Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Last night the Abbott government launched a vicious attack on low- and middle-income earners in Australia. The Abbott government's first budget attacks Australians who work hard. It attacks families struggling with the cost of living. It attacks parents who want a better future for their children. It attacks young people studying to improve their skills and to strengthen the nation's future. It attacks the elderly, age pensioners and self-funded retirees. It attacks Indigenous Australians by widening, not closing the gap, and it attacks the weak and the vulnerable: people who are sick, people with disabilities and their carers.

Budgets are a demonstration of a government's values and its priorities. The decisions governments make in budgets reveal what sort of country they want—what sort of economy and what sort of society. The decisions made in budgets also reveal the character of those who lead governments. Revealed in last night's budget is a government with the wrong values and the wrong priorities. Revealed in last night's budget is a government which has only been in office for eight months but which is light-years out of touch with low- and middle-income Australia, a government which denies the cost-of-living pressures on Australian families, a government which is hitting middle Australia hard yet is giving $50,000 to millionaires for having a baby.

And also revealed in last night's budget is a government which has collectively failed the test of character: a Prime Minister exposed as telling serial lies to the public, a Prime Minister breaking not just one promise but virtually every promise he made, a Prime Minister who sat behind his Treasurer last night, smirking and gloating as every cut and every tax hike was announced. Mr Abbott promised no cuts to health and education, and now he is cutting $80 billion from schools and hospitals. Mr Abbott promised no new taxes; now he is hiking petrol tax, imposing new GP and medicine taxes and increasing the top marginal rate of income tax. Mr Abbott promised no change to pensions; now he is cutting pensions. Mr Abbott promised no increase to university fees; now he is increasing university fees for students and their families. And Mr Abbott promised no cuts to the ABC or SBS, and now this Budget will cut funding to the public broadcasters by $240 million, and regional services will be the first to go.

Mr abbot said his government would not slash foreign aid, but this budget slashes foreign aid by $16 billion—a move which will hurt the world's poorest people. As the head of World Vision, Mr Tim Costello, has said:

This is devastating because there is a disproportionate impact on those who are most vulnerable.

There has been virtually no promise unbroken and no stone unturned in the Prime Minister's search for ways of hurting people. You have to search far and wide to find a promise that this Prime Minister has not broken.

And it is not just the Prime Minister who has failed the character test. We have a Treasurer who does not understand or care about people who live far from the leafy environs of Sydney's North Shore. We have a finance minister who promised less tax and now he has circulated budget papers showing the government will lift its tax take by $96 billion over the next four years. This Treasurer and this finance minister were caught out puffing on celebratory cigars after putting together a budget that hikes taxes, cuts pensions and cuts family payments. This Treasurer was caught out dancing in his office to the song Best day of my life after putting together a budget that slashes funding from schools and hospitals and paves the way for an increase in the GST.

In question time today the Minister for Finance claimed this was an 'honest budget.' On the contrary; this is a dishonest and deceitful budget. If Joe Hockey had stood up last night and given an honest budget speech, this is what he would have said. This is the speech Mr Hockey, if he had given an honest speech, would have given:

'Tonight the Abbott government is showing its true colours. We went to the election last year promising no new taxes, no cuts to schools, no cuts to hospitals, no cuts to pensions and no cuts to family payments.

'Well, those were lies.

'We inherited a budget with one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios amongst all advanced economies and with a AAA credit rating from all three international ratings agencies.

'Then we spent months fabricating a fictional budget emergency to justify breaking every promise we made.

'So, in tonight's budget we unveil a comprehensive plan to hit low- and middle-income earners at every stage of their lives.

'No matter how hard you work, or how much effort you put in to better yourself and your children, or how much you deserve a helping hand, this government will attack you with higher costs and by ripping away support.

'The Abbott government's cuts will hit child care, they will hit school children, they will hit university students, they will hit people in the workforce, and they will hit working families.

'The government's tax hikes will hit people when they go to the doctor, when they go to the chemist, and when they go to the hospital.

'We will hit people when they go to the petrol pump and we will hit them when they go to the supermarket.

'For those struck down by illness or disability and for those who lose their jobs, this government will cut social security, replacing the helping hand with a slap in the face.

'For those who have retired after paying taxes all their life, this government will cut the age pension and make people work until they are 70.

'For self-funded retirees, this government will give out more Commonwealth seniors health cards with one hand, but with the other hand we will slash the concessions and benefits the card entitles you to.

'And when advancing years and declining health see you move into a nursing home, this government will not forget you either. It will honour your great age and your contribution to society by cutting aged-care funding by more than half a billion dollars.

'And when we are finished with you, we will light up our Cubans and we will dance in our offices.

'Because, with this first budget, this Abbott government is looking after the well-off, but for everyone else it is delivering broken promises, increased costs, higher taxes and no hope for the future.

'With this first budget the Abbott government is implementing the coalition's real agenda, that is, the one we hid from you at the last election.

'It is an agenda for making this nation more unfair, less equal and less caring.'

If the Treasurer was, indeed, giving an honest speech last night that is what he would have said, because this budget is a cruel assault on middle Australia. It will cost Australians and it will hit Australians every time they need to see a doctor and every time they fill up their car with petrol. It will cost Australians when they send their children to school or university. It will cost Australians who rely on family payments and pensions to make ends meet.

We are being lectured by this government about how important this budget is for children, how important this budget is for the next generation. So important are the children of this nation to this government that they will ensure that you have to pay more to take your sick child to a doctor, you will have to pay more to get your sick child a prescription, and your child will have less money at their local public school and less money invested in their local public hospital. This government is saying, 'We care about children, but only some children.' If you are a child of a middle-income family or a poorer family, well, guess what? you are on your own.

This budget fatally undermines fairness and decency in our society, and it is a budget that will damage the strength of our nation and the future of our economy. That is why those on this side of the chamber will fight every step of the way against the unfairness that is at the heart of this budget.