Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

As I rise to speak to this address-in-reply I am reminded of the first Governor-General’s speech that I listened to almost 18 years ago. It seems that, no matter how much things change, the more they stay the same. We had a Labor government back then. The Keating government had just been re-elected, full of promises. There was one difference, of course: the Keating government was elected by a reasonable majority. After the 2010 election we had a government that was not wanted by just about 50 per cent of the Australian people—as near to 50 per cent as you can get. The thing that was the same, of course, was the fact that the Keating government was elected with a blaze of promises—and, as soon as it was re-elected, just like the Gillard government, it started to break those promises. I can still remember L-A-W tax cuts! Who can’t? The Labor government went to the election promising ‘It’s in law: L-A-W’, and the minute that government was re-elected that promise was broken. And here we have, after the 2010 election, the same trail of broken promises already, when this government has only been in place for barely six months. We have the same trail of broken promises, which are highlighted in the amendment that has been moved by Senator Abetz, as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. That amendment details the promises that were broken immediately, once they were able to cobble together a government—and I call it ‘cobbling together’.

I cannot think of a worse combination than a national government that is held to ransom by the Greens. I cannot think of a worse combination. For those who will be here after 1 July, I say: I do not envy your task, as we see the Greens put pressure on this government, which relies on their support to stay in power. I am fearful of the outcomes that might pass this Senate following 1 July, when the Greens hold the balance of power in this place.

I came in here for a short time during this debate and listened to Senator Hurley extolling the virtues of this government. Not only that but she managed to mention the virtues of the South Australian government as well, another government which got less than 50 per cent of the popular vote yet still managed to hang onto government. I heard Senator Hurley talking about the wonderful assistance to the car industry. I can only assume she was referring to the cash for clunkers! I cannot think what else she would have been talking about when she talked about assistance to the car industry in South Australia. She then went on to extol the virtues of the former Treasurer of South Australia, Mr Kevin Foley, a man the Labor Party factions decided to kick out from his job only last week, so that he lost the deputy premiership and lost the Treasury. And here she is extolling the virtues of Mr Foley and what he had done for South Australia! I am quite amazed when I hear someone, I guess for party purposes, coming in here and talking about someone working in a state government and what a wonderful job they have done.

Senator Ryan, in speaking just before me, highlighted the issue of waste. I think that, if there is anything that typifies this government—the Labor government since 2007, both the Rudd government and the Gillard government—it is the waste of taxpayers’ money.

The one thing that has not changed in the nearly 18 years that I have been in this place is that people still think that, if the government is providing them with something, it is not costing them anything, it is somebody else’s money. They forget that it is their money, it is the taxpayers’ money—and we in this place should be ever-vigilant to ensure that the taxpayers’ money is not being wasted. The government is spending the money on their behalf. And if it cannot get value for money then in fact the government of the day is not performing its function properly, it is not doing its job, it is leaving the taxpayers short changed. This government, over the past three years, both the Rudd government and the Gillard government, has short-changed the Australian people by spending their taxes in a reckless manner: the second phase of the stimulus package, the school halls, the pink batts—you could go on and on. I see Senator Conroy is here. We might even add the NBN. Is that a proper function of the spending of taxpayers’ money? Could it be done in a cheaper way? The United States are not putting out a National Broadband Network in the same way. They certainly would not do that, as Senator Conroy well knows. We do not have any cost-benefit analysis or anything like that, which any government worth its salt—