Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister agree with the Minister for Social Services that mums who get more than 18 weeks paid leave at home with their new babies are 'rorters'? Or does he agree with his Treasurer, who believes they are committing fraud?

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

The premise of the question is simply false. I have seen too many members of the Labor Party verbal members of the coalition to accept that.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

There will be silence on both sides. The member for Jagajaga on a point of order?

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to table two documents: one is Minister Morrison saying that they are rorters; the other is the Treasurer saying they are fraudsters.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, leave is not granted.

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

The answer is no. Has the Prime Minister—

Mr Albanese interjecting—

The member for Grayndler is warned. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is a government which wants to ensure that the parents of Australia, in particular the women of Australia, have maximum choice. That is what we want to ensure. And that is why we want to support a paid parental leave scheme. We also want to ensure that there is a better childcare system, a system which is more flexible, more accessible, more affordable and, above all else, simpler. That is what we want to do. And it has to be fair, because the hallmark of this budget is fairness. It is a budget that is measured and responsible but above all else it is fair.

I am sure the member who asked the question is very committed to a good paid parental leave scheme, because, with my support, she helped to introduce a paid parental leave scheme.

But what the member who asked the question supports now is double-dipping—that is what she supports.

Ms King interjecting—

Ms Collins interjecting—

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

The member for Ballarat and the member for Franklin!

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

Public servants in this town, public servants right around the country have access to generous taxpayer supported paid parental leave through their employers, and the member who asked the question wants them to double dip on the taxpayer. I want to see a decent and fair paid parental leave system and I want to know why members opposite think that there should be double-dipping on the taxpayer. It is not right, it should not happen and it will not happen under this government.

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

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Will the Deputy Prime Minister outline how the 2015 budget will deliver the infrastructure Australia needs for the future.

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

In last year's budget, the government announced a $50-billion plan to build the infrastructure that Australia needs for the next century, and this budget delivers the second instalment in that program with funding for road projects right across the nation already creating tens of thousand of jobs, building the kinds of projects we will need to move traffic around our cities, increasing the economic capacity of our freight routes and building safer roads. Projects like WestConnex, NorthConnex, Gateway North, South Road, the Perth Freight Link project are all major projects that are making a real difference in our capital cities—all of our capital cities except Melbourne, where the Victorian government have decided they do not want to build the biggest road project in this state. They ripped up the contract and have got nothing to put in its place. But in other states, we are getting on with the job of building the roads for the 21st century. One of the most exciting announcements—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

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

This will not be a genuine point of order, Madam Speaker. Sit him down.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member asked a question about the 2015 budget.

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

What is the point of order?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In order to be relevant, the minister has to refer to something new that was in the—

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

There is no point of order. The member will resume his seat. The Deputy Prime Minister has the call.

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

It is all about the 2015 budget. The exciting thing about the 2015 budget is that it provides all of the funding that is going to be necessary to complete the four-laning of the Pacific Highway between Brisbane and Sydney. All of the money is provided in this budget. That is a project that would not have been completed for another decade if Labor had been in office. Because they were not providing the funding that was necessary, the project would have stalled. The Pacific Highway is now on schedule for completion by 2019 to deliver the kind of standard of highway that Northern New South Wales needs.

And there are a number of other significant projects that get a great boost in this budget. For the Toowoomba Range second crossing, over $300 million is provided in this budget to get that project, at long last, underway. It was a project that Labor always opposed and never provided any support for that is at last getting underway and that will make a huge difference to the people of Southern Queensland.

On the Bruce Highway, there is another $500 million to start section C on the Cooroy to Curra section, a project that Labor never provided any funding towards. So we are getting on with the job. Also the Roads to Recovery program, the work on the regional highways and getting rid of the black spots will all make a difference to regional Australia and to our nation as a whole. (Time expired)