Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate Senator Fawcett on his first speech to the Senate, but I return to the matter being debated prior to Senator Fawcett's inaugural comments. I indicate, as a new senator, that I am completely dumbfounded and blown away this afternoon by just how out of touch those opposite are in seeking to raise this issue in the Senate. They seek to criticise the government for maladministration and for its handling and management of our economy during the global financial crisis. This is from a coalition who went to the last election campaign with a promise to cut services. It was a promise based on an $11 billion black hole in their budget costings. Just when you thought you had seen and heard it all—the height of hypocrisy from those opposite—we now learn that they seek to go to the next election with a promise of $70 billion worth of cuts to government services. This perfectly highlights the hypocrisy of those opposite and just how out of touch they are.

Labor came to government in 2007 with a significant reform agenda after a decade of stagnation and wasted opportunity under a coalition government. It was a program to move our country forward, to modernise our economy, to deliver better education services, to restore fairness to workplaces and to protect the environment for the next generation of Australians. This program was developed during the years in opposition in consultation with the Australian people. I, personally, was involved in travelling around New South Wales and meeting with workers, families, businesses and community organisations about their wishes from a Labor government. They told us that they wanted fairness restored to workplaces. They were sick and tired of having their children exploited—the vulnerable workers in our society—by individual contracts that cut award conditions and reduced their take-home pay. Labor heard their message, and in government we have delivered. We got rid of Work Choices and instituted the Fair Work Act, which has seen 740,000 jobs created in the Australian economy, a reduction in industrial disputes and an increase in the number of enterprise agreements made between employers and their workers. We have delivered on that promise. They wanted improved educational standards. They wanted a better opportunity for their children, and Labor heard their message. In government we are delivering a national curriculum that sets new, modern standards of educational attainment. That is being delivered by Labor in government.

They were sick and tired of out-of-date infrastructure in many schools throughout the country. Labor heard their pleas, and we are delivering. We are delivering modern infrastructure in each and every school throughout Australia—$16.2 billion being invested in the Building the Education Revolution program: 24,000 projects throughout this great nation of ours, 9½ thousand schools, new libraries, new computer and science facilities, new sporting and cultural facilities and new computer laboratories.

They wanted increased funding for universities, and Labor in government is delivering that. They wanted a skills base that delivered a better opportunity for manufacturing in the future. Labor heard their calls, and we are delivering. We are delivering trade training centres in 927 schools throughout Australia and 97,000 apprenticeships, a record for the last decade. That is all being delivered by Labor in government.

Australians, particularly those in rural and regional areas, told me that they were sick and tired of slow internet and web services, that they were sick of seeing Australia lingering at the bottom of the world league tables when it came to internet speed. Labor heard their pleas, and in government we are delivering on those commitments. We are rolling out the NBN in rural and regional Australia, delivering world-class broadband services for 93 per cent of households and businesses throughout the country and increasing speeds for those remaining seven per cent. This will revolutionise Australia's communication system, increase productivity and, most importantly, break down that tyranny of distance that exists in rural and regional areas—again, being delivered by Labor in government.

Australians told me that their family members are too important to be played around with when it comes to health care—that they were sick of health care being used as a political football. They were sick of the blame game between the states and the federal government. Labor has responded and listened to their concerns, delivering federal healthcare agreements that will see record investment in hospital funding, delivering GP superclinics to reduce the burden on our hospital emergency waiting rooms.

This Labor government is delivering a program of reform based on the wishes and concerns of Australians that we heard during our period in opposition. Contrast that with the program and policy offerings of those opposite. The opposition went to the last election with a promise to cut services. I have mentioned already that its program involved cutting trade trading centres. That would have affected 1,800 schools; 1.2 million students throughout this country would have had their opportunity at skills training diminished by an Abbott led government. For 11½ years those opposite failed to invest in a national curriculum. For rural and regional Australia, they had a plan to axe the $6 billion regional infrastructure fund. Their promises in relation to increasing speeds for broadband are there on the public record. They will rip up the National Broadband Network and rob rural and regional Australians of faster broadband. In health, the record of the Leader of the Opposition speaks for itself: cut $1 billion from our hospital system, equivalent to 1,025 beds across Australia.

When it comes to the biggest economic and social challenge facing our generation, the Leader of the Opposition has been all over the place. During the time John Howard was the leader of the party, he supported an ETS. When Malcolm Turnbull was the leader he initially supported an ETS, but then he changed his mind; he saw a vote in it. Now he does not support an ETS. One day he supports a five per cent cut in emissions by 2020; the next day he says that this is a crazy target.

The biggest example of maladministration in Australian politics in the last 20 years was the opposition's costings at the last federal election. Not only had they promised to cut services and cut programs, but their costings came up short—to the tune of $11 billion. Not even their accountants would give an unqualified audit of their figures. And they have the hide to criticise this government for its record on economic management, particularly in a period in which the Rudd-Gillard government has managed the largest economic crisis our country has seen in the last 50 years.

When the global financial crisis hit, the Rudd-Gillard government acted quickly and decisively in response to the threat to the Australian economy. We implemented a stimulus program that protected Australian workers' jobs. We protected communities and we protected our economy, so much so that Australia now has one of the best-performing economies in the world. We have an unemployment rate that is half that of the United States and the United Kingdom. We have a record terms of trade, and levels of net debt 6½ times below the OECD average. And we do this with a plan to increase superannuation and a plan to cut the company tax rate. In all respects, this government is delivering on behalf of the people of Australia, and it is a cogent plan for the future.