Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to comments yesterday in question time from the Minister for Immigration where he said:

As we know, the PEFO is where the officials tell the truth about what the budget really is from the previous government. That is what it does, that is what it does. Treasurer, isn't the Minister for Immigration right on this question?

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

I thank the honourable member for the question. It was totally unexpected, given that he has done a few press announcements about it earlier today. I agree with the honourable member: it has been the coalition that stopped the boats, it has been the coalition that has closed now nine detention centres, it is the coalition that has saved $2.5 billion from the budget. But let me talk a bit about the PEFO, the Pre-election Fiscal Outlook that is released by the secretary of the Treasury and the secretary—

Mr Bowen interjecting—

I am coming to you in a minute, china. Just relax. And the secretary of the Department of Finance. The fact is that it reflects the government's policy at that time and the policy assumptions that form the basis of the government's policy at that time. As we know, the Labor Party assumed that growth in expenditure would be limited to two per cent if they were re-elected.

Ms Owens interjecting—

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

The member for Parramatta will desist.

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

The problem was that it was 3.7 per cent. Oops! So of course Labor claimed they were going to get back to surplus one day into the future, but the assumptions that underpinned it were flawed and there are a number of areas where they were actively deceptive. For example, the Labor Party, if they were re-elected, would have had to put money into the Reserve Bank.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

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

No? $8.8 billion I had to put into the Reserve Bank, and why? Because the Labor Party when in government had taken extraordinary dividends and in fact materially weakened the capacity of the Reserve Bank to respond to unforeseen circumstances. So we had to put $8.8 billion into the Reserve Bank. Then buried deep in the Economic Statement of the former Treasurer was a commitment to over 14,000 Public Service redundancies, 14,500 Public Service redundancies that the Labor Party did not have the courage to explain to the Public Service. Did they fund those redundancies? No, they did not. Shock and surprise. And there are other areas. They failed to properly finance the ACCC, they took $1.2 billion from Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory in relation to the so-called Gonski funding. We know it is the old story: the Labor Party wrecks the joint, the coalition has to come in to fix it. That is exactly what has happened. That is one of the reasons why I am absolutely positive our forecasts are more accurate than anything they have ever delivered.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question—

Honourable members interjecting—

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

There will be silence on both sides of the House so we can hear the question.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is exactly right. My question is to the Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Will the minister inform the House of how the government's Asset Recycling Fund will help contribute to the record $50 billion investment in the roads of the 21st century?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Herbert for his question. As a champion of Townsville he will be particularly keen on infrastructure projects in that area such as the Townsville Ring Road, the Dalrymple Road upgrading and indeed the general commitment of this government to upgrade the Bruce Highway and other sections of our national highway network.

On top of the key investments this government will be making in infrastructure, particularly roads and rail, across the nation, we have also included in our $50 billion infrastructure investment program $5 billion to establish an asset recycling initiative. This is a major new step which will help to support states which are looking to recycle some of their assets and to reinvest in new projects which will produce greater productivity and enhance the growth and development of their regions. By using brownfield investments to leverage investment in new areas of infrastructure we will help to provide the infrastructure that we need for the 21st century. It is anticipated that this $5 billion which the Treasurer has put aside into this initiative could lever around $125 billion worth of investment across the nation. It will be roads, rail, public transport and a whole range of initiatives—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Mr Husic interjecting—

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

The member for Moreton and the member for Chifley will desist.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

at the choice of the states as they would choose to make these investments. So we believe that this 15 per cent incentive will help make a difference to ensure that projects which may otherwise have been unaffordable can in fact come to fruition. We saw in the Queensland and the ACT budgets over the last couple of days examples of governments wanting to take advantage of this initiative, looking at ways in which they will be able to invest in new greenfield assets that will help build the infrastructure that they need to support their communities. So it is a historic initiative that will certainly expedite nationally significant projects across the country and result in the world-class infrastructure that Australia needs for a prosperous future.

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

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. On the one hand, the Minister for Immigration said yesterday, 'As we know, the PEFO is where the officials tell the truth about what the budget really is,' and on the other hand, the Treasurer has previously said that the PEFO clearly does not represent the state of the budget. Acting Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Minister for Immigration cannot both be right about PEFO. Who is telling the truth?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer has already given a complete and thorough answer to this question. He has demonstrated why the figures in PEFO were different when it came to MYEFO—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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

The member for Moreton is warned!

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

that the Labor Party have not told the truth about underprovided for expenditure to which they were committed, areas that they had stripped away in the budget in ways which were not reported in the initial statement but which had come to account when it reached the stage of MYEFO. What about the 14,000 redundancies that Labor promised in the Public Service, yet they had not bothered to provide for any redundancy payments? Essentially, this information was withheld in those initial reports. In many other areas as well, Labor had made commitments but had not funded them. Those are the sorts of things we had to take into account when preparing the budget that is before the parliament at the present time. They are the sorts of things which gave the previous government the reputation of having not been honest about its finances and delivering appalling debts. But the true situation was even worse than they had reported to the people.