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

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. Yesterday the Queensland budget confirmed a $16 billion cut from Queensland schools and hospitals, stating:

The most significant Federal change was an $80 billion funding cut to all States for schools and hospitals. This is a massive cost shift by the Commonwealth.

Acting Prime Minister, given the Queensland government has identified the problem, why does this government still ask, 'Where is the problem'?

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

Again, this question falls into that difficulty. The federal government is not responsible for the Premier of Queensland nor the statements he makes. If he wishes to rephrase his question to make it pertinent to the Acting Prime Minister—

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

Madam Speaker, with respect, and to be clear, I was asking the Acting Prime Minister about cuts made by his government.

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

No, you were not. You asked—

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

The $80 billion federal cuts which applied to states and territories.

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

If you wish that to be your question, phrase it that way, because that is not the way it is currently phrased. You were asking about what the Premier of Queensland had to say.

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

Madam Speaker, my question is to the Acting Prime Minister. It goes to the Queensland budget statement and the $16 billion cuts and the statement that 'the most significant federal change was an $80 billion funding cut to all states for schools and hospitals' and that 'this is a massive cost shift by the Commonwealth'. I ask the Acting Prime Minister why he will not recognise that this is a serious problem for states delivering schools and hospitals.

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

Again, what you are asking is—

Opposition members interjecting—

Just one moment. If he would simply rephrase the question to say, 'Why is a cut being made?' it can be asked as a responsible question. But you keep referring to what the Premier of Queensland had to say.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. While the quotation is from a state budget, the quotation is about the impact of a federal government decision. The Acting Prime Minister is being asked about the impact of that federal government decision. The relevance is not driven by what we are quoting but rather the substance of the words.

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

I am sorry, but I think under standing order 98 a minister can only be questioned on matters with which he or she is responsible. Also, questions must not ask ministers for an expression of opinion. You are asking the Acting Prime Minister for an expression of opinion on the Premier's remarks.

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

No; Madam Speaker—

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

I am not entertaining debate. If the Acting Prime Minister wishes to answer the question, I will let it stand. But I would say to the member for McMahon: kindly phrase your questions so that they are within the standing orders.

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

I am happy to answer the question. He asked what the problem is. The problem is Labor. It is Labor that delivered the five biggest deficits ever. It is Labor that has delivered a national debt that will take us generations to repay. And it is Labor that delivered for Queensland an $80 billion debt that Premier Newman and his colleagues have had to try to address. He is doing that through his budget. Through his budget he is trying to restore some balance in Queensland.

He also inherited a horrible legacy from having followed a Labor government—a Labor government of waste; a Labor government that had actually left schools so dilapidated that many of them had not been painted during the whole time that Labor was in office. Labor had left the people of Queensland an enormous debt, and that is on top of the debt that Queenslanders have to share with other Australians when it comes to our current debt.

When it comes to expenditure on hospitals and on education, let me repeat the self-evident point. Total funding on schools from this government increases by eight per cent this year, eight per cent the following year, eight per cent the year after that and six per cent the following year. When it comes to health, it increases by nine per cent this year, nine per cent the following year, nine per cent the year after that and six per cent the year after that. Total Commonwealth funding to Queensland amounts to $96 billion. Indeed, Queensland will receive $53 billion from GST share, and that is $2.2 billion more than was anticipated in MYEFO. So the Commonwealth is providing significant funds to Queensland and to other states.

Let me say by way of observation that, while I quoted nine per cent increases for health and eight per cent increases for education, those are national figures. Queensland figures are actually better than that. They are actually going to get more money than that. So that helps Queensland to try to address the problems Labor left behind—Labor's problems that Premier Newman in his budget has to address and which he is manfully seeking to do. I congratulate him on the work that has been done to rebuild Queensland—a task that we are also setting about nationally.