Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance. In just under two hours, we are going to finally see unveiled the Abbott government's budget of broken promises. Throughout the election campaign, voters were given promise after promise by the then opposition leader, Tony Abbott, who went so far as to say, hours out from the last federal election:

No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions … no cuts to the ABC or SBS.

Voters put their trust in Mr Abbott and in his words when they elected him as the Prime Minister of Australia. But the Prime Minister today will reveal that he has abused the trust of the Australian people.

Voters who took Mr Abbott at his words have been duped. They have been misled. Mr Abbott made promises during the election campaign that will not be kept this evening. The public will be the victims of this deceit, and if the leaks about the budget are accurate, if what has been strategically dropped by the government in media stories over the past week is true, then, frankly, the Prime Minister has not kept his word and the Prime Minister in those cases has lied to the Australian public.

The rules of debate in this chamber do not permit me to use offensive words against either house or member, but I suspect there will be many people who took Mr Abbott at his word, who gave him their trust, who gave him their vote, who have every right to be offended by him today. I suspect some of the offensive words will be used by those voters tonight as the Abbott government breaks promise after promise in its budget. Tonight we are going to hear Mr Abbott break his promise to our elderly pensioners, to young families sending their kids to our schools and hospitals and to the people who rely on our public broadcasters.

Voters may have been jaded by the choices facing them at the ballot last September, but they have every right to be outraged by the duplicity of Tony Abbott—