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

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

The impact of the Government’s chaotic and incompetent Budget strategy.

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—

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

One thing is very clear: the government that brought down the wrong plan at budget time have no plan for their next budget. They brought down the wrong plan in their last budget, but they have no plan for their next budget, and the Australian economy is paying a price for that. It is an extraordinary situation that the parliament will rise tomorrow and the next time we sit will be budget week and yet we still have a Prime Minister and a Treasurer and an entire government at sixes and sevens over the last budget, let alone the next budget. We have a Treasurer who has shown, so close to budget time, that there is a cost to be paid for this level of dysfunction. It is a cost to be paid by the Australian economy. We have got a government, a Treasury and a nation that are dealing with this Treasurer's inability to deal with the basic tasks involved in being Treasurer of this nation.

We all know there was a big cost to be paid for the last budget. It was paid by pensioners and paid by families. But there is a cost also for the economy. That cost is borne by people right across the country—people who want a job, people who are looking for work, people who are joining the growing unemployment lines around this country. There is a cost to be paid by Australian businesses—not businesses with large margins but small businesses who are struggling to get by and who need consumer and business confidence to do so. They are paying the price for this Treasurer's incompetence as well, because we are seeing a situation where this government's actions are impacting on economic growth. We are seeing a real impact on economic growth in the country. I must say, in fairness to the government, they have come up with a rather unique strategy to deal with this. It has been tried by the Minister for Finance. He said on ABC News Breakfast earlier in the week, 'Economic growth has been strengthening all throughout 2014.'

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

He turned the graph upside down!

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

I would hate see economic growth if it were collapsing! Perhaps the finance minister had the graph upside down, as the member for Watson helpfully points out. But redefining what is going on in the Australian economy does not fix what is going on in the Australian economy. There is one thing that would fix what is going on in the Australian economy, and that is a competent Treasurer of Australia. That is what would fix the Australian economy. That is what would see things improved. Remember we were promised an adrenaline rush to confidence on the election of the Prime Minister and the Treasurer? There has been a rush all right. There has been a rush when it comes to business and consumer confidence. When the government was elected, NAB business confidence was at 12. Today it is at zero. We see business confidence at zero. We see consumer confidence 10 per cent lower than it was at the election. We see this Treasurer's words and his actions impacting on business and consumer confidence. The finance minister likes graphs. Here we have consumer confidence and its impact from the budget. Of course, it started to decline when the Treasurer started talking.

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

No props, and you know it.

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

It started to decline when the Treasurer opened his mouth and he revealed to the Australian people, in little bits, his budget strategy, which was to cut payments, which was to embark on cuts to Australian families and pensioners, and also, importantly, when he engaged in his rhetorical flourishes about the future of Australia. Madam Speaker, I say to you very clearly, it is irresponsible for the Treasurer of Australia to compare our nation to the economy of Greece. It is simply irresponsible to do so, because what a Treasurer says matters. What a Treasurer says matters just as much as what he does. When the Treasurer talks about Australia going down the path of debt towards Greece, is it any wonder we see consumer and business confidence so heavily impacted and therefore heavily impacting on those Australians who are looking for work, those Australians who are running small businesses, those Australians who are looking for growth in the Australian economy? This Treasurer damages those people every time he opens his mouth. Every time, we see a mixed message from the government. Every time, we see a change in the story. We remember the changing alibis on the surplus. We were told there would be a surplus in the first year and every year of an Abbott government. Then at the campaign launch we were told we would have a surplus within 10 years. Then we were told last week we would have broad balance in five years—then surpluses disappearing and deficits for 40 years after that.

Then we saw a new focus earlier in the week. The Treasurer gave a PowerPoint presentation to the party room. There are a few things here. We were told that all new spending will be offset by savings that are responsible and fair. That is a novel approach compared to the last budget. That is a change of approach. But then we come to the surplus, and a very definitive statement was made to the party room, a clear statement of intent from the Treasurer. We have even got a slide: 'We will get the budget back to surplus as soon as possible,' he told the party room, in a great statement. We have the ASAP strategy now when it comes to the surplus! Is it any wonder that the Australian people look at the government and say: 'If they can't get their story straight, how can they get the economy right? If they can't get their story on their own budget right, how can they understand the impact of their own decisions?'

This is what we are seeing day after day: chaos when it comes to the last budget and chaos when it comes to the next budget as well.

We have seen extraordinary leaks from the Treasury, a fine institution and a Treasury which is in despair at this Treasurer's management. We saw a report just recently saying:

There is growing concern in the upper ranks of the federal bureaucracy that the budget process is adrift, with just two months to go before it is delivered.

We saw senior officials say, 'It is five minutes to midnight,' and that time is running out for ministers to set a clear direction. The report went on to say:

The confusion in the bureaucratic ranks is a product of the mixed messages being sent by both the Prime Minister and Treasurer: that hard choices have to be made to repair the nation's finances; and that much of the work is already done.

Is it any wonder that even the Treasury is confused by this Treasurer's remarks? Even the Treasury is confused by this Treasurer's direction because he has none. He has no direction and no budget strategy. He does not know what to do with the budget, a budget which will be delivered at that dispatch box in just a few weeks time. We are seeing that impacting on the Australian economy every day. We have seen the impact of the last budget on consumer confidence, we have seen the impact of the last budget on business confidence and we see the continuing impact of this Treasurer's incompetence.

We see it in the unemployment figures. I talked before about those Australians who are looking for work, joining the lines of the unemployed. We see the Treasurer getting up to the dispatch box and boasting about what is up. How about talking about unemployment being up? How about talking about unemployment being 6.3 per cent and the fact that 80,000 more people cannot find a job, many of them young people? I do not use the term 'crisis' loosely. It is not a term that I use easily or often, but I say to the Treasurer: there is a youth unemployment crisis in Australia and he should be dealing with it. I say to the Treasurer: there is a youth unemployment crisis in Australia and he can deal with it by instilling more confidence in the Australian economy, not less.

The Treasurer has to come to terms with one simple fact: he no longer has my job—he is now the Treasurer of Australia, not the shadow Treasurer of Australia, and it is his responsibility to talk about the Australian economy in its proper context. It is no longer his responsibility to talk the Australian economy down, if it ever was down, which it was not. It is his responsibility as the custodian of the nation's finances and its economy to be responsible in his commentary—to drop the rhetoric about Greece, to drop the rhetoric about Australia's path in the future and to start levelling with the Australian people about his plans and his budget strategy. But he is not capable of doing so. He has been Treasurer now for long enough to know what needs to be done in his budget, but he cannot settle on one strategy or one coherent approach.

We know the Prime Minister will say anything that comes into his head. We see it at the dispatch box day after day, in question time after question time. You never know who he is going to insult next. You never know what statement he is going to make on the run next.

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

He doesn't know either.

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

And the Treasurer does not know either. We see this Prime Minister, who has been uncharitably called the 'Kirribilli hillbilly', wandering around saying whatever springs into his mouth next. It is actually more important than that when you are the Prime Minister or the Treasurer of Australia, because you have a responsibility. You have a responsibility to care about what you say and what you do. That responsibility, when it comes to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, should be carried out with the hopes and aspirations of Australians for a strong economy in mind, one with reducing unemployment, not increasing unemployment. We see nothing like that from this Prime Minister or this Treasurer.

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

What an embarrassment question time was today. You had the member for McMahon ask a question about the triple-A credit rating. Clearly, those opposite have economic amnesia, because back in 1986, during the years of the Hawke and Keating governments, Labor lost our credit rating, it having been downgraded both in 1986 and again in 1989. It took the Howard-Costello government and the prudent economic management that they brought to Australia's fiscal situation to see an upgrade, in both 2002 and 2003, when both Moody's and Standard & Poor's gave Australia the triple-A credit rating that we now cherish. But who put that triple-A credit rating in danger? It was those opposite. When we bequeathed them a pristine balance sheet with zero government debt, having paid back your $96 billion of debt—

Mr Bowen interjecting—

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

The member for McMahon will desist.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As a result of the economic mess that they created, we were left a trajectory of $667 billion worth of debt and a bill of more than $1 billion a month that was just going to pay interest on Labor's debt. That interest bill would have actually headed to $3 billion a month. The trajectory of spending growth under those opposite was at 3.7 per cent. As a result of our measures, in just 18 months we have reduced that 3.7 per cent to one per cent. We were given the six biggest budget deficits in Australia's history. Twenty one thousand cheques were given to dead people. We were given 21,000 additional regulations. We were given a carbon tax which was ahead of the world and suffocated big and small business alike in this country. We were given a mining tax, which we were told would produce $26½ billion worth of revenue and only produced a bit more than $300 million worth of revenue, at the same time introducing the dangerous notion of sovereign risk and putting at risk significant investments in this country from foreign investors.

That was no laughing matter; that was extremely serious. As a result, we saw more than 400,000 jobs go in small business, as Labor rotated small business ministers like it was a game of pass the parcel. We had an NBN which was over budget and behind schedule. Their NBN started as just a spending program of a few billion dollars; it ended up being a spending program of massively more, but it was not rolled out according to their plan. We had 96 announced but unenacted tax and superannuation measures. We had $9 billion worth of additional taxation on superannuation alone. We had the famous cash for clunkers. We had Fuelwatch. We had GroceryWatch. We had the $100,000 that was spent on fake kitchens for the carbon tax ad. We had $75,000 which was spent on coffee machines. We had waste and mismanagement the like of which this country has never seen. All this time as they were running up debt, they were also given the best terms of trade in 140 years; the best export prices to import prices that this country has seen in more than a century. As a result, under the member for Lilley's watch when he the Treasurer of this nation, revenue went up 22 per cent, but they still gave us additional spending.

Since we have come to government, in just 18 months, we have proceeded on a much more careful and sensible path of economic reform. As the Intergenerational report clearly shows, under us, the debt and deficit legacy that we were left has been more than halved. It has gone from 122 per cent of net debt to GDP—which is the Greek-like proportions that the Prime Minister talks about—to under half of that. But there is still such a long way to go. We are creating jobs at the rate of 600 a day. Economic growth was 2.7 per cent in 2014 compared to under two per cent in 2013. We are building the roads of the 21st century in every state except Victoria, because the Labor government there wants to rip up the East West Link contract again, introducing sovereign risk and costing over 7,000 jobs. We have stopped the boats, which is not only saving more than $10 billion but also saving lives at sea and closing many, many detention centres. We have been successful in abolishing the carbon tax and putting in place a Direct Action program. We have been successful in abolishing the mining tax as well as entering into the free trade agreements with the major economies of China, Japan and Korea.

To understand the significance of the FTA with China: negotiations first started in 2005, the same year that negotiations started between New Zealand and China, and in 2008 China and New Zealand concluded their free trade agreement. It took a coalition government to come to power to actually conclude Australia's FTA with China. It will produce thousands and thousands of jobs, particularly in the service sector, which is 70 per cent of Australia's economy but only 17 per cent of our exports. So too, with Japan and Korea, we are going to create the jobs of the 21st century. We are doing infrastructure programs; we are doing a streamlined tax system; we are doing free trade agreements; and we are paying back Labor's debt.

The other thing is that, right across the economy, we are starting to see the green shoots. Jobs growth is three times faster than it was under Labor. We are now seeing the highest level of job advertisements in 28 months. We have seen eight consecutive months of strong retail figures. As the Prime Minister talked about in question time today, housing starts are up nine per cent, and right across the economy we are starting to see a more confident consumer and a more confident investor—not because of anything that those opposite do, because they in fact talk down the economy, but as a result of our important reforms.

Over the next few weeks you will see us talk a lot more about small business, families and child care. Then, of course, in seven weeks time we will have our budget. Small business is the engine room of the economy. Labor destroyed 400,000 jobs in small business. What the IGR said to us is that the future of living standards in this country is about productivity and workforce participation. There are more than 160,000 parents in this country with children under the age of 13 who cannot go to work because they cannot get an affordable and accessible place of child care. That is why we are caring about that with our families package. Small business is too much overlooked by those opposite because none of them have actually had the experience of working in a small business, unlike those on our side. We care about small business, and we will be giving them the tax cut and the other benefits to get them back into work.

We have a very proud record in just 18 months. It is not because of anything that those opposite have done—because, in fact, we have savings measures worth over $30 billion that are now stuck in the Senate, including $5 billion worth of savings that they took to the last election that they are now blocking. We on this side of the House are determined to push through those obstacles, to announce and promote good economic policy and to explain to the Australian people why we are the better economic managers.

We have seen interest rates come down by 25 basis points; we have seen the Australian dollar come down from parity with the US dollar to now being just above 75c; and we have also seen petrol prices drop by nearly 50 per cent. As a result, that is putting money into the pockets of Australian families. That increased disposable income can actually help stimulate the economy. Economic growth is much stronger than it was under Labor. Jobs growth is stronger than it was under Labor. Housing starts are up. Consumer confidence is building. Of course, with interest rates coming down and petrol prices coming down, we are seeing money in the pockets of Australian families.

Look at Labor's record. It was a fiscal mess that they bequeathed to us. Look what we have done in 18 months. We are not only creating the jobs of today but also the jobs of the future. Australia's balance sheet will always be stronger under a coalition government.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to let you know that I do not mind reading TheFinancial Review. It is a source of good information from time to time. I was reading a very good article the other week by Tony Boyd.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You do not learn much!

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You should talk—I have been in interviews with you! Tony Boyd wrote on 13 March a very interesting profile piece on Brian Hartzer, who is now the new CEO of Westpac. He is a very impressive person; I have met with him. He was talking about the things that he is worried about in corporations, and he said:

I think one of the dangers in large companies is that people start to think that their job is to create PowerPoints … to make decisions and improve things for customers.

Anyway, apropos of nothing, Joe Hockey gave a PowerPoint presentation yesterday to their party room. While the rest of corporate Australia realises that that their life is not about PowerPoints, the Treasurer thinks his time is to work out how to make the smiley face on the slide. He thinks that that is the way the Australian economy will be saved. So he and the 'Cormannator,' the Minister for Finance, have put together this slide pack that they took to the party room yesterday. The Treasurer had heaps of time to do it, because he does not sit in ERC anymore—he sits in courts! He thinks that the way forward for the economy is for him to defend himself against Fairfax rather than actually putting in the hard yards in ERC.

Talking about rubbish, did you sleep through the media coverage and not see, every single day, the Treasurer out in a court? Sure, he is absolutely entitled to defend himself, but he is supposed to actually put a budget together. The last budget was crackerjack. Did they actually get it through? They did not even get it through. The Assistant Treasurer did today what he did last week: he goes through a number of stats and he talks about how things are getting better. He reckons that job ads are going up, yet unemployment is now higher than during the GFC. He talks about how economic growth is stronger under the government. Let's look at that. Here is the graph: GDP growth annually—March quarter, under three per cent; June quarter, under 2.7 per cent. It is going down. On the PowerPoint slide you would do a slide downwards. That would be a downward arrow. Not up; it is going down. Growth is going down.

Maybe if the Assistant Treasurer holds that graph in a mirror and sees it going another way, he can say it is going up. Joblessness is going up; economic growth is going down. If the economy is going so well, Assistant Treasurer and Member for Kooyong, why did the Reserve Bank decide to cut interest rates? Why did they cut interest rates? Because when they looked into the future and saw where growth was going, it was going down.

He talks about housing starts and about job ads going up. These people could not hit the side of a barn, and they are claiming credit for all these stats. They cannot even get the stats right. They cannot even get their budget through, and they are claiming that in some way all these great things that are happening are because of them. That is a laugh. You would expect that they would be able to defend themselves. Here we are saying that there are all these contradictions in the way they have run budget strategy. And what do they do? They just dredge up the old talking points from when they were in opposition.

The country demands that they fix on the problems of the future and all they can do is the old talking points. They keep bringing up the old talking points.

Mr Taylor interjecting—

If you look at where growth was under us, Member for Hume, in the face of some of the worst economic conditions in 75 years, we had joblessness lower than you. People could actually pay the bills; people could actually have a pay packet. What was the answer of those opposite when they were in opposition? We should be spending less; we should do what New Zealand did. That is what their argument was. That is what the argument of the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister, was: do what New Zealand did. They had people stuck in joblessness for ages, stuck without work, seeing an economy performing less. That is what their prescription was.

This is the problem with the coalition in government now. Because all they did was oppose and they had no firm ideas of their own, they dig up the old talking points and they have not got a way for the future. They are busy creating PowerPoints; they are not busy building a budget and building a fair budget at that. That is absolutely why they stand condemned and why we expect that the next budget will just be one of cuts and chaos.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It seems that the member for Chifley is a little obsessed with what goes on in the coalition party room. Perhaps he could enlighten us on some of the PowerPoint presentations they may have had in the Labor Party—for example, Craig Thomson's PowerPoint display on how to run an efficient union; Bill Shorten's PowerPoint on how to be loyal to your leader. You could watch the reruns a couple of months later. Watching a PowerPoint display in the Labor Party would be like watching an episode of Australia's Most Wanted.

But I digress. This is a serious MPI and I thank the member for Chifley, who just left. He could have done one on how to be a snappy dresser, but we will not go there. I like blue suits. This is a serious topic. I would like in my contribution to talk about what it is like being a regional member of this place, representing a third of New South Wales, when you have a coalition government in Canberra and a coalition government in Sydney.

How about we start with infrastructure? This is the largest infrastructure spend in this country's history, having a minister for infrastructure come to your electorate and allocate funds for safety on the Newell Highway. That highway runs the backbone of New South Wales, it carries more freight than any other highway and it has been neglected for the last six years. Funding has been allocated for heavy vehicle safety programs on the Gil Gil road at Pallamallawa. The Labor Party would not know where Pallamallawa is, but I can tell you that it is an important part of regional New South Wales and residents deserve to have safe roads that can also provide road train access.

We could talk about the NBN—the NBN that promised nothing but debt under the Labor Party. But it is now delivering real services to the people of New South Wales. We could talk about mobile phones. I sat in this place in 2008 and watched the Labor Party raid the $2½ billion from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund and not for six years did we see one cent going into mobile coverage in New South Wales. Not one cent! So how about we talk about some financial responsibility and what mobile phone coverage does to the productivity of New South Wales and Australia?

We could talk about schools funding and how, under this government, schools funding to the states is going up by eight per cent, nine per cent, six per cent every year. We can talk about the BER program that still leaves one of my contractors in Moree owed $642,000 due to the mismanagement of it.

We could talk about droughts, where the member for Watson stood in here and said, 'We don' talk about drought anymore—we have dryness.' So we removed the drought policy. So now, in the worst drought in living memory in my electorate, we have had to reconstruct a drought policy, where now over 4,000 family households in farms are getting some support. We have more to do that as this drought deepens; but we were left with nothing from that side.

How about we talk about financial responsibility, with $900 cash payments? If you are wondering where the $2½ billion went from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund, in 2008, it went into $900 cash payments that led to an increase in domestic violence and record takings in some of the poker machines in the pubs in my electorate. Compare that to Work for the Dole, the Green Army, responsibility for mutual obligation for people who are receiving government funds and getting some safety into families. Talk about putting money into organisations such as Clontarf.

If we want to talk about the environment, why don't we talk about the carbon tax versus the Direct Action Plan. Pensioners in my electorate could not turn on their air conditioners and sweltered in the heat and froze in the winter, because they were scared witless about the carbon tax. Compare that to actually paying people who can reduce their emissions, something that can be measured, paid for and reduced. If the Labor Party were so insistent on helping the environment, how about they get in with us now and put some certainty around the renewable energy target, something that they actually agree with us on but will not vote for due to their political ends. There is uncertainty in the whole sector because of that. Being lectured by the Labor Party on budget responsibility is a ridiculous scenario and they should be treated with the contempt they deserve.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The only drought the electorate of Parkes has is the intellectual drought from their member. I have never before seen five minutes of such absolute rubbish—

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're a disgrace. What a disgraceful thing to say about the member for Parkes.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There he is—Geppetto himself, the little Pinocchio.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're a disgrace.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're a goose. You know why they sit you over? They don't want you near the front bench.

He did nothing for five minutes but talk rubbish. When you have a debate on economics, you usually put your lead person up. The worst thing that they could do was to put up Little Sloppy—I will call him that—the member for Kooyong. He was on the television last night saying that petrol prices had gone down because of this government. Somehow, the Abbott government, which has done nothing but break every single promise it made to the electorate, has made APEC drop their prices. But of course petrol prices have gone up 37c since Christmas.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Must have shirt-fronted them.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Must have shirt-fronted them. The 'plastic Putin' Tony Abbott has got in there and he has got APEC to lower their prices. But the member for Kooyong says the reason petrol prices are down is 'all because of us'. But now prices have gone up 37c, including the 1.7c a litre fuel tax that they put on, despite saying to the electorate before the last election, 'There will be no new taxes under this government.' Just another broken promise by a broken government that is chaotic and shambolic at the very best.

Mr Howarth interjecting—

Don't let me get stuck into you, please—the only bloke I know who thinks that he is better than the rest of the world. He got out there and talked about the Moreton rail, saying, 'It's been delivered by the coalition government.' It did not.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's rubbish.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You silly fool, it was delivered by us. We built it and we funded it, and that is why your own electorate attacked you for not telling the truth.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members could temper their language in regard to other members.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Certainly. Thank you, Acting Deputy Speaker. I am happy to do that.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Would you like to withdraw the remark 'silly fool'?

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Which one?

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Which one?

Wyatt Roy interjecting—

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Come on, back in your highchair, Bugaboo. I am happy to withdraw that remark, acting Deputy Speaker.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Would the member for McEwen just say he withdraws?

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have said I withdraw. I am more than happy to. In 2002, this Prime Minister, the Prime Minister for broken promises, promised a surplus from his government each and every year. Well, we are into the second year of this government, and guess what? They cannot even get their budget through. It is that bad that their magic pudding has gone flat. They promised to deliver a surplus and they cannot even deliver a budget. You only have to look at the opening remarks by the lead speaker for the government, whose first comments were, 'Back in 1986.'

Whenever the government talk about economics in this place, the first thing they do is go back and talk about last century. No-one has told them that we are now in the 21st century. That could explain a lot of the ideas that they bring forward all the time. Peter Costello, the man they usually bow and scrape to, described this Prime Minister perfectly when it comes to talking about economics and budgets. He said he is 'an economic illiterate'. That explains what the Prime Minister does. That is why he attacks pensions. That is why he attacks schools. That is why he attacks health.

An opposition member: And universities.

And universities. They attack them to make sure that our kids are going to paying a lot more to go to school and get a degree. But the one thing they did not do, the one thing they ran away from so quickly, scurrying like little crickets in the headlights, when there was talk about taxing multinational companies for the profits that they make here in Australia and then they offshore, was support taxing large companies. These guys, every single one of them, sat there and went quiet. But they are more than happy to rip every red cent they can off a pensioner or off a young person. That is why their budget has failed.

This is a government that sit there and say, 'Well, if you get unemployed for some reason, not your own fault'—if one of the industries that the government have been very proud to close shuts down—'you can go without unemployment benefits for six months if you are under the age of 30.' In McEwen, we have a high rate of under-35s—young people starting families and buying houses. This government say to them, 'If you lose your job, stiff'—no support, no income support, no help. But they will jump on a plane and fly down to a birthday party and sing happy birthday at the taxpayer's expense, but they will not attack multinational— (Time expired)

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the commencement, I have to say I was really disappointed to hear the very personal attacks by the member for McEwen, particularly on the member for Parkes. I am one of the few farmers in the place. I saw the disrespect and the sniggering at the member for Parkes. It was appalling. That unfortunately reflects the view that Labor have about rural and regional Australia and our farmers. As a farmer in this place I would put on record that I have enormous respect for every person who represents rural and regional Australia and for those who actually get out on the land and do the hard yards. As one of them, let me reassure you that on this side of the House we have enormous respect for what you do, and please, do not be offended by what you just heard. And as for the words 'chaos' and 'incompetence', they belong only in one place, and that is with Labor.

It is a sick joke, this MPI, just a sick joke. When Australians sit back and look at where they are at and they see that we were heading to $667 billion worth of debt, they know where the responsibility lies, irrespective of what was said on the other side. We do have a very sound budget strategy, and we are working every single day to undo the damage of six years of Labor in charge of Treasury. And Labor is a repeat offender in the place of debt and deficit. I do not know if there is anyone on that side who is still here who was around 25 years ago when the last Labor surplus was delivered—a quarter of a century, and you have the absolute gall to come into this place and talk about economic management when you have not delivered a surplus anywhere near it in over a quarter of a century. If that is not an offence—25 years—it is just dreadful.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You haven't seen a dollar you wouldn't spend.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for McEwen, after some of the comments you made I think it would be good if you did not make any further comments. I have really had enough of those sorts of comments directed to individuals and particularly those who represent farmers and rural communities.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Take it up with Costello; he's the one who said it.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And as we know, member for Griffith, this is a historic effort by you. John Howard inherited a deficit of $14 billion and a net debt of $83 billion when he came into government in 1996. Eleven years of coalition budget control turned this nation's budget position around completely and got Australia's finances back on track, so much so that the next, Labor, Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, inherited a surplus of $19.8 billion and net assets of $29 billion. And what did Labor do with that wonderful financial position?

Opposition members interjecting—

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It is one thing to have robust discussion, which I am very keen on, but to badger the other side is inappropriate.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we saw was $191 billion worth of cumulative deficits, with a further $123 billion ahead. And let's just talk about the $14 billion worth of interest each year that we now look at. That is $1.167 billion a month, $269 million per week, $38 million a day and $1.6 million an hour, and in my five minutes that is $133,000 we are borrowing to pay Labor's interest. That is exactly what we are doing. In my five minutes, for those Australians who are watching, we have to borrow from overseas $133,000 to pay for Labor's debt and deficit. There is never a better reason for us to live within our means than that one. And I would say to members opposite, when they talk about debt and deficit, that their record is so poor and will go down in infamy in the history of this nation. I would say to them as well that thanks to Labor spending over $100 million more a day than what we collect is $40 billion a year more than we are actually taking in. (Time expired)

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

At the heart of this debate on the budget is a big question, and it is a question for members opposite: when does good government begin? And there is a subsidiary question, for people who get the first answer right—and I am looking forward to any answers, really; Malcolm has one, I understand. Whatever happened to the budget emergency? Do you remember the budget emergency? Whatever happened to the budget emergency?—the key to the pre-election economic narrative but missing from or an occasional visitor to the narrative in government.

Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I didn't see that in Joe's PowerPoint.

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

No. Perhaps we may be enlightened by the next government contribution in that regard. It is really interesting that in the contributions from government members there has I think been only one comment that went to the heart of this debate, and that was when the Assistant Treasurer said, 'Look what we've done in 18 months.' Thank you Assistant Treasurer! I am not sure, if it was on the PowerPoint, whether it was upside down in the graphs or not, but you have made so eloquently and so succinctly the point that Labor members have been setting out through this debate: we are asking—in fact, we are saying—look what you have done in 18 months. What an extraordinary contribution! This government in 18 months has made one very significant contribution. It has delivered more leadership challenges than past budgets. It is extraordinary. McMahon would be proud.

Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He would be relieved.

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

The member for Gellibrand hits the nail on the head. Eleven months on—

Government members interjecting—

We are very happy to talk about leadership—39 votes for a blank space. That is another succinct statement on the quality of this government and its economic agenda. Eleven months on from last month's budget, one thing is clear: the budget is in a worse position than when this government came to power. And I am indebted, like my friend the member for Chifley, to the Australian Financial Review and a terrific comment piece by Laura Tingle, who said:

We are being governed by fools and it is not funny.

This is a piece worth reading in detail, but perhaps I will just go to what I think is the critical comment. When she goes through the shocking deterioration in the budget positioning and the series of humiliating backflips this government has had to endure, she comes to this point:

… the government's utter failure to prosecute either the policy arguments or political strategies to get voters to countenance its signature policies, is a responsibility that rests squarely with the government of the day.

And that is the proposition that this debate seeks to illuminate. And what light has been shed on it by government members? The chaos that is at the heart of the government, the chaos that no doubt was at the core of the Treasurer's PowerPoint presentation to the party room, the chaos that is the Prime Minister's ever utterance on matters of economic policy is something that is not shared only by the members of the executive of this government; it clearly goes right through the members of it. The shadow Treasurer, on the other hand, set out very clearly the consequences and costs of this incompetence—the two sets of costs. We know here, from the people we represent, the direct costs of this failure. We see the victims of austerity, the victims of the cuts—the sick, those on fixed incomes and students, who are Australia's future. We should also focus in this debate on the indirect costs, the costs to the wider economy of keeping unemployment at unrealistic, unnecessary and tragically high levels, particularly for young people.

This chaos, this confusion which carries such severe consequences, was there at the start. We on this side know that this government came into power talking down the Australian economy at home while talking it up abroad. The Treasurer went to London to deliver a keynote speech attacking 'the age of entitlement'. He set out his agenda for austerity overseas because he knew it would not be accepted at home. Perhaps there is an intuitive understanding among government members that it is not just the incompetence of their economic agenda but its unacceptable nature that means they are incapable of prosecuting this agenda. Five minutes is not nearly enough to canvass the litany of sins from the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Minister for Communications and all government members which has led to this incompetent, chaotic approach to economic management. But I go back to where I began: when does good government start? (Time expired)

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I commence I would like to congratulate the parliamentary secretary at the table, who was honoured today by the Institution of Engineers. There will actually be a tree planted here in Canberra for those in the House of Representatives and those in the Senate who are former engineers. I congratulate the parliamentary secretary.

I had the great misfortune to sit through the contribution from the member for McMahon. As much as I hate to admit it, there is something on which we agree, and that is that small business is incredibly important to employment in Australia. It is the backbone of employment in my state of Queensland. Over 90 per cent of all employment in Queensland is through small business. It is incredibly important. As someone who actually came from 'the world' before I came in here—I owned a small business, employed people and paid bills; I had a consulting firm, a training business and a farm—I can tell you that the destroyers of small business are those opposite. The federal Labor Party and the state Labor Party—it does not matter which one—destroy employment in small business. When they brought in the carbon tax, the mining tax, the red tape, the deal with the Greens, my business, which used to average over 65 miners trained every month, went from 65 to three in a week. They absolutely destroyed the mining industry in Queensland. There are over 10,000 of these people, skilled and trained, sitting around at home with no work because of the deal that was done between those opposite and the Greens. They are the great destroyers of industry in this country. It is absolutely unacceptable.

And what have we got now? Unfortunately in Queensland we now have a Labor state government. And what have they announced? Two days before the election, in a very sneaky press release, they announced that they would close all of the net fishing areas in Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. There are only 220 net fishing licences left in Queensland. These are the hardworking people of Australia. They go out and do their job. They know how to manage their catch and they have been doing it for generations. What is the solution of state Labor? They will close the lot! If you live in Queensland and you want to eat fresh fish, that is very unfortunate because you will not be able to access it. My electorate is a very low socioeconomic area and I represent a lot of people who are actually poor. If you want to eat healthy in Queensland you eat fish. What sort of fish do you eat? I am sure that the shadow minister for agriculture would know. You eat mullet. How do you get mullet? Mullet is the cheapest fish available because it is plentiful and it replenishes very quickly. But it comes from net fishermen. If it is not available, people will eat imported product—in particular, from Vietnam. It is an absolute disgrace for the member for McMahon to come in here and talk about small business. It is quite incredible.

The member for McEwen, who has just left the chamber, talked about fuel prices. Well, I can tell you that the Minister for Small Business stood up and got the ACCC to investigate fuel pricing after complaints from me and a number of other regional members because when the wholesale price of oil fell substantially to under $50 a barrel we were very concerned that the price in the regions would not drop proportionately, which it did not. In the city it got to under $1. I am sure that those members here who live in the city were quite appreciative of the price of 99c for a litre of petrol. However, in the regions we were still paying $1.30, $1.40 or $1.50. It was quite incredible. Imagine my surprise when the report was completed and, lo and behold, it turned out that we were paying more for petrol than the others. The proportional drop in regional centres was not as much as it should have been. There was a difference of greater than 10c. I knew people were being robbed. I am sure the member for Riverina knew they were being robbed. The ACCC knew they were being robbed. Everybody now knows they were being robbed. As a result, guess what has happened? I filled my car up with diesel last week. Once again, imagine my surprise to find that, for the first time in many years, the price of retail diesel in regional Australia is less than the price of unleaded petrol. It was an absolute surprise to me because it has been a long way up. So we are taking action and we have made a difference on fuel prices, particularly in the regions. But what have those opposite done? All they have done is left us with hand grenades, booby traps and hollow logs—and they have back-ended the budget. We will get a bill. Everybody has a bill—a bill from Bill Shorten. It is absolutely stunning to me that that is the case.

To wrap up I will borrow something from the Queensland Treasurer, Tim Nicholls. We all recall the world's greatest Treasurer, the member for Lilley. Bruce Springsteen was his economic idol! Unfortunately 'The Boss', in the Queensland media, cautioned Mr Swan against relying too heavily on him, saying he was not too good with his own money. And the former Queensland Treasurer said, 'While the member for Lilley might think he was born to run, the truth is the was blinded by the light and he and his leaders Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd were simply dancing in the dark!'

Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is no wonder that the government's approach to this year's budget is chaotic, when you consider that last year's budget remains unsolved, the government's leadership remains unresolved and the government's policy agenda has consisted of nothing but the ideological destruction of forward-looking and necessary Labor reforms. The government's short-term ideas have been unacceptable to the Australian community and it does not seem to have a plan for the long term. Money has poured out in tax relief to big business, to be made up by harsh cuts to the most vulnerable—pensioners, the unemployed, students, low-income families and the poorest people in our region.

The deepest cuts of all have been made to Australia's international aid budget—some $11 billion—reducing our overseas development assistance to its lowest proportion of GNI in 40 years. The foreign minister has presided over the dissolution of AusAID and the decimation of Australia's aid budget. Make no mistake: this will mean more people living in desperate poverty; it will mean fewer lives saved; and it will mean less economic development and greater regional instability. For a government that is obsessed with appearing tough on terrorism and refugees, it would appear counterproductive in the extreme to be gutting Australia's world-renowned aid program which has worked to address some of the root causes—namely, disadvantage, discrimination and despair.

As if further evidence were required that this government just does not understand the concepts of fairness or social justice, we now learn that this government, which claims to care about ending family violence, is cutting funding around the country to community legal centres and emergency services for women and children fleeing family violence. This government, led by the self-described Prime Minister for Indigenous affairs, is cutting $500 million from Indigenous services, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, or ATSILS, and the peak body, NATSILS, as well as legal aid. The Abbott government's withdrawal of funding for remote Aboriginal communities—who are, after all, according to the Prime Minister, only maintaining a lifestyle choice—has led the WA government to propose the closure of something like 150 communities in WA. Again, it is hard to think of a more damaging cut to the fabric of fairness and justice in this country than to take away community services and legal advice from those who cannot afford to pay for it, especially when Indigenous Australians are massively overrepresented in the criminal justice system, and to force the removal of Aboriginal people from their traditional lands. Way to close the gap, Prime Minister!

This is the 'infrastructure Prime Minister' who does not believe in trains, Australian manufacturing or the renewable energy sector, who thinks that climate change is 'crap' and whose government has sacked 1,200 CSIRO scientists and threatened the jobs of 1,700 more researchers in order to bully its way towards a deregulated university system where degrees could cost $100,000 and young people's opportunities are dictated by their family's wealth. This is a government that has signed a uranium sale treaty with India that significantly lowers nuclear safeguards and is negotiating free-trade agreements in the Trans-Pacific Partnership that will put Australian jobs at risk and threaten our sovereignty. This is a government that is dramatically expanding live export markets into places that do not respect human rights let alone animal welfare and is doing so in the face of gross violations of animal welfare standards that continue to go unchecked and unpunished.

We all remember the Prime Minister saying before the election that there will be no cuts to health or education, pensions, the ABC or SBS. But, apparently, broken promises do not matter when this Prime Minister and this Treasurer do it. In any case, if you are going to keep helping your mates at the big end of town with tax breaks and by ending the mining tax and the carbon price, and if you want to keep torturing refugees in expensive offshore detention centres, you have to get the money from somewhere, right?

Tony Abbott may or may not survive as Prime Minister but, in any case, these policies belong to all of the members of the so-called Liberal Party. Whoever is their leader, we need to look at their policies and their budget priorities. Do they still intend to ignore the existential crisis of global warming? Are they still trying to dismantle the world's largest network of marine sanctuaries established by the former Labor government? Are they still banging the drum of national security and border protection as a cover to deny accountability in government, to persecute vulnerable people and to take away more of our rights and freedoms? Will public health and education, science, the ABC and SBS, pensioners, students, the unemployed, low-income earners, people with disabilities, Indigenous Australians, refugees, the global poor, people with mental health issues, animal welfare, respect for the UN and the environment—these important issues—remain expendable under this government?Those are the important questions. Unfortunately, with this chaotic and dishonest government, we are unlikely to get any reliable answers.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege today to talk about this MPI. I do reject the opposition's assertions that are part of this MPI. I did note and listen to what the member for Fremantle had to say, and I appreciate her passion for what she believes in. I, too, want to see foreign aid increase in the future. But I would say to the member for Fremantle that you cannot run a foreign aid budget on the credit card—you really cannot.. Unfortunately, the opposition are not supporting the $5 billion worth of budget saving measures that they took to the last election. I call upon the member for Fremantle and others to talk to their leader and to talk to their frontbench and ask them to support that. Quite frankly, foreign aid is one of the few areas that this government can reduce without going through the Senate. If you had supported the $5 billion that you promised, as well as other things, then we would not have to look at foreign aid. On that, though, foreign aid is being spent extremely well. We are making sure that we are getting good value for money with our foreign aid.

This government has a plan to return to surplus. We really do have a plan to return to surplus, and we are not going to abandon that plan. We believe it is important to return to surplus. We know that households cannot continually spend more than what they earn. They cannot continue to rack up bills on the credit card. The people in the gallery cannot continue to spend more than what they earn every year. I say to the students looking down from the gallery today—how are you going, guys?—when you grow up and get a part-time job or are working full-time, you cannot spend more than what you earn day in and day out. But, federally, this is what the Australian government has done for the last seven years—the last 12 months under our government and the last six years under Labor. What I am saying to you, as young people, and to those other people in the gallery today, is that we are committed to returning to surplus. We believe it is important.

I notice the member for Fairfax is here today. He is a very well-known figure in Australia and a very competent businessman. Member for Fairfax and others, I really believe it is important that we return to surplus. I know that our GDP is lower than other countries—and the member for Fairfax has written to me on this. I do know that. But, just because every other country, and those in Europe, have a much higher debt level, does that mean that Australia should do that as well? I say no. I say that we do need to return to surplus, and I believe that. Let us look at what Labor Treasurers have had to say. What do former Labor Treasurers have to say about returning the budget to surplus? Wayne Swan said in 2011:

It's important we bring the Budget back to the black in 2012-13 when we said we would because we've got this strength in the economy coming down the track and we don't want to exacerbate price pressures in the economy during that period.

In May 2011 he also said:

Making savings is important because we bring the Budget back to surplus in 2012-13, build surpluses after that and in so doing that we make sure we don't add cost of living pressures on Australian families.

He also said in 2012 that the budget's return to surplus is helping deliver. Well, we never actually got back to surplus. The member for McMahon said in 2012:

… the surplus and our fiscal management has been important in putting downward pressure on interest rates.

He also said in 2012:

The Government needed to make responsible spending cuts to put downward pressure on inflation and therefore interest rates.

I say to the Labor Party: your former Treasurers believe it is important to come back to surplus. We do. We know the Australian public wants us to be bipartisan and work together on different issues, and I would ask members opposite to support some of our budget savings. It is important because if you get back into government or we are in government it is important to make sure that we can return to surplus for the children and the people up there in the gallery and for all Australians.

We have delivered a lot in that last 18 months. The member for McMahon mentioned youth unemployment, and I am concerned about that too. We have 83 per cent youth unemployment in Petrie and 17 per cent unemployment. We have got the Green Army happening. We have the Army gap year. We have got the Colombo Plan. The member for Wentworth is rolling out the NBN, which is creating more jobs, particularly with the downturn of the mining boom, and we are making sure, most importantly that we are getting good value for taxpayers.

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

The discussion is now concluded.