Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Liberals are bandying about their campaign slogan to cut wasteful spending, but they're not committing to cutting any of the investments we've made in early childhood education, TAFE or Medicare—the bulk-billing urgent care clinics, for example—because we know all their cuts are secret. They're not actually prepared to tell the constituents exactly what they intend to cut. All that leads me to believe that when they say, 'Labor, please cut wasteful spending,' the way to do that is to get on with cutting the wasteful spending that was the legacy we were left with by the LNP. Three years sometimes feels like a long time, but at other times it seems short. I want to remind the voters of Hasluck of the debacle that the LNP government left us. The Leader of the Opposition, the member for Dickson, was a member of that government throughout, and he held decision-making roles that led to absolutely outrageous and questionable spending of taxpayer funds.

Let's start with one of the most famous examples of all: robodebt. They spent more than half a billion dollars of taxpayer money—$606 million, to be precise—on their robodebt program. Robodebt, to the eternal shame of all who supported it—and that's the entire coalition, the Liberals and the Nationals, led by politicians like the member for Dickson, who thought it was a great idea—gutted people's lives. When the full extent of the damage done was revealed, it was the Australian people who paid for the coalition's mistakes. In June 2021, the Federal Court approved a $1.872 billion dollar settlement for the victims of robodebt, incorporating repayment and legal costs—wasteful spending indeed.

We have cut the wasteful spending on consultants like the ones that then minister Dutton subcontracted KPMG to investigate. But he didn't investigate Paladin, the company that went on to secure a $500 million tender after one week of preparation—less than a week, in fact; that's how supposedly great they were. No, he contracted KPMG to investigate Paladin Solutions, a completely different and unrelated company that had nothing to do with Paladin Holdings. The opposition leader's response was that he noted these auditing and procurement failures at the time, but did nothing to address them. He walked away from all accountability. What did that mean? What did that wasteful spending on that subcontracting tender to KPMG lead to? It led to the Australian taxpayers bankrolling a beach shack on Kangaroo Island which had just $50,000 in capital to its name. As I say, Paladin prepared their bid in less than a week, but they secured contract worth half a billion dollars from the then minister, Peter Dutton. There's nothing fishy here apparently.

Yet, soon after winning that contract, the LNP's spending gave Paladin a tidy $1.3 million profit per week, all while Paladin was under investigation by the AFP over bribery allegations involving PNG officials. They breached their key performance indicators thousands of times during their first year of operations. What was the then minister Dutton's response? 'Let's renew their contract a few more times.' Wasteful spending indeed! The Labor government is cutting that wasteful spending. The then minister Dutton presided over Home Affairs from 2017 to 2021, and in 2022 the Nauru offshore processing contracts cost the taxpayers $485 million despite there being just 22 refugees and asylum seekers there.

Should we start talking about the $80 million Watergate for Angus Taylor's company that went to the Cayman Islands?

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Should we talk about the $600,000 drought report that the member for his seat—Barnaby Joyce—when he was then minister for agriculture—

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Hasluck, please use people's titles.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sending a text message—that was the value that taxpayers got for $600,000, leaving farmers absolutely unprepared for the next drought. We know what wasteful spending looks like, and we are cutting wasteful spending.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll just remind the chamber that all members must use the correct titles if they are referring to other members of parliament in here, not their names.