having to pay $1 billion in interest. That is $1 billion in dead money, that is $1 billion that could have been spent on fixing the Pacific Highway. That is the kind of thing we would be able to do sooner and better but for Labor's six years of incompetence. If the member for Richmond—I think I called her the member for Page earlier; we have a very good member for Page, a much better member for Page than we have member for Richmond—is serious about taking the burdens off the families of Richmond, tell her leader to scrap the carbon tax. If she is worried about promises, tell her leader to let this government keep its promise to scrap the carbon tax and scrap it now.