Nickolas Varvaris (Barton, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How have the government's changes to foreign aid in the budget ensured our aid program is more effective and fair?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Barton for his question. I visited his electorate last week and I am very impressed with the level of engagement that he has with the ethnic communities in the seat of Barton.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

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

The member for Grayndler will drop out if he's not quiet!

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian government has stabilised our foreign aid budget at just over $5 billion a year. In 2016 the foreign aid budget will increase from $5 billion a year by CPI.

Mr Champion interjecting—

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

The member for Wakefield will remove himself under 94(a).

The member for Wakefield then left the chamber .

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are focusing our aid effort on our region: the Indian Ocean, Asia-Pacific. It is where we live. It is where we have the most influence. It is where we can make the biggest difference. We are no longer raiding the aid budget to the tune of $740 million to plug a hole in the border protection budget. We are no longer moving $5.7 billion out of the aid budget when no-one is looking, as Labor had done. So we are providing certainty. It is affordable, it is responsible and it is sustainable. It means that the Australian government is still among the top 10 aid donors in the OECD world, in developed countries, and in our own region we are second only to Japan in terms of the amount of our aid budget. We have consulted with our partners and we are putting in place performance benchmarks and mutual accountability. This is the new aid paradigm that other developed countries are doing; Australia likewise is taking a new approach.

But I do have to put this in context, because Labor's debt and deficit means that we have to borrow a billion dollars each and every month to pay the interest on Labor's debt. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition was part of the former cabinet under the former Labor governments and so she ought to know better than anyone the train wreck that we inherited from Labor in terms of debt and deficit. Yet, sure enough, she puts out a press release on 14 May saying that Labor would be putting in an extra $16 billion to the aid budget. Labor commits to this additional $16 billion. Where does Labor think they are going to get that from? Well, they could continue to borrow. They could borrow $16 billion from overseas to send $16 billion back overseas. That is Labor's thinking. Then we would have to borrow money to pay the interest on the $16 billion that they borrowed from overseas to send back overseas. The alternative to borrowing is to cut more programs, so I would like the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to tell us—

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

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

The deputy leader will desist!

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

which programs she intends to cut worth the $16 billion—

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

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

The member for Sydney is warned!

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

that Labor says it will add to the aid budget. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition, by this $16 billion commitment, has proven once more why Labor should never be trusted with taxpayers' money. I suggest that she listen to the words of Bob Carr: 'You can't run aid on borrowings.'

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that on the same night he cut the pensions of many Australians who live on just $20,000 per year he attended a dinner in the Speaker's dining room which in one night raised $50,000 for the Liberal Party?

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

I think that the shadow minister should tell the truth. Pensions have not been cut and they will not be cut. The shadow minister, frankly, demeans himself and he demeans this parliament when he suggests that they have. He should stop scaring pensioners—and while he is about it he should stop writing references for drug runners in Villawood.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order. An untrue—

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a grub! You're not fit!

Honourable members interjecting—

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

I said before that people are watching this question time, they are trying to listen in the galleries. People in the chamber cannot even hear what is being said because of the noise. It is time we had a return to some decorum in this place.

The Prime Minister has resumed his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business will have the call on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Prime Minister made a comment that was unparliamentary and untrue and should be withdrawn.

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

There is no point of order. The Prime Minister has the call.

Opposition members interjecting—

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

To assist the House—

Opposition members interjecting—

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

The Prime Minister will resume his seat.

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

I am happy to withdraw.

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

The Prime Minister said he is happy to withdraw whatever the problem was.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a grub you are!

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

We will have that withdrawn as well!

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

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

I am happy to withdraw and I am sorry that I did make that reference in respect of the member for Watson. I should not have done it. But he, equally, should not try to scare pensioners.

The pension is not being cut. The pension will not be cut. Every six months under this government the pension will go up. As the Minister for Social Services has just pointed out, in March the single pension went up by some $15 and the couple pension went up by some $12. And it will happen in September and it will happen next March and it will happen next September. This will happen each and every year. Yes, come September 2017, the pension will increase by CPI as opposed to male total average weekly earnings. The best thing that we can do for the pensioners of Australia is make the pension sustainable. The best thing we can do for all Australians is get the budget back under control. The best thing we can do for our country, to honour our commitments, is take the necessary and the difficult decisions needed to secure this country's future. That is what we are doing: we are securing this country's future. And what are members opposite doing? They are worrying about who might be in what room, at what time, in this parliament. Really and truly, this man is no Bob Hawke. He is no Bob Hawke; he is no leader; and he has no answers for the difficulties our country faces.

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

Before I call the member for Wannon, we will have silence. This sort of noise level is the sort of noise level that prevented me from hearing the Prime Minister's comments which he has withdrawn.

Opposition members interjecting—

We will have some decorum even if it takes a long time for people to learn. I call the honourable member for Wannon.