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

My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, is it not the case that the Parliamentary Budget Office has confirmed that the Prime Minister's signature Paid Parental Leave scheme will cost $62 billion over the next 10 years? And, that this is equivalent to the government's $23 billion cut to the pension and the $40 billion cut to family payments?

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

I do not accept the premise of the question. If you want to ensure that we continue to have the revenues to be able to pay pensions, Medicare, PBS and so on, we need to lift workforce participation. We need to lift the productivity of the Australian economy. And the Paid Parental Leave scheme does exactly that. It helps to lift workforce participation and it helps to lift productivity.

I know this is very difficult for the Labor Party to understand, because once upon a time they, too, believed in improving productivity. Once upon a time there was a Labor Party that believed in economic reform. And only through reform can we earn economic growth. And only through economic growth can we get the revenue to help to pay for sustainable pension systems, for sustainable Medicare systems, for sustainable pharmaceutical systems, for the sustainable defence of our nation, for the sustainability of our scientific research and for the sustainability of our education. Where is this magic pudding that the Labor Party believes in? Where is it? Where is that golden goose that lays all the eggs? I do not know—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

I am not inviting speculation over there!

I only say to the Labor Party: you left Australia with a deficit-and-debt mess. You sure did—$123 billion of deficits over just four years; $667 billion of debt over 10 years! We are currently paying $1 billion a month in interest alone on the debt that Labor has left and 70 per cent of that goes directly overseas because that is repayment to the people who we borrowed the money from. And if nothing happens on the budget, if nothing is done—if the Labor Party policy of 'she'll be right; don't worry about that' continues—we are going to end up with a debt of $667 billion in 10 years' time, the equivalent of $25,000 for every man, woman and child in Australia. And we will be playing $3 billion a month in interest alone—interest alone! Three billion dollars a month just to finance the mess that was left by an incredibly bad Labor government.

Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a question for the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the state of the budget, and what will the budget look like in a decade if we do not take action now?

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

I thank the honourable member for his question. The member for Bowman knows, as every other responsible member in this place knows, that if we expect Australians to live within their means so too must a government live within its means. The legacy of Labor is $667 billion of debt in 10 years' time if nothing is done. And the Labor Party are determined to not only stop us from fixing the mess that they created but also stop us from adopting some of their own measures to fix the mess that they created. They are opposing $5 billion of savings that they announced at the last budget. They took these to the Australian people for endorsement at the last election and now they are opposing their own savings.

But do not worry, they have other savings. One of their savings is to reintroduce the carbon tax, because the Labor Party believes that increasing taxes is a saving. Well it is not a saving for everyday Australians, of course, but the Labor Party never see that as any cause for concern. The bottom line is the Labor Party—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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

The member for Moreton will desist.

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

says, 'Don't worry, we'll reintroduce the carbon tax and that'll help to redress part of the problem.' But that is $550 on every household each year; it is a lot of money.

The other one the Labor Party has, which it claims is going to fix the budget, is keeping the mining tax. The mining tax is lesson 1 in how not to frame a tax. Swannie was proud of the mining tax, the member for Lilley was very proud of the mining tax. One of his great achievements was to introduce a tax that raises one per cent of what he forecast. Last quarter that mining tax raised $600,000. You know that is one per cent of what they thought it would do? And they said they would spread the benefits of the mining tax. That is 2½c for every Australian; that is spreading the benefits! The problem is the Labor Party committed $17 billion of expenditure against the mining tax that raises 2½c for every Australian. If the Labor Party thinks it can keep the mining tax to pay for $17 billion of expenditure, then by my calculation the mining tax would need to be in place for 7,083 years to raise the revenue just to pay for the Labor Party's expenditure against the mining tax over the next four years. Seven thousand years of mining tax! I tell you what: only the Labor Party could do it. It was incompetent in government; it is even more incompetent in opposition.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, my question is to the Treasurer. I refer to the Treasurer's answer during question time yesterday that the budget papers show people with a chronic illness will not pay the GP tax. I again ask the Treasurer: will Australians with chronic illness pay the GP tax?

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

The honourable member is totally misrepresenting my answer from yesterday.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

What a surprise!

Opposition members interjecting—

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

There will be silence on my left!

Opposition members interjecting—

The member for Ballarat has asked a question, now listen to the answer.

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

The reason why we are asking Australians to contribute to the cost of Medicare is in order to ensure that Medicare is sustainable into the future. That is what we are doing. Paul Keating believed that. Paul Keating in fact actually said it. I stand by all my words in relation to chronic illnesses, including those on Q&A, which is what she is getting at, and why so? Because we are absolutely committed to ensuring that we have universal healthcare that delivers the sort of coverage that Australians need, expect and, most importantly, can afford.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order.

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

The member for Ballarat on a point of order?

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Madam Speaker, on relevance.

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

I've finished.

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

Has the minister finished his answer?

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

Yes.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Will they pay the tax or not?

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

The member will resume her seat. The Treasurer has completed his answer.