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

My question is to the Prime Minister. If the government gets its way, seniors will receive their last seniors supplement payment this Thursday. This is worth more than $800 a year to the seniors. Why should seniors suffer because of the Prime Minister's unfair budget?

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

The seniors of Australia are very sensible people, and they know that governments, like businesses and like families, simply cannot continue to live beyond their means; that governments, like families and like businesses, should not be in the business of trying to deliver a cash splash with borrowed money. That is what the seniors of Australia understand.

The seniors of Australia, I believe, understand that this government was elected to deal with the debt and deficit disaster that members opposite created—a debt and deficit disaster embracing the six biggest deficits in Australia's history, $123 billion of prospective cumulative deficits over just four years, a debt projected to peak at $667 billion and an interest bill of $1 billion every single month just to pay the interest on Labor's existing borrowings. That is what the seniors of Australia understand. They understand that unless remedial action was taken, every single Australian would be saddled with a Commonwealth debt bill the equivalent of $25,000 per man, woman and child.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

There will be silence on my left!

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

That is the debt burden that members opposite saddled this country with. The seniors of Australia get it, unlike members opposite.

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

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

The member for Gorton will desist!

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

They realise that they cannot keep living beyond their means, and that is why I am confident that the seniors of Australia—and the people of Australia generally—appreciate that this government had to take some tough decisions. We really did have to take some tough decisions, and some of those tough decisions involved saying no more cash splashes with borrowed money.

Clive Palmer (Fairfax, Palmer United Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Has the Prime Minister considered spending $8 billion covering blackspots on the internet to save $36 billion, saving another $20 billion by scrapping paid parental leave, saving another $2.5 billion by scrapping Direct Action and buying our submarines rather than developing them to save another $20 billion? Why does the government want to penalise its people? Why don't do your job?

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

The Prime Minister has the call and will ignore the last part of the question.

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

I will say this much for the member for Fairfax: at least he is coming up with some ideas, unlike the Leader of the Opposition over there. They are not very good ideas, but nevertheless there are some ideas at least coming from the member for Fairfax, unlike the Leader of the Opposition, who is all complaint and no solution.

Mr Burke interjecting—

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

The member for Watson will desist!

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

I can assure the member for Fairfax that we will be keeping our commitments. And to the best that I can recall the rest of his question, all of the things that he asked us to do would be in breach of our election commitments, so we will not be doing them.