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

I have received a letter from the honourable Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The Government’s incompetence, broken promises and complete failure to provide leadership and vision for Australia.

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

This government has reached a tipping point in what has been the worst week so far in the life of the Abbott government. Australians know that the Abbott government has let them down, and 446 days after they were elected there is a mood of national disappointment in the conduct and the decisions of the Abbott government. This has been a week of chaos and lies. We see the communications minister contradicting the Prime Minister. We see a hypothetical defence minister cutting the pay of our men and women and defaming the reputation of thousands of people who work at the Submarine Corporation. And then we see the Prime Minister's performance in question time all this week as a metaphor for a government adrift. They have had an opportunity to talk about their vision for the future; instead, they have descended into petty politics.

We have seen the veneer of civilisation slip from the Prime Minister's mask, and we have seen old Tony come back—the man more happy being in opposition than being in government. Life was simple when he was the opposition leader. All he ever had to do was oppose. But upon coming to government we have seen confirmed that this is a government bereft of vision. It is bereft of a plan. In May of this year they brought down arguably the most unfair budget in living memory. For six months this government flailed around trying to put propositions to the Australian people, which the Australian people will not accept.

Then this week we saw the farcical situation of the government announcing for the sixth time that they are going to reboot the budget. They had a council of war. They are going to de-barnacle the hull of the budget. They are going to remove the obstacles. They are going to get back to basics. But, in fact, what we have seen about their hateful ideology for this country, their unfair approach, is that last night the Prime Minister's Office had their media spinners talking to the people in the gallery, the media, saying: 'We've got this all under control. This is not the Titanic. We've got it under control.' What they said last night to the media is: 'We're going do drop off the GP tax for now. We're going to drop it off. We're not going to talk about it now.' No doubt, there were 30 or so marginal seat members breathing a sigh of relief. But this is such a confused, chaotic and incompetent government that this morning out rushed the notorious charm offensive of the government. For Australians who do not know whom I am referring to, I refer to Senator Eric Abetz. That would be the triumph of hope over experience sending him into charm people. He said, 'No, we're sticking to our policies.' Then, of course, you have got the worst health minister in living memory coming forward and saying, 'We are going to do whatever it takes.' He says that whatever it takes they will get the GP tax. What Labor informs Australians is that, even if this government does change its tactics, it has not changed its mind. It wants to make Medicare not universally accessible. We listened in question time to this hypocritical Prime Minister say that he is the best friend of Medicare that we have ever had. With best friends like that, you do not need enemies.

It has not just been their backflipping, their uncertainty, their chaos and their inability to line up their ducks when it comes to the issue of the GP tax. We hear rumours that the backbench members of the government do not like this idea of a $100,000 fee. Well, do you know what? They're right. Australians do not like the idea that their university fees will double and triple. They do not like the idea of 20 per cent of the universities' budgets being cut, and they certainly do not like the idea of $100,000 degrees. Australians do not like the idea that women who go to university and who will have broken service in their working careers because they choose to raise their children and take time out of work are going to be in debt for the rest of their lives to Christopher Pyne. Why would you like that idea?

So it is not just the GP tax where this government has got the wrong idea for the future of this country and no vision. It is not just on higher education that this government cannot be trusted with the future of Australia. We saw them this week have a ridiculous argument about: 'Are they cutting the ABC? Is it an efficiency dividend? Did Tony Abbott lie?'—all of the issues. We saw our poor Prime Minister tie himself up in knots, because he just cannot be straight with the Australian people. The poor old member for Wentworth was left holding the proverbial 'ABC baby'. He said, 'Well, yes, it's not an efficiency dividend; it's a cut.' I give him points for honesty. The poor old member for Wentworth lost to the Prime Minister on the republic, he lost the leadership and now he has lost the ABC fight. He is forced to be just a rubber stamp for Tony Abbott's cruel cuts to the ABC.

This is a government that is adrift domestically, and everyone knows that the mini-budget which the Treasurer has to bring down in December is the last shot in the locker for 2014 for this government. This is the government that has wasted a year and a quarter of government. This is a government that has done little, but we hear them talk about the G20. Saturday week ago the Prime Minister had the opportunity, scripted by Wayne Swan, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, to bring the leaders of the world. Labor wanted the nation to perform well. The Prime Minister of Australia, the chief spokesperson for Australia, had an opportunity to demonstrate that Australia is a forward-thinking, visionary country with a plan for the future. What did he say for eight excruciating minutes? For eight excruciating minutes Tony Abbott had a cry about the fact that Australians do not like the GP tax and they will not back the higher education reforms. It was cringeworthy, weird, bizarre and a missed opportunity. Even more than that—

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I would ask that the Leader of the Opposition refer to members by their correct title.

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

The Leader of the Opposition has the call and will refer to people by their correct title.

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

Thank you for your guidance, Madam Speaker. The Prime Minister missed the opportunity of peacetime foreign policy in Australia, the like of which we will not see again in this generation. Instead of talking about climate change—which he never wanted to do—he never saw President Obama walking away and having a policy on the future, unlike the little Australia mentality of this current government. He blew the opportunity; instead he was like one of those carnival show or sideshow-alley hucksters, barking, 'Roll-up, roll-up.' Let us see Australia's pathetic answers on climate change.

What he did was to give a character reference on the Australian people. He complained about the Australian people to the rest of the world. Who is this Prime Minister to complain about the Australian people when they do not like his GP tax? Who is this Prime Minister to complain about the Australian people to the rest of the world to say that we are anti-reform and anti-change and that we do not have a vision for the future? And that is all because he broke his promises before the last election.

This is a government adrift in every sense of the word. Have a look at this debacle over Defence. I know the jungle drums are beating within the government: 'Who will get Senator Johnston's spot?' I know the Prime Minister is stubbornly refusing to give him up, but we on this side predict that it is only a matter of time before we have a new Minister for Defence in this country, as we should. The pay of our Defence Force is not keeping pace with the real wages and the real prices, and that is an effective pay cut. We also know that when it comes to dealing with all of the issues, this is a government adrift: the budget is adrift; the GP tax is a rotten idea going nowhere fast, even if the government want it; higher education policies in this country are adrift. We know that the treatment of pensioners in this country is adrift with the cut to the indexation rate of pensions. Every government member knows that their budget is adrift. They have no domestic policy. On the world stage we missed the G20—the nation missed the G20. I admit that the member for Kooyong got his head on TV during the G20—he personally had a good G20—but the government and the nation had a very bad G20.

The difference with Labor is that next year we will demonstrate what a plan should look like. We will demonstrate the power of positive ideas. We intend to win the next election, not because we are not the government and not based on the list of the government's lies but because we have a view about the future and we have faith in the Australian people. We will keep defeating your rotten measures this year and next year right up to the next election.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, who said

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

That is what explains the result in the 2013 election, because the fraud and the failure that is today's Labor Party saw them get the worst defeat in the history of our federation, the lowest primary vote in 100 years—worse than Scullin in 1931, worse than Whitlam in 1975, worse than Keating in 1996. What explained that result? The debt and deficit disaster of the Labor government—the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd experiment. They saddled the Australian people with $667 billion worth of debt—$25,000 for every man, woman and child; an interest bill of $1 billion a month and climbing to $3 billion a month. This is despite the member for Lilley standing at this dispatch box claiming on that that he was announcing four years of surpluses.

It is that fiscal record that saw 21,000 cheques of $900 sent to dead people; that saw 21,000 additional regulations strangle small business; that saw 400,000 jobs lost in small business; that saw free trade agreements stay on the side bench not being concluded by a government; that did not care about the trading opportunities in our region; that gave us a carbon tax that nobody asked for and nobody wanted; that gave us a some mining tax that was projected to produce $49.5 billion worth of revenue but it only produced a few hundred million dollars of revenue and introduced the dark spectre of sovereign risk.

Of course the member from Maribyrnong raises the issue of Defence. The record of those opposite on Defence is second to none in being derelict in their duties to protect the Australian people. In fact Defence spending went down to its lowest level since 1938 at 1.56 per cent of GDP. What about the NBN? The NBN that started out as a $4.7 billion federal commitment to signed on the back of a coaster when Senator Conroy had to hop on a plane with Kevin Rudd just to get a minute of his time. In six years of Labor, we saw a rollout that did not even reach three per cent of Australians.

That is the record: 21,000 cheques to dead people; 21,000 additional regulations; a carbon tax and a mining tax; hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in small business; the IMF, the Parliamentary Budget Office and the Commission of Audit saying to us that we cannot continue with business as usual; and this ballooning, growing budget deficit and its associated debt—the intergenerational theft that the Prime Minister talks about. Today's children will be paying off Labor's debt of yesterday. There is what is called a Burkean compact. It is a 'partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born'. Labor effectively broke that compact through its fiscal mismanagement.

We are today debating not just our record in government but also the legacy of debt and deficit that Labor left us. I was at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry dinner last night when the chairman got up and said that, by any fair benchmark, the Abbott government has achieved much in its first year. Let us start with the free trade agreements with Korea, Japan and China—which the Labor Party failed to conclude because it is beholden to vested interests.

We are proud of the fact that we are getting access to the markets of these huge economies. China has 1.2 billion people, is moving 10 million people from its regions to its cities every year, has more than 90 cities with more than five million people, and already has more fast rail and autobahns than the entire European Union. We now have access to that market that every other western nation dreams of having. We already have two-way trade of $150 billion with China and that will go from strength to strength under this free trade agreement. The agreement gets rid of tariffs on many of our resources. The tariff on coking coal, for example, goes immediately, while the tariff on thermal coal will go over the next couple of years. We have ensured that our agriculture, whether it is beef, dairy or horticulture—mangoes, potatoes and nuts—will get straight access into the Chinese market. And what about services? Services make up 70 per cent of today's Australian economy but only 17 per cent of our exports. Now we will get into the Chinese market, a massively growing and lucrative market, because of the work that Andrew Robb and the Prime Minister have done to get that free trade agreement.

What about the success of the G20? The Leader of the Opposition referred to the G20. It was a golden period, the Golden Medina for Australian foreign and economic policy. Eighty-five per cent of the world's GDP was represented here in Australia, as well as 75 per cent of the world's trade and two-thirds of the world's population. Concrete agreements were reached, including a commitment to exceed two per cent growth which, when implemented, will create trillions of additional dollars for the world economy and millions of jobs for Australians and for others around the world.

What about the infrastructure hub that will be established in Sydney? We will bring together information about the pricing, construction and prioritisation of infrastructure projects. What about the discussion on tax and the proper treatment of multinationals? What about shadow banking and over-the-counter derivatives—and what about trade and rebooting the multilateral trade round? Bilateral trade agreements are only insurance for when multilateral trade liberalisation stalls. That is what was agreed in Brisbane; that is what our Prime Minister, together with the Treasurer, led from the front on; and that is why we are very proud of our record.

What about what we are doing to get rid of red tape? We have announced more than $2 billion worth of savings after the Labor Party gave us an additional 21,000 regulations. What about infrastructure? What about the East West Link, which is going to produce 7,000 jobs in Victoria? What about WestConnex in New South Wales? What about the decision to build a second airport at Badgerys Creek—after fifty years, half a century, of indecision? That is something the member for McMahon and his side could never have achieved, but we on this side have achieved it.

What about the hard, hard task of budget repair? It has only been given to us because Labor could never do it. Through our budget announcements, we are trying to ensure $300 billion worth of fiscal consolidation over the next decade. We are trying to introduce an earn-or-learn strategy. With our medical research fund, we are trying to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in this country. We want to create the jobs of tomorrow, not just the jobs of today. We want to unshackle small business—through, for example, our decision to ensure that nearly half a million small businesses do not have to participate in the PAYG system. We are removing that red tape. More than 40,000 small businesses will no longer have to complete a BAS—because they are not paying any GST. Those are just some of the measures we have announced.

We have a forward-looking agenda. Our federalism white paper will be aimed at making the federal-state compact work much more effectively, and the Prime Minister has already reinvigorated COAG. We will be doing a tax white paper. Ken Henry came up with a number of good ideas, but the Labor Party only picked one—and that was the disastrous mining tax. He found that there were 125 taxes in Australia and that 115 of those taxes were producing just 10 per cent of the revenue—10 taxes were producing 90 per cent of the revenue—so there is a lot we can do there. Then there is the Harper review into competition policy. That is extremely important. It is going to give us a way forward to boost competition, to boost jobs and to boost growth in this country. In addition, the Commission of Audit has given us a blueprint for the consolidation of government entities and the like.

We are so proud of what we have done in just one year, but it is only the start. I know that the member for Bennelong, the member for Robertson, the member for Mallee and the member for Reid are just as proud of what we have achieved. (Time expired)

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

The people of Australia look to their federal government for a vision, and they look for that government to be competent in delivering that vision. When they look at this government, they see a government whose vision is for every Australian to have to pay to go to the doctor; whose vision is to rip up the universality of health care; to wreck Medicare, that great social compact; to give Australia's pensioners, who have worked hard all their lives, an unfair system of indexation; to take $80 billion out of the health and education systems of Australia; to deliberately create an underclass of Australia's young people by denying them access to Newstart; and to rip away family tax benefits. That is the sum extent of the vision that this government intends to give the nation.

And, when it comes to competence, it is even incompetent in delivering that cheap and nasty vision for the nation. This is a government which likes to talk about being calm and methodical. We hear it all the time: how calm and methodical this government is. The last 24 hours have been about as calm and methodical as schoolies week on the Gold Coast. We have had chaos in policy implementation.

We had the Prime Minister's office out last night, fanned out across the building, talking to journalists, saying: 'You can write with great authority that the GP tax is dead. Tony Abbott's killed it.' You can just imagine them over there in the Prime Minister's office saying: 'We've got an election on Saturday. You know what we do about election time? We mislead people about our intentions. That's what we do at election time in the Liberal and National parties. Let's brief out that we're killing the GP tax, authorised by the Prime Minister's office, talking to journalists right across the building.'

There was only one little problem. Nobody told the Treasurer, the Minister for Finance, the Leader of the Government in the Senate or the Minister for Health, apparently. 'Calm and methodical'—this bunch, this cabinet, led by the Prime Minister, marauding about, attacking the social compact of Australia, attacking those things which have been part of our social compact for 40 years; a 40-year community standard in Medicare! This gang of marauders cannot even shoot straight. They cannot even shoot straight in their attack on Australia's social compact. If you give us a cheap and nasty vision, at least be competent as you implement it. At least provide a bit of consistency and a bit of logic as you implement it. But the government cannot even do that. They cannot even trash Medicare competently. They cannot even abolish universal health care with the degree of competence that the Australian people look for.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They have been trying for 40 years now.

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

For 40 years they have been trying. You would think they would get it right. This is a community standard which even John Howard did not attempt to attack, which Gough Whitlam implemented against huge opposition from the predecessors of the members opposite, which Bob Hawke and Paul Keating implemented against opposition from John Howard and the Liberal and National parties. But even John Howard, who once declared that he would destroy Medicare, came to accept that community standard. Even he said: 'I accept that I've lost the debate. Medicare is here to stay. Universal health care is here to stay.'

Medicare is important to the nation that Australia has become and aspires to be, but this Prime Minister just does not get it. He says: 'No, I'm going to out-conservative John Howard. I'm going to rip up the social compact that is Medicare.' But he cannot even do it competently. And when he backtracks, when he tries to admit defeat, it lasts less than 24 hours, and you have the Treasurer out there countermanding the Prime Minister and saying, 'No, the Prime Minister's wrong.'

This Treasurer stood at that dispatch box and brought down that unfair budget when he considered himself a substantial figure, and he was seen as the substantial figure of the government, the person providing the government's narrative backbone—remember that? Actually, it was not that long ago. It was not that long ago when he was the government's most substantial figure. Now the Treasurer is in danger in a slight breeze! That is how substantial he is these days. You have got to hope they have got him tethered down. Senior Liberals are speculating that he might not make the election as Treasurer because of his incompetence, and he says: 'No, we're sticking by it. We've got an alternative vision for the nation.' He says, 'Just because you lose in the Senate, you don't let a little principle like that get in your way; you keep going.'

They have an alternative vision for the nation, and it is a cheap and nasty one. It involves making people pay to go to the doctor. It involves ripping off pensioners. It involves cutting $80 billion out of health and education. It involves ripping away Newstart benefits from young people. They will not accept it in the Senate. When the parliament and the people say no, they say, 'No, we're going to keep going.' That is what they say. This is what they say to the Australian people: 'We might not be able to implement it now.' But we know what they want in their hearts to do. They are making it very clear. If they ever have the numbers in the other place as well as in this, we know what they want to do. We know what they want to implement, and it is a very poor vision for Australia. (Time expired)

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia is a great country. As someone who has travelled widely and lived overseas for a good portion of my life, I am able to say this with some authority. We have been the Lucky Country from riding on the sheep's back and through mining booms. The tyranny of distance at times has been our best friend, but now the world is a smaller place and more competitive, and it is now up to us to make our own luck. Australia is a great country, a lucky country, but can we withstand bad government and bad leadership? The governing of a country is a serious business. It impacts every one of us and can impact generations to come. The government can change the direction of the very future of our country and our people. We have suffered six years of irresponsible and wasteful government, littered with poor judgement, motivated only by tomorrow's headlines. Short-sighted in the extreme, their only concern was their popularity—no concern with how much that might cost.

On election night our Prime Minster announced that Australia was under new management, open for business, and would provide stable and certain government for business and all Australian families: 'We will build the roads of the 21st century. We will be a government of infrastructure.' The moment of elation was followed swiftly by attack after attack. He, as he did in opposition, worked with his team, and what a team it is. It is a team that reflects the very definition of 'team': a group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, a job, or a project. Team members (1) operate with a high degree of interdependence, (2) share authority and responsibility for self-management, (3) are accountable to the collective performance and (4) work towards a common goal and shared rewards. A team becomes more than just a collection of people when a strong sense of mutual commitment creates synergy, thus generating performance greater than the sum of performance of its individual members. This is a pretty apt description of our team, our government.

In the face of adversity and criticism of work undertaken, our policies have been implemented—policies when reduced to a few words were ridiculed but have in fact stopped the boats and rid us of the carbon tax and the mining tax. In the face of tragedy, our team leaders have maintained their calm and their dignity and have represented us on the world stage in a way that made all of us proud and comforted us during these times of distress. During all of this our team have put the foundations in place for a golden era with free trade agreements with our most important trading partners in the region—with Korea, Japan and China. In this short period our team has rebuilt the live cattle industry and restored our tattered reputation for sovereign trust—a reputation hard-earned but so easily sullied and harmed by the previous government. Our team has also worked to repair the damage done by the previous government in installing the ambitious NBN program, now on track.

I know our Prime Minister in a number of ways. He is a loving and considerate husband; he is a loving and caring father. He is highly intelligent and educated, and he is a very hard worker—and one hell of a tough competitor. He provides his party with leadership that inspires. He has not sold his achievements well enough. In the party room the other day, he said, 'I do not have a degree in skiting.' I would much rather have hard work, intelligence and results than empty promises of things that never eventuate.

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

I am pleased to speak on this matter of public importance, which is about the chaos, incompetence and broken promises of the Abbott government. There has been no clearer display of that than what we saw this morning. Yesterday we had the Prime Minister's office briefing senior journalists—very serious journalists—in our press gallery that the GP tax was dead. This policy has been around for 12 months, the news broken first by Samantha Maiden in December last year that the government was contemplating it. The government denied it and it went back and forth forever and finally it was announced in the budget, the government coming clean with the Australian people. Here we had the Prime Minister's own office briefing senior journalists. They do not just make stuff up. There were senior journalists reporting this morning that the Prime Minister's office had said that the GP tax was dead.

What an absolute debacle we had this morning. The Minister for Health was nowhere to be seen anywhere in the media—it was left to Minister Abetz to go out there and try to clean things up. We had the Prime Minister saying last night saying that the GP tax was back on and that they think it is the best thing since sliced bread, and we then had the Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, out there saying that they were going to proceed with this and would do anything to get it through; they would take any measure possible to get it through. We then had the Treasurer saying that they were going to go through the parliament and would only do it by parliamentary means, they would only do it through legislation. Then we had the Assistant Minister for Health over in the Senate during question time saying that they will do it anyway—they might do it by regulation but they will do it anyway. During an interview on ABC Gippsland I felt sorry for the poor old member for Gippsland. In an interview on his local radio station he is left hanging out there, having to say, 'Look, I really don't know what is going on; I am sure someone will tell me at some point.' How embarrassing—a senior long-term member of the government left out there hanging this morning, unable to say whether the government was finally going to have the ticker to get rid of its GP tax. What an absolute chaos of a government we saw this morning.

The member for Bennelong was saying it is all about messaging and that the Prime Minister is sorry he has not got his messaging right, but it is not the messaging that is wrong—it is the policy. Why does this government fail to understand that this is not health policy—this is about taxing people who go to the doctor. This is about putting a barrier in the way of the most efficient part of our health system—the part of our health system that has not experienced this blow-out in growth. Yes it is steadily growing, but not beyond any sustainable means. The MBS item for doctor visits is sustainable, so why would you put a barrier in the way of the most efficient part of the health system—going to see a doctor?

The Australian public do not like this policy, and nor do the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Doctors Reform Society, the Nurses and Midwives Foundation or health practitioners across the country. It is not just about general practitioners—it is about, for example, radiography. Every time you go for an X-ray, an MRI or a PET scan, every time you go for a blood test or other pathology test, it is a tax on every single part of that primary care part of our health system. That is what the government wants to do—tax you every time you go to the doctor, you go for a blood test or you get an X-ray.

What sort of government is it that has as almost its sole health policy blocking people going to a general practitioner? This government has decided that there are a million visits a year that should be stopped. That is its health policy. What sort of chaotic, irresponsible government is it that thinks it is decent health policy to stop people accessing a general practitioner? We have been encouraging people to go to the doctor to manage their chronic disease, to prevent ill-health, to go and find out what they need to do to keep well and to manage episodic illness. The part of the system that keeps Australians well and that has been serving this country for over 100 years, general practice is an important part of our health care system. Yet here we have this chaotic government that it is suggested cannot get its messaging right, but it cannot get its policy right. This policy stinks to high heaven. Everybody in the healthcare sector, anyone who knows anything about health, knows that the government should ditch this policy. They have been told to ditch this policy but we know the only way to ditch it is to ditch this government. (Time expired)

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence, whilst we have been sitting here, the tragic news has broken that Phillip Hughes, the cricketer that was hit in the back of the head with a cricket ball a couple of days ago, has passed away. What a tragedy. I am not much in the mood to argue politics. It was his birthday on Sunday; he would have turned 26. I met him a few times in my former job. My family own hotels, and Carlton & United Breweries is a large company that we buy a lot of beer through, and they are major sponsor of cricket. I had the opportunity to interact with Phil on a fair few occasions.

You would not meet a better young guy. He had his whole life in front of him, and I just cannot imagine what his family must be going through this afternoon. Twenty-six on Sunday. It puts life into perspective. My heart goes out to his family. My heart goes out to his friends—his cricket friends and his friends right across the board. My heart also goes out to Sean Abbott, the young New South Welshman who was the bowler in question.

Phil played 25 tests for Australia and 26 one-day internationals. I remember when he blazed onto the scene as a youngster, on a tour, and there were centuries galore. They could not work out how to get him out. It was the South African tour. They just could not work out how to get him out. He had such an aggressive style of play. He literally lived and died by the fact that the best form of defence was attack, for him.

I would just like to take this opportunity to throw my thoughts to his family, to acknowledge his life and his passing today, and to pass on my best wishes to all involved. I cannot begin to imagine, thank goodness, what they are going through, but my heart goes to them. What I would like to do is to ask for a minute's silence of the House.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I respect to the member for Reid's call. I think this is something that would want to be taken up by the whole parliament with the Leader of the House, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. I think that a moment probably will be accommodated. I cannot, from this place, anticipate that. I allowed indulgence during the middle of the MPI for those comments. I think we are all shocked at the tragic loss of a wonderful young Australian who had so much potential, and I really respect your call, but I think I should leave it to the Leader of the House. We would want to think that all in the parliament had an opportunity to participate in whatever message that we want to send as a parliament to the family.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, on indulgence, I appreciate the sensitive way that you have dealt with this matter. Can I just foreshadow that, at the appropriate time, members of the opposition would wish to make appropriate comments on this matter—hopefully, this afternoon. In the meantime, we associate ourselves with the comments of the member for Reid.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did allow indulgence in the MPI and I will now return to the MPI. I call the member for Scullin.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to start by echoing the very eloquent and moving contribution of the member for Reid and take this opportunity to extend my condolences to family and friends of Phil Hughes. I thought it was important that you acknowledged the terrible circumstances that Sean Abbott must also be facing at this time. If he and those close to him can understand that in this place we are thinking of him, I think that is a useful contribution we can all make. I am a cricket follower and have had the pleasure also of watching Phil Hughes play. Regardless of his status as a sportsman, I think the thing we should all be reflecting on is on the tragedy of a young life full of promise, full of aspirations—aspirations that are very public, having regard to the nature of his calling and his talents—a young life very tragically cut short. I am sure, as you have noted, Deputy Speaker, and the member for Throsby as well, that there might be another opportunity for us to appropriately recognise the tragic events that the member for Reid has brought before us today.

Having said that, we are here to debate a matter of public importance, and it is a matter of genuine public importance. I would like to raise one critical question that I believe underpins the matter before this House: can it be said that the grown-ups are in charge of Australia's government today? Today we had an extraordinary question time which followed what has been an extraordinary week in Australian politics. What I think this week shows us, about 14 months into the life of this government, is that it emphasises that after hubris must come nemesis. Pride will always come before a fall.

When I think of members opposite talking about an age of entitlement, I think really of the behaviour of members opposite, in particular the now Treasurer when he made his infamous speech in London on this topic, their entitlement to rule. While it has been said often this is a government that said one thing before the election and another after, I think the failings of this government are much, much worse than this. For all the arrogance, their sense of entitlement, this born to rule attitude, seems to exist only in the hearts and perhaps in the mirrors of government ministers. The record now speaks for itself. We have before us a litany of failure, as highlighted most effectively in the health portfolio this week, I was going to say by my friend, the member for Ballarat, but really by the full range of government ministers and members from the Prime Minister down. We have seen the chaos and confusion extend to broken promises and misunderstandings between the Prime Minister and senior minister over the status of decision making in relation to the national broadcaster. The Leader of the Opposition spoke about a mood of disappointment in the community, but in this I fear he was being very generous.

I asked about whether the grown-ups are in charge. The evidence of this week is pretty clear, but I will add to that. Being grown-up should mean being able to admit mistakes and being able to say sorry. Clearly, members opposite have had plenty of practice and plenty of opportunities to learn this lesson. Sadly, practice does not make perfect.

I want to touch very briefly on the two additional matters beyond the competence head that this matter of public importance puts before the House. Firstly, to talk about broken promises, it is extraordinary how this government has sought to rewrite the history of their commitments to the Australian people prior to the election. But I do not want to touch on the specific commitments, all of which I think have been broken, but I do want to speak on the biggest broken promise of all, which is the now Prime Minister's insistence that he would restore trust in politics. He spoke at great length on this. By the standards of this week, we might call these rhetorical flourishes. Since then we have seen the eroding of trust every day; the eroding of faith in politics. This is a government that has become mean and tricky very early. This is compounded by the contempt it shows not just for the Labor Party but for this parliament and, through it, for the Australian people.

But the biggest failing of all is the poverty of this government's vision, shown on the world stage by the G20, where the Prime Minister chooses to whinge about the attitudes of the Australian people rather than be a constructive middle power and global actor. In this government they are indeed rebels without a cause, defining themselves by the things they are against, which is the modern Australian social compact.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, too, would like to associate myself with the remarks of the member for Reid and the member for Scullion on the passing of Phillip Hughes. It is a very sad day for Australia.

But I am glad that the opposition has put forward this matter of public importance today, because it gives me the opportunity not only to refute it but also to place on record the coalition government's achievements since we came to office just over a year ago. Several excellent members on this side of the House have already outlined during this debate that we are not only committed to but are already delivering on many of our election commitments, and we are demonstrating great leadership as a government, led by a great Prime Minister, Tony Abbott—great leadership of this country that Labor never showed.

Great leadership impacts the everyday lives of Australian people and businesses, particularly people in my electorate of Robertson on the New South Wales Central Coast—the best region of the best country in the world in which to live. These same people were so sick of the complete failure of the Labor Party during their six years in government that they voted them out. I am sure that members opposite love to keep saying that only Labor offers people a grand vision—a grand vision like returning the budget to surplus, except of course they did not; or whacking the world's biggest carbon tax onto families and businesses; or opening Australia's borders to more than 50,000 illegal boat arrivals. I could go on and on about this, but of course history speaks for itself. We know that the people of the Central Coast in Robertson and Dobell, and indeed right around Australia, rejected Labor and its incompetence, its broken promises; and its complete and utter failure to provide real leadership and real vision for our nation.

Instead, people voted for positive change. While Labor talks about their vision and their leadership, the coalition government, led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott is getting on with the job of actually doing it. We have scrapped the carbon tax and delivered Australian families and businesses the biggest drop in electricity prices on record. Overall, households on the Central Coast are forecast to be $550 a year better off now that the carbon tax has been repealed. We are creating around 8,700 jobs per year due to the construction of the M1-M2 missing link, which will start next year. It is a vital piece of road infrastructure that will save the average commuter in Robertson 30 minutes a day travel time to the Sydney CBD. This is a commitment that was talked about for years by Labor, but which we are already delivering.

Unlike those opposite we believe in the future of the Central Coast as a region of excellence and opportunity and we are investing in this belief with a purpose-built building for the ATO and other commonwealth agencies, with 600 new jobs right in the heart of Gosford. It is a real game-changer for our region, and a key election commitment that we are delivering on. But all we have heard from Labor so far is a refusal to back these 600 jobs for Gosford, and constant criticism of the Central Coast. In contrast, our policies, our leadership and our commitments are backed by our community. In fact, just yesterday, the Daily Telegraph called our commitment a 'wave of jobs for the Coast'. The coalition makes no apologies for our determination to methodically deliver what we committed to in our growth plan for the Central Coast, which was more jobs, better infrastructure and a stronger future for our region.

But perhaps members opposite are thinking, 'What about the NBN? What about a vision of a connected Central Coast?' In my view, actions speak far louder than words. While I know the former member for Robertson loudly trumpeted to all and sundry that only Labor could deliver the NBN for the Central Coast, the facts, quite sadly, tell a different story. After six long years of talking about and promising the NBN, how many households and businesses on the Central Coast did they connect to the network? Was it ten thousand, you ask? Was it 5,000? Was it 500? No, sadly, the fact is that despite Labor's fanfare, all the people of the Central Coast got after six long years was 203 premises connected to the NBN. But I am pleased to say that since then we have been working to get the NBN to homes and business that need it the most. And, again, we are delivering. We are now rolling it out to more than 50,000 premises across the Central Coast in my electorate using the right mix of technologies to get the NBN delivered sooner, cheaper to taxpayers and more affordably to consumers.

May I conclude this debate by reflecting on a very important principle—that it is our job as elected representatives to represent the hopes, concerns and aspirations of the people who live in our communities, and it is the government's role to create the best possible environment for them to succeed. Thanks to the Abbott government we are doing just that. After six long years, finally the people of the Central Coast are seeing a government deliver on what is most important, and what they so richly deserve.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are moments in this House where all of us are called to order in the things we are talking about and in the way we are behaving. We get to have a moment where we remember what is really important and what matters to us and to the Australian people. This is one of those moments. I want to associate myself with the comments of the member for Reid in expressing my condolences to the family of Phil Hughes and to Sean Abbott.

I do not pretend to know a lot about cricket—it is not something in my past—so I will not be speaking at length about his performance as a batsman. But I would say that for any family to lose a young man of 25, in the prime of his life and with a future ahead of him—none of us will never know now what he would have achieved—I feel so bad for his family, for his parents. It is a tragedy for anyone to lose a young man like that. I am very sorry that this has occurred. For those who do not know, an MPI is often a bit of a rambunctious occasion for the House to trade a few jibes across the chamber. Obviously that is not appropriate today and we will not conduct the rest of the debate in that way. I will just say that I think that the preference of both sides of the House would probably be that this debate not continue, but it has to continue—that is the request of the House. In that vein, I will make a few comments about some of the things that have happened this week in politics, as insignificant as they now seem to those around Australia who are mourning that loss.

It is my belief that this past week has been a little bit of a tipping point in Australia. For a year now, the Australian community has been trying to make up its mind about this Prime Minister and what it is that this man is made of. There are two incidents in the past week that I would point to that I think have been quite decisive in Australians making up their mind. The first was the announcement about making cuts to the ABC and SBS. I believe the ABC and SBS provide essential services. Representing a community that is as multicultural as mine is, I see SBS on television screens very frequently right across my electorate, and we know the important role the ABC plays in protecting Australians against natural disasters and in representing rural and regional communities. There are many Australians who are not SBS and ABC viewers—I accept that—but the really important issue is that this went right to the heart of the question of trust. Many Australians will have watched the 15 seconds of footage of Tony Abbott on the night before the election making a series of promises that there would be no cuts to education, no changes to health, no changes to the pension, no changes to the GST and, of course, no cuts to SBS of the ABC. This week we went through to the last of those. Every single one of those promises has been broken. I really think that this is the straw that broke the camel's back, as it were, for the Australian community.

I also want to make mention of the G20. What a missed opportunity it was. This was Australia's big chance, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have global leaders come to our beautiful country and hear our big ideas for the future of the globe and our nation. What Prime Minister could not make this into a huge win for the country? Instead, we saw someone who thought it appropriate to raise political issues that were so domestic and so small-minded in nature when he had the eyes and ears of these global leaders who are so important to driving Australia's future. We saw the Prime Minister and other leaders of the government desperately trying to take climate change away from the agenda, yet because climate change is so important and so crucial to Australia's future and to the world's future it was right there in the centre of the agenda. Instead of Australia being part of that conversation and helping to shape and drive it we were left out in the cold. We had Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister, bragging about the great leap backwards on climate change while two of the biggest economies in the world made a profoundly important deal on cutting carbon emissions. I contrast that with US President Barack Obama who has, probably, similar polling problems as the Prime Minister, but that guy has got some guts, he has some energy, he has some leadership. He was willing to stand out there in front of Australians, saying what the Prime Minister should have been saying—that is, that we need to have some vision and leadership on these important issues. I will conclude my comments there.

Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to associate myself with the words of the member for Reid. My sincere prayers and condolences go to the family of Phillip Hughes.

They are very interesting words to put in an MPI: 'failure to provide leadership'. I remind those on the other side of the chamber of something about leadership. John Curtin once campaigned on the most controversial issue in the Australian parliament—conscription—and went to the parliament saying he would be vehemently against conscription. When he became Prime Minister, John Curtin—arguably Australia's greatest Prime Minister—introduced conscription, because the person who represented the seat I now occupy crossed the floor to the Labor Party. That is how history defines leadership: someone who did something that was contrary to what they believed but knew they had to do it for the benefit of the country.

We took government thinking that we had an $18 billion deficit in our operating budget. It turned into a $30 billion deficit. Then, when the figures came in, it worked out at $48 billion. We hear a lot about cuts to the ABC. We hear indignation about trying to find $50 million of savings out of our public broadcaster. The irony of it all is that $50 million will only pay the interest on our national debt for 33 hours. Think about that for a moment. The challenge we have is to get our economy back on track. A strong economy affords us the opportunity to build a great society. What separates the people who have a Conservative understanding, and an understanding of business, from those who do not is that we know that money not grow on trees. We have to pay for it. We have to have a strong economy so that we can grow, develop and deliver things we want. A great society is one that has a good defence system. A great society is one that provides for those who are unwell. A great society is one that provides education for our children. A great society is one that believes, looks after and honours individual achievement, individual freedoms and individual endeavour. We want to build that great society, but we know that we can only do that if we have a strong economy.

They claim there has been a 'failure to provide leadership'. When I look at what the Prime Minister of this country, Tony Abbott, inherited compared to what Prime Minister Kevin Rudd inherited, I would argue that he has provided leadership. Sometimes it has been on things that I as a backbencher have not always approved of. Sometimes it has been on things that I know are unpleasant for the Australian people. But has he provided leadership? There is no doubt about that. Leadership is about taking the people with you on a journey through something that is difficult. Leadership is about facing the challenges and saying, 'We can do this together.' Leadership is not whingeing and moaning. Leadership is not shirking from your responsibilities. Leadership is about making hard choices.

I remind those in the Labor Party that their greatest Prime Minister had to go against everything he originally stood for to provide leadership at the time of Australia's greatest crisis. We are not in a war, but we are in an amazingly difficult financial situation. It is a situation we have never found ourselves in before, with a national debt we have never seen so big. It is the leadership of Prime Minister Tony Abbott that is going to lead us through that. I think it would be very fair to say that we have adults in the room, adults who know that strong leadership is about making hard choices, not just making populist choices.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this discussion has now expired.