Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I get a little perplexed when I come here and on one hand hear an example from Senator Sinodinos suggesting that we should not be debating the debt limits and that we should be concentrating on what that debt is used for. However, on the other hand when we hear that the government is proposing to release MYEFO next week and they are seeking to pass this proposition today, how are we going to have the transparency to understand how that money is going to be spent? How is it going to be used? Is it going to be used to save those over-1,000 jobs in Qantas? Someone very close to me works for Jetstar and I want to know whether she is still going to have a job when those jobs are lost. Is the government going to put some sort of salvage package out there to save those over-1,000 jobs?

Are they going to use some sort of salvage package to look after the workers from Holden and their families? I have driven Holdens in my life—they are a very good car—and it will be a sad day for this parliament if we see the doors of Holden close to never open again and thousands and thousands of families affected by the lack of support from a government that claims to have some sort of mandate, some sort of position, to assist families and the manufacturing industry in this country. The emphasis and the impact will be placed on Toyota in your home state, Mr Temporary Chairman Bernardi, and they will be put in a position of pressure to make sure they are maintained as the car industry in this country. We know there is going to be extreme pressure put on them to maintain that position as a car industry.

Just last week we were in this chamber in question time discussing the Better Schools package. We know what happened there: the government indicated they were going to send out millions and millions of dollars to schools throughout every state and allow them to spend that money in whatever way they chose. Once again, this proposition today is an example of, 'Don't argue; don't worry about debating the limits. We as the government know what's best and how that money should be spent.' I think the public these days are a lot wiser than that with this government. They are on to you. They realise that there needs to be transparency in this regard. We were certainly quite transparent when we were in government, when we handled the global financial crisis. We went out there and explained to the public how we were going to use the money, how we were going to save jobs and how we were going to make sure our economy maintained a AAA gold rating.

I do not think that is too much to ask, to demonstrate how you are going to spend this blank cheque that has no end to it. It is consistent with what the government did last week with the Better Schools program. You are going to send out thousand and thousands of dollars to those states and you will not have any accountability of how that money is spent. I want to know from Senator Sinodinos: how is your money going to be spent? Where is it going to be spent? Where are the accountability measures in having a blank cheque way beyond the debt ceiling as it currently sits? I want to have some responsibility and transparency around that.

Senator Sinodinos, I am sure you and those opposite may not have been in a situation where, in your past, you had to go to a bank to seek a mortgage or an extension to your credit card. I know I have done that. Generally, when you walk into a bank seeking a mortgage the first things they want to know is: where are the house plans, where are the checks and balances, where are your bank accounts, what is your financial situation, what is your employment? All those questions are put to you to make sure you are responsible and accountable in terms of repaying that debt.

You as a government come here today expecting to have a debt ceiling way beyond any possibility and expecting us as an opposition, and also the Australian public, to agree to this arrangement. That is quite unreasonable. I think you need to be upfront; you need to be transparent; and you need to explain how you are going to deal with this debt ceiling beyond its possibilities and limits. We put a reasonable proposition on the table by presenting an ability to lift the ceiling to $400 billion and then assess it thereafter. I think that is a responsible measure for an opposition to have those sorts of arrangements in place and to have some checks and balances.

When you were in opposition you questioned our spending and how we handled the global financial crisis, how that money was spent—whether it was in the retail sector or through schools or through all our infrastructure measures—and certainly there were other things we had to do during our term in government. If you recall, with the natural disasters in my home state, we came to this chamber to seek a levy to make sure people were assisted in times of greater need. My recollection is that the government when in opposition opposed those levies, opposed them when people needed assistance at a very extreme time of their life to ensure they were in a position to renew some of their furniture, whether it might be getting to their family home after they were separated as a result of the natural disasters, or whatever the case might be. You as an opposition opposed those sorts of measures.

So I would like to hear some answers as to how you are going to spend that money. Are you going to spend it as my state Liberal-National parties in Queensland are spending it? Are you going to cut jobs in the health sector and in education such as selling schools as they are doing in Queensland? Are you going to look at building tunnels under the CBD of Brisbane to go from Government House through the proposed new annexe building? These sorts of propositions need to be understood and need to be answered so that we as an opposition, and also the Australian public, have trust in the government. That is where the rubber hits the road—having trust in you as a government to make sure these sorts of things are delivered and are accountable so we can understand what you are proposing to do by lifting the debt ceiling beyond all possibilities.