Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I would not want to discriminate between states, because that would be against the Constitution, wouldn’t it, Senator Ronaldson? There are soon to be elections in Victoria and New South Wales. Wayne Swan knows very well that Labor is on the nose across Australia, that there are alternative governments in Victoria and New South Wales that are quite likely to form the next government in those respective states. In New South Wales all the Labor rats are currently leaving the sinking ship. I have to say there must be a conga line of people in front of Mark Arbib’s office in New South Wales asking for jobs. All of the state Labor members of parliament in New South Wales are walking out the door because they know they are not going to be the government as of March next year.

Here we have a Treasurer who knows that, if he continues to waste time, if he does not rush this legislation into the parliament—without having done his homework—the chances are that he will not be dealing with Kristina Keneally in March next year. He will be dealing with Barry O’Farrell—and with Mike Baird and with Ted Baillieu and with Kim Wells. These are people who stand up for the best interests of their state. John Brumby is the guy who tried to run up the pretence of standing up for Victoria and in the end the Labor mates got to him. They beat him up. He folded at the last moment. And what did he do? Hours before going to Government House to call the election, he quietly signed the deal to hand over the GST. He quietly signed the deal, hours before going into caretaker mode. That is outrageously dishonest. That is outrageously not acting in the best interests of the people of Victoria. I hope that the people of Victoria will take that into account when they go to the ballot box towards the end of November.

Minister Wong, on behalf of the Treasurer, I assume, has again wilfully ignored an order of the Senate. This government has again refused to provide information which the Senate appropriately asked for. This goes to the heart of the integrity of the Treasurer. This goes to the heart of the integrity of the government. They are out there, day in, day out, looking for new opportunities to get their hands on cash, whether it is through increased taxes, through more debt or by taking money off the states and territories. They want to cut corners. They do not want to follow proper process. They do not want to comply with the agreements that they have signed up to.

Julia Gillard, our Prime Minister, a little while ago said, ‘A deal is a deal,’ when she sought to lecture the Premier of New South Wales. She said, ‘A deal is a deal.’ Well, the states and territories across Australia have a deal with the federal government that is the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations, which can only be changed by unanimous agreement. Wayne Swan knows this; Julia Gillard knows this. They know they have a problem. The reason they know is that it is all here in the briefing notes from the Treasury to the government—when they were finally able to scrape back into government.

Tell me why Wayne Swan is rushing this legislation back into the parliament without having done his homework. He knows he has not got unanimous agreement for it because Western Australia is opposed to it. He knows that the intergovernmental agreement requires him to have unanimous agreement. He knows that, if anything, things will get worse for him over the next two or three months. That is why he is rushing. He can see his $50 billion in additional revenue running out the door, and that is what he is worried about. This of course is a Treasurer who is always looking for money. This is a Treasurer who is part of a government that has got a track record of reckless spending, of waste and mismanagement, of increased taxes, of more debt and deficit, and of putting upward pressure on interest rates and inflation. This is a Treasurer who has a terrible track record as Treasurer and who, whenever he is held to account or asked a question, or is asked by the Senate or by the House of Representatives for some information, treats us with absolute contempt. We were promised a new era of openness and transparency by this Prime Minister. We were promised that sunlight would shine in. We were promised that things were going to change and that this government, which was punished by the Australian people at the last election, had learned its lesson. Well, things are going from bad to worse. Things are not getting better. This is a bad government. It is a government that always tries to cover things up. It is a government that knows it is out of its depth, and that is why it is not able to comply with legitimate inquiries from the Senate on issues like this. Wayne Swan should hang his head in shame.

Question agreed to.