Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take on board the interjection from my own side. Unfortunately for Senator Mason and the Liberal Party, this matter of public importance highlights the sheer elitism and born-to-rule mentality of those opposite. Senator Mason and the Liberal Party have learnt absolutely nothing from the last 12 months. They fail to understand why they lost the last election. They fail to understand why the voters of this country threw them out of office. In fact, they believe the voters got it wrong. They believe that somehow the voters were conned. They think that they were fantastic managers and deserved another go. Until they understand the reasons for their defeat, they will never be able to go forward. You need to learn from history to be able to move forward into the future.

The Liberal Party’s 12 years of government can, I think, best be described as 12 years of missed opportunities, broken promises and neglect. During the Howard government’s 12 years, Australia experienced a once-in-a-lifetime mining boom. It was a time of global prosperity. It is in these times of prosperity that you must build a nation. It is in these times that you can add to the productive foundations of a country to move forward into the future. Let us look at the Howard government’s record. During this time of global growth—during this time of mining royalties—they neglected education. Education investment in this country was the second lowest in the OECD. Between 1995 and 2004, public funding of tertiary education increased by an average of 49 per cent across the OECD but declined by four per cent in Australia. They neglected our health system. Investment in health by the federal Liberal Party fell by five per cent in real terms.

They neglected infrastructure—and you do not have to ask us; ask BHP. Ask BHP Chairman Don Argus, who claimed that Australia’s infrastructure capital stock to GDP ratio fell by a whopping 10 per cent over the past 12 years. They neglected climate change. They failed to ratify the Kyoto protocol, they failed to take any action on renewables and they failed to put in place a plan for an emissions trading scheme, which left us as international pariahs on the issue. They neglected inflation. This country and this government were left with the highest inflation rate in 16 years. What did that mean for working families? What did that mean for people with a mortgage? It meant high interest rates. There were 10 straight interest rate rises under those opposite. This country had the second highest interest rates in the OECD. That is your legacy.

In terms of industrial relations, we are not talking about neglect but absolute contempt. What did those opposite do to help workers and working families? They gave them Work Choices and AWAs, which stripped away working conditions of ordinary Australians. That is their legacy of their 12 years. We have had only 12 months in government and when we came to government we said we were going to be preparing Australia for the future. We said that we were here to modernise the country to face future challenges, and that is what we have been doing for the past 12 months.

Some people criticise the Prime Minister for his high work rate and the amount of time he spends at work. I think that is one of the great assets that this country has. When we were elected 12 months ago, one of the first decisions taken by the Prime Minister was to ratify the Kyoto protocol—to come in from the cold, to actually get involved in the international community and to take on the issue of climate change, something that the Liberal Party had neglected for so long. We did not stop there. We then met our commitment to withdraw our combat troops from Iraq. We abolished AWAs and we abolished Work Choices, and this is something that working families everywhere are celebrating. We apologised to the stolen generations—something that so moved the people of this country and that you on the other side just wiped away in one foul movement. These are the things that characterise the past 12 months.

Moving along to the budget, this was a budget that delivered on our commitments: a $55 billion package for working families; massive tax cuts; an increase in the childcare rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent; an education tax refund to help families with their education expenses; and first home saver accounts to help young people get a start and get into the housing market—something that you opposite had forgotten for 12 years. You did not even have a housing minister, let alone care about housing. We acted in our first 12 months. That was the budget—real action—and it has not stopped there. Look at the work that has been done through the education revolution. It is not just computers in schools. Funding has been put forward for 116,000 computers, and those computers will be in schools, but it is much more than that. Look at the trade centres that are going to go into those schools and that are being rolled out right now. Look at what the Deputy Prime Minister was talking about today: performance pay for teachers, getting teachers into the disadvantaged schools, and reporting of schools’ progress to ensure that disadvantaged schools are lifted up. They will get extra funding so that no kid is left behind.

We are passionate in this party and in this government about education, because we believe it provides every child with the opportunity to be the best they can—something that you squandered and ignored for 12 years. The figures are there.