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

No, suitably admonished. Thank you very much, Mr Acting Deputy President. It is no wonder that the Australian people are shaking their heads when they look at this black hole. They think, 'How on earth did the government get us into this position?' When we look at all that waste and mismanagement, it is not at all surprising.

As I said, if the government had not wasted and did not continue to waste so much money, they would not need to make the cuts that they have. One cut in particular that I think Australians are very well aware of is the $5.45 billion cut to defence in the May budget. Australians are quite rightly outraged about that. In particular—which I think is just appalling—the government is restricting free flights home for soldiers on recreational leave to those soldiers who are under 21.