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

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Maribyrnong from moving the following motion forthwith:

That the House:

(1)notes the Prime Minister:

(a)has today introduced cuts to family payments which will mean over a million families will be worse off;

(b)is hurting Australian families with his cuts to family payments and paid parental leave to give a $50 billion handout to big businesses, including the big banks;

(c)is punishing some of the most vulnerable people in Australia, including pensioners and carers, with his robo-debt mess; and

(2)therefore, condemns the Prime Minister for being:

(a)so out of touch that his hopelessly divided Government punishes families, pensioners, carers and new mums while giving a $50 billion handout to big businesses;

(b)unable to explain how cutting $2.7 billion in family payments leaves families better off; and

(c)so distracted by the chaos within his Government that he's only focused on looking after himself and not Australian families.

Leave is not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Maribyrnong from moving the following motion forthwith:

That the House:

(1)notes the Prime Minister:

(a)has today introduced cuts to family payments which will mean over a million families will be worse off;

(b)is hurting Australian families with his cuts to family payments and paid parental leave to give a $50 billion handout to big businesses, including the big banks;

(c)is punishing some of the most vulnerable people in Australia, including pensioners and carers, with his robo-debt mess; and

(2)therefore, condemns the Prime Minister for being:

(a)so out of touch that his hopelessly divided Government punishes families, pensioners, carers and new mums while giving a $50 billion handout to big businesses;

(b)unable to explain how cutting $2.7 billion in family payments leaves families better off; and

(c)so distracted by the chaos within his Government that he's only focused on looking after himself and not Australian families.

Mr 'Harbourside Mansion' is attacking the standard of living of over a million Australian families. The story of these cuts today is that the Prime Minister is taking $2.7 billion from Australian families and yet he proposes giving $7.4 billion to big banks in tax giveaways. This Prime Minister is seriously the most out-of-touch personality to ever hold this great office of Prime Minister: tough on pensioners, soft on banks; tax cuts for millionaires and payment cuts for Australian families. This is another version of the Liberal-National version of robbing Peter to pay Paul—

Mr Joyce interjecting—

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister will cease interjecting. The Leader of the House will cease interjecting. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

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

We asked the Prime Minister not once but several times today: would he spell out exactly how many Australian families will see a reduction in their family payment? How many Australian families? And this slippery fellow, currently in the position of Prime Minister spoke, about the childcare changes. He deliberately understands and chose to ignore and mistreat question time and not tell the Australian people the truth. He knows our question is that, on one hand, in order to pay for some childcare changes, he is reducing the payments to over one million Australian families.

Mr Porter interjecting—

We hear the Minister for Social Services interjecting. If you were doing your day job properly, Sunshine, we would not be seeing these cuts to family payments.

The key to the dishonesty of this government—and including all of the members of it—of today's legislation is they want to stand there and pat themselves on the back. They want a bunch of flowers, probably give themselves the afternoon off, because they say, 'Look at us. We're proposing some legislative change in child care.' But the proof is in the numbers. They are reducing what they pay to Australian families by $2.7 billion over the next four years. It is in black and white in their explanatory memorandum.

Here we have the Prime Minister saying, 'Look over here at what we're doing at child care.' But what they seem to forget is that after kids go to child care, they go to school. When they go to school, there are costs and family payments. Then we had the Minister for Social Services get up and say, 'Because Labor has previously supported some means testing, therefore they have got a blank cheque to rob a million Australian families.' No, you don't. And I thought: where have I heard this proposal from the government before? The 2014 budget. You rolled the poor old member for Warringah but now you are actually in a new camouflage and a new suit selling the same rotten changes for the Australian people.

At least the member for Warringah said it for what it was. This fellow here will say and do anything to keep his job—a $50 billion tax giveaway for multinationals and large companies. You can tell a government not just by the personality but by the priorities of their policies. And the Australian people are onto you: $50 billion principally going, a tax ram raid on the budget to large companies. That is their great economic plan. They do not talk about the old Trans-Pacific Partnership anymore—that lasted less time than your proposal to increase the GST. Their economic plan is a $50 billion corporate tax cut and your other plan is to make that be paid for by going after Australian families. We draw a line in the sand on this $2.7 billion cut to family payments. We are not buying it, and the Australian people are not buying it.

This is a government who did not have a great summer—they lost their health minister, they did the robocalls on the Centrelink recipients. We heard about Mr Heynatz up in the seat of Rankin. We heard about the question from our shadow minister for social security. These are real people. This Prime Minister says the opposition is not asking questions about important issues. We are focusing on the people. We are focusing on the pensioners. We are focusing on standing up for those on Centrelink. In Labor, we do not think that every Centrelink recipient is automatically, default a cheat. We do not treat our fellow Australians as someone deserving of having a clumsy system mail-out.

Then today we see the legislation on family payments. This government have proposed, in their legislation today, cuts not just to families of school-age children but to pensioners. Of course over the summer some bright spark in the government thought up the idea that they should spy on our veterans to see if they really have PTSD by monitoring their social media. I thought those opposite had had a bad summer—and we will not even go near the donations debacle of the biggest donation in history—but do you know what? It has been looking like a summer of joy in the last 48 hours. Not only have we given up on the government; their South Australian senator has given up on the government.

We will keep fighting to defend family payments. We will keep fighting to expose the charade of this government's position. At the heart of this government's position is the following proposition: they say on one hand, 'Look at us; aren't we good? We are doing some things in child care,' but on the other hand, all through this question time, they have not answered the question: 'How many Australian families are having a reduction in their payments?' I tell you what, my respect for you might go up an inch or two, Mr Prime Minister, if you would come to the dispatch box and spell out how many Australian families of school-age children are losing or seeing reductions in their family payments? You have ducked and you have weaved over that question all through question time, but no matter how often you duck and weave, no matter how often you hide from it, we will get that number out of you. We will speak up for Australian families.

This is a very divided government. Their only plan for the Australian economy is to kill the confidence of Australian families. They treat people on the pension as somehow second class. They treat people on Centrelink as somehow second class. I actually thought, in the first three question times of this week, the beleaguered Minister for Human Services would have enough self-respect when asked a question about Centrelink to get up and say, 'I'm sorry; we got it wrong.' Just a bit of humility would go a very long way, but that is not the trademark of this government.

Mr Sukkar interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin is warned!

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

We will fight for family payments. This Prime Minister is not just out of touch. With today's legislation he shows he is out of ideas and he is rapidly running out of time, and his own party knows it.

The difference is: every time this Prime Minister sees an issue, he turns it into politics about Labor. We say to the Prime Minister today: if you want to take a step forward in terms of Australian politics, if you want to take a step forward in terms of your own approval and what Australians think of your government, focus on what matters. The Labor Party is focused on what matters to Australians. We will stand up for Australian jobs. We will do something about reforming the visa system. We will stand up for Australian apprenticeships. We will make sure that we have proper, needs based funding in our schools. If you want to find some money in the budget, what we think you should do, rather than reaching down into the pockets of over one million Australian families of school-age children, is reform negative gearing, reform the capital gains tax deduction system. Do not pass on $50 billion in corporate tax cuts. If you want to find some money, go after some of the top end of town rather than going after everyone else.

The Prime Minister does not have a plan for Medicare. His only plan for Medicare is to change the salesman. That does not fill people with confidence. He also does not have a plan for housing affordability, does he? This fellow is so out of touch that his only advice to Australians is: 'Get rich parents.' That is not a housing affordability policy. We stand for Australian families. We do not support the cuts. We will back Medicare. We will make sure that housing affordability is a reality in this country.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

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

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have just heard from that great sycophant of billionaires, the Leader of the Opposition. All the lectures he is trying to run are politics of envy. When he was a regular dinner guest at Raheen—always there with Dick Pratt, sucking up to Dick Pratt—did he knock back the Cristal? I do not think so. There was never a union leader in Melbourne that tucked his knees under more billionaires' tables than the Leader of the Opposition. He lapped it up—oh yes, he lapped it up! He was a social-climbing sycophant if ever there was one. There has never been a more sycophantic leader of the Labor Party than this one, and he comes here and poses as a tribune of the people. Harbourside mansions—he is yearning for one. He is yearning to get into Kirribilli House. Do you know why? Because somebody else pays for it: just like he loved knocking back Dick Pratt's Cristal; just as he looked forward to living in luxury at the expense of the taxpayer.

This man is a parasite. He has no respect for the taxpayer. He has no more respect for the taxpayer than he has respect for the members of the Australian Workers Union he betrayed again and again. He sold them out. Some of the lowest paid workers in Australia, cleaners working at Cleanevent—he sold out their penalty rates. And what did they get? They got nothing. But what did the union get? Cash, money, payments. He sold them out in return for a payment to the union. That is what he did when he was their representative. What does he do now as Leader of the Opposition? He is selling out the jobs of Australian workers every day he perseveres with his ludicrous policies on energy, which will have the result of further unsustainable increases in the cost of electricity.

I think I have seen more members of the AWU lately than he has—I saw them at Portland Aluminium—and they know that their jobs depend on affordable electricity. They know, with the closure of Hazelwood and the crazy policies of the Victorian Labor government, supported by the policies of the Leader of the Opposition, that their livelihoods are at risk.

And where is the champion of the AWU now? He is here in Canberra selling them out, just like he sold out the workers at Clean Event. He has no interest in standing up for those workers. I was also at Viridian glass. There are also members of the Australian Workers' Union there. Viridian's biggest and most volatile cost element is the cost of energy, the cost of gas. It is becoming unaffordable. They moved their plant from New South Wales to Victoria and closed their plant in New South Wales because energy was too expensive. They consolidated in Victoria, and now, thanks to the Labor Party's ideologically driven energy policies, that too is put at risk.

That is the reality. That is the front line where members of the Australian Workers' Union and many other unions find themselves today. The Labor Party cannot keep living in a parallel universe where you can preach ideological energy policies without any regard to how you are going to deliver reliable, affordable energy and, yes, meet your emission reduction targets—but meet the responsible ones we entered into in Paris, not just doubling them for no return from any other country. This is ideology. They call themselves the Labor Party. Well, 'manual labour' is a Mexican bandit as far as they are concerned. Most of them have never done a day's work in their lives. I am old enough to remember when the Labor Party's benches were filled with union officials who had actually worked. Nowadays, look at the serried ranks of apparatchiks and political hacks who are totally out of touch with the men and women they claim to represent.

This social-climbing sycophant, this would-be tribune of the people, complains about cuts to company tax. Well, let me tell you, it is pretty straightforward: if you want more investment—and we do—

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton is warned.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

then you want to increase your return on investment; you want to lower company tax. That has been the consistent policy of governments of both political persuasions for many years. In terms of consistency, let's have a look at what the Leader of the Opposition used to say about it. In 2012, he said right here:

As Australia is buffeted by economic events overseas, we understand that lowering corporate tax assists the creation of jobs.

And the social climber, warming to the occasion, went on to say:

What can be more important in this country than the creation of jobs?

I reckon he probably talked about that with Dick Pratt and Solly Lew and Lindsay Fox and all the other billionaires he likes to suck up to in Melbourne on their corporate jets. Or did he give them a blast, the good attack on the rich: down with anyone who has got a quid? Did he give them that? I do not think so. No, I think he just sucked up to them. I think he says one thing here and another thing in the comfortable lounge rooms of Melbourne. I think we all know that.

Then, the year before, on company tax—he is quite an authority on it—he said:

Cutting the company income tax rate increases domestic productivity and domestic investment. More capital means higher productivity and economic growth and leads to more jobs and higher wages.

When he said that, I reckon Dick probably broke out in an extra bottle of Cristal, wouldn't you say? They all would have been very pleased to hear that. They would have said, 'You know, he's not like some of those other Labor people. He's really one of us. He's really on side.' But now, of course, he is a wholly-owned subsidiary of some very left-wing unions. He has shifted, and he will say whatever suits his purpose from day to day. There is no consistency, no integrity.

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton has been warned.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is a simpering sycophant, blowing hard in the House of Representatives, sucking hard in the living rooms of Melbourne. What a hypocrite!

Going on with company tax, in 2012 he said: 'Any student of Australian business and economic history since the mid-eighties'—so that would include Dr Leigh, I reckon—'knows part of Australia's success was derived through the reduction in the company tax rate.' That is what did it! The billionaires of Melbourne would lap that up. They would love that. 'We need to be able to make life easier for Australian business, which employs two in three Australians.' It is actually more than that. More like four out of every five Australians are employed in the private sector, and they are the businesses, large and small, that need to invest, and the more they invest the more they employ. It is pretty simple. He was right then. He was right in 2011 and 2012, but now the sycophant, this sucker-up in Melbourne, is wrong. He was the billionaire's friend then, but now he is the great radical tribune, the great radical advocate of the people. Give me a break!

This bloke has no consistency, no integrity. He cannot be believed. He says he is against 457 visas. He knows more about 457 visas than anyone. He is the Olympic champion. He expanded the categories dramatically. He opened wide the door, following on from his triumph of selling out the workers at Clean Event and selling out the members of his own union in return for a backhander paid to the union. He then opened the doors as wide as he could. He also wants to talk about political donations. Let me say this: just remember it took seven years in a royal commission for him to disclose a $40,000 political donation. The Labor Party cannot be trusted with economic management. It cannot be trusted with jobs. It cannot be trusted to deliver the opportunity and the security Australian families deserve. (Time expired)

Government members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my right! The member for Reid is warned. I am trying to address the House. The question is that the motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition be agreed to.

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

What an extraordinarily angry rant from someone who is supposed to be a Prime Minister standing up for Australian families. Let's look at what this Prime Minister did not say in the whole 10 minutes that he had to speak about Australian families. This Prime Minister was supposed to get up and actually defend what this government is doing to Australian families. One million Australian families are going to see their family tax benefits cut as a result of the legislation that was introduced to the parliament by this government today. One million Australian families are going to see their payments cut.

Mr Joyce interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister is now warned.

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

Let's look at what that means for real families—for people like Kelly, who I spoke about in question time today and who, of course, the Prime Minister completely ignored, and all the other families who were writing to and ringing our offices this morning, saying to us, 'Please do everything you possibly can.' These cuts to a family like Kelly's are going to mean that she will be $1,000 worse off. That is what Kelly said to me this morning. That is what is going to happen to Kelly's family. But this Prime Minister—this very, very angry Prime Minister, who is so worried about the fellow up the back—is auditioning for the challenge that is going to come from the bloke up the back, when what he should be doing is standing up for the needs of Australian families. What Australian families know is that this Prime Minister is going to leave families like Kelly's $1,000 worse off each and every year. And each and every one of you are just going to be like little sheep, following this Prime Minister and voting for these cuts to benefits for families in your electorates, and those families are going to make sure you know about it.

Of course, this legislation is not just about families. This legislation that was introduced to the parliament this morning is also going to cut the energy supplement—in fact, it will abolish the energy supplement. This will mean that pensioners, carers, people with disability and people on Newstart—all of those people—will lose hundreds of dollars because of the cuts of this government to all of those people. That is exactly what this government is going to do.

What do the government want these cuts for? Why are they cutting family payments? Why are they abolishing the clean energy supplement? Because they want to give $50 billion to the richest companies in Australia. So pensioners, people with disability, carers, unemployed people, young people, new mums and families—all of those people—are going to face cuts, or, as the Minister for Social Services likes to call it, repurposing. They are going to see all of this money repurposed, which is actually a cut to family tax benefits that will see thousands and thousands of people worse off. I say to this Prime Minister after his extraordinarily angry rant today: I would take the Leader of the Opposition's defence of working people ahead of yours any day.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has concluded. The question is that the motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition be agreed to.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.