Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for that, Senator Cormann. I will go and have a look at it. But the message that I am trying to place on the record in this debate is that there is one process which is very clear: 'There are the 1,932 bodies. Report to me in January, and no later than March.'

But there is another process that seems to be going on, with or without the assistance of the government, and it is really interesting. The federal government has established a commission of audit—that is a fact; everybody knows that—to review the federal government's functions and expenditure. It is very clear. In a poll by Essential Vision people were asked, 'Would you support or oppose the following possible recommendations the commission could make?' Essential Vision have given their Essential Report. 'Privatise Australia Post'—63 per cent oppose it. 'Reduce duplication between the states (especially in education and health)'—73 per cent support it; it sounds like a good idea. 'Reducing welfare benefits'—a total of 60 per cent oppose. 'Means testing all welfare benefits'—a total of 63 per cent support. 'Hand control of DisabilityCare to Medibank Private (which would then be privatised)'—a total of 59 per cent oppose. 'Privatise HECS debt'—59 per cent oppose.

So what we have is a very clear set of statements taken to the electorate. We have heard all week about the mandate: 'Yes, we have a mandate to do this and we will not take one backward step on any of our policies.' We now see a commission of audit across all areas of government. The Treasurer, the Hon. Joe Hockey, said:

You've got to have a credible plan to bring the debt down. And that's what we're developing. That's why we're having the Commission of Audit

…   …   …

Every area of government will be examined. There are no restrictions.

So we put that back in place with the election mandate: 'We went to the electorate. Health's safe. Education's safe. Oh, we'll take the schoolkids bonus off you; that's gone. We're not cutting education, but we are going to take the schoolkids bonus out.'

So I put it forward in this debate that we have a situation where all is not what it seems. Those who are now in government have the capacity to change their rhetoric, their words and their positioning to suit their objectives now, and clearly their objectives now are vastly different from what they were in opposition. All of a sudden they recognise there was a GFC, and all of a sudden they are saying it is still hanging around and there still could be problems from it, something that we said day in and day out but were derided for saying. All of a sudden there has to be a multibillion-dollar injection into the Reserve Bank. All of a sudden there has to be a new debt ceiling. All of these things come about because they are now in a position of responsibility and having to make decisions.

I am very fearful that there will not be a good outcome in health or education. I have been fortunate enough in the short time I have been here to officiate at many infrastructure improvements and, in the education compartment, to interact with principals and students, including student councillors. I firmly believe that they will see a cut to their school communities. We have a Treasurer who is very clear and on the record: a cut is not a cut if the funding is redirected somewhere within the budget. So if there is a cut, for argument's sake, in any of the areas of my duty electorate of Grey—a cut to health or education services to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands that means a school or early childhood centre is closed or there is no funding for nurses or whatever—then they are expected to say, 'Oh, no, that's okay, because that's not a cut, because the money's going to be spent in another town or another place.' If any of the schools in the electorate of Grey or in any part of regional or city South Australia do not have enough in their education budget to deliver the outcomes that all South Australians and indeed all Australians require, they are expected to believe it is not a cut because someone in New South Wales is getting that money.

So this is going to be a very problematic hard sell for this coalition government. There is no way that the electorate is going to accept their argument. There is just no way that parents, students and teachers will accept that a cut to their community is not a cut to education, because the money will be spent somewhere else. I have to say that, as a parent and a grandfather, I think there are a lot of things that could be improved in education. I think parents need to buy in more and I think everybody in the community needs to buy in more in schools. They need to get stuck in and deliver outcomes that are sensible. But the difficulty we have is that you have this spectre of a commission of audit. You have another spectre, which is that the GFC has not gone. We need to be very careful. The real economy, as Senator Sinodinos says, has not been swimming along. We need to be careful there. The mining economy is going okay, but over there it is not so good.

So in that environment we have to trust and believe that a new government is not going to make cuts to education and health. I personally hope their word is going to be kept. All things being equal, I do not have any great angst with a government that is delivering proper education and proper health, but I do have angst with a government that may well be setting us up for a bit of a fall, that may be setting up local communities for a bit of disappointment—in fact, for some bitter outcomes.

As I have said, there are some challenging places to deliver health and education. Those challenging places, well known by those on the other side, are also extremely vital in gaining outcomes which are fundamental to the Australia we live in. I would be extremely disappointed if some of the initiatives we have made, particularly in some of the outback areas of South Australia, were not followed up on or funded properly and did not get to their full potential because the Commission of Audit said 2,000 people lived there and the money could be better spent here. Therein you have the real difficulty of the Hon. Joe Hockey's predicament: moving money within a health budget or education budget is not a cut. I have said repeatedly and will take after Senator Macdonald's modus operandi: repeat, repeat, repeat. If a cut in health or a cut in education is simply moving something in the budget away from one community to another and that is not a cut, I say that is wrong because that community rightly will say it is a cut. I do not care that the community over there has got an extra teacher; you have taken one off me. I do not care that they have extra dollars in New South Wales; you have taken some off South Australia. I do not care that you have less money in the Northern Territory. And the saga goes on.

We need to watch this space and be extremely vigilant. In the couple of days that I have had here I have seen a change in tone and rhetoric. If we come back in February, March or June of next year—whatever the sitting schedule is—and we start to see cuts appear, we will be holding you to account as we rightly should. Your documents and your leader say that he will not break a promise and he will carry out all his mandates. It says:

There will be no cut to school funding under a coalition government.

Those are the words of the document. Those are the words of the Prime Minister of Australia. We will be watching those on that side of the chamber for any cut which contradicts that clear and unequivocal position. These are the points that we need to be very clear on. You have your Commission of Audit. You will get your recommendations. You will have to make the tough decisions. We will be over here watching to make sure that you honour your word, that you carry out what you took to the Australian people and that you deliver on your commitment of no school funding cuts.