Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

Slipped through in the budget! And remind me if I am not correct: I think that in 2011—or it may have been 2012—that all this was tied into the budget so we actually cannot object to the lift in the debt ceiling because it is all tied in with everything else and we would have to oppose the entire budget. Clever on the government's behalf, of course.

This is like a family going to their bank manager every year and saying, 'Please, sir, may we have some more?' and taking no responsibility for the economic sustainability of their family budget. All they do is just keep coming back here and saying, 'Please, can we have some more?' There is no responsible economic management from this government, and that is just a fact. I am not making it up, that is just a fact. You only have to look at the figures to see. I know that my good colleagues from over in WA would agree with me in saying that, because the mismanagement is appalling, absolutely appalling.

The point is, colleagues, that if the government did not waste so much money they would be able to direct properly the money that they do have to far more appropriate and useful policy measures. When we look at the waste and mismanagement, people are just astounded. And the hits just keep on coming; that is what amazes people. Just when you think you have seen the last possible—possible—bit of waste and mismanagement from government, up comes another one. It is great: the hits just keep on coming! They are just a bit like Alvin and the Chipmunks—there is another one just around the corner, just when you thought you had got through the lot. We should just have a look at the list of waste and mismanagement, because, like Pinocchio's nose, it is ever growing. We have Labor's failed border protection policies that have now blown out the immigration budget by over $5 billion; $650 million of that is in detention costs. We have the Home Insulation Program. Who can forget the pink batts? There was $2½ billion mismanaged, with at least half a billion dollars spent fixing the mistakes. We have the computers in schools blow-out; that is a favourite of many. Mind you, I am absolutely supportive of computers in schools, and everybody would know that I am absolutely supportive of everything we can possibly do to improve education outcomes, particularly for rural and regional students. But there was about a $1½ billion blow-out. We have Green Loans and Green Start. The $175 million Green Loans program was mismanaged and then eventually dumped and then replaced with the $130 million Green Start program, which never started. We have the solar homes program, an $850 million blow-out, with the program cancelled. The program was originally meant to cost $150 million. The list goes on.

What is really impressive is the talkfests that we have seen. I note for Hansard that 'impressive' was highly sarcastic. Labor's talkfests include the 2020 Summit. Who cannot remember the 2020 Summit? Does anybody have any idea of one outcome from the 2020 Summit? Anyone? I did not think so. We—when I say 'we' I mean we the taxpayers—spent $2 million on that. The Henry tax review cost $10 million. The list goes on and on.

Two of my favourites are Fuelwatch and GroceryWatch. They sounded really good, didn't they? 'Let's have Fuelwatch and GroceryWatch to make fuel and groceries cheaper.' Nearly $30 million was spent setting them up, and then they were dumped. Then, of course, we have Labor's NBN, involving Senator Conroy, a personal favourite of the Senate here, with the blow-out to over $50 billion—and that is not even included in the budget. This is extraordinary from this government.

There was spending of $2.1 billion on consultancies over the last four years. Let us just think for a moment, colleagues. If all of this waste had not happened, think of all the things that that funding could have been far more appropriately directed to which would not have resulted in this situation we have with this huge blow-out—the $120 billion black hole. You will love this one, my WA colleagues: the pool tables that used to be in Parliament House here.

Senator Williams interjecting—

Senator Williams remembers the pool tables. I must say that I am not too bad at the old pool table myself, but I had not frequented these ones. The government sold them for $5,000. Fair enough, you might say—very sensible. They were not being utilised terribly much, I understand. The government sold them for $5,000. They then spent $102,000 determining whether or not they got value for money. That is a wise, wise use of taxpayers' money, isn't it? Again, Hansard, that is sarcasm.

This is extraordinary. The list just goes on and on. When we see federal government departments and agencies spending more than $10 million checking what is said about them in the media, I think the Australian taxpayers would rightly be absolutely astounded and would think, 'How much money do you need to spend on checking what it is that you've said and done?' I just go to an article in the Australian on 27 August, and I will quote from it:

FEDERAL government departments and agencies are spending more than $10.3 million a year checking what is said about them in the media.

The hefty monitoring bill from external companies would pay for more than 100 full-time staff each earning $100,000 a year. An analysis by The Australian

and I have great respect for the Australian and for the author—

revealed the Department of Health and Ageing ploughs more than any other department or agency into monitoring with a bill of—

any guesses, Senator Williams or Senator Humphries?