Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I was inspired tonight to witness the speech tonight in the House by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Bill Shorten. He laid out why we on the opposition side and the Australian people see this budget as one of betrayal, one of broken promises and one of deceit. If you look at the legacy that was left by the Labor government, when we look at the low inflation, when we look at low interest rates, when we look at the net debt and when we look at the Triple-A rating, that is a picture that tells the story as to why those in government now have manifested their own story to tell about a budget emergency. When Mr Shorten tonight in the House of Representatives delivered his budget in reply speech he spoke for the Australians who are going to be hurt by this cruel budget. He spoke about the Australians who will not be able to afford to go to the doctor. He was speaking about those who have prescriptions that they will have to think twice about filling. We are also concerned about those families and those people in the Australian community that will have to struggle now to be able to fill up at the petrol bowser. There are so many issues that were covered and highlighted by the Leader of the Opposition in relation to Medicare, in relation to education and talking about having a vision and the lack of vision from those opposite.

I will talk about a few other issues that have come out of this budget of broken promises and what it means to ordinary Australians, many of whom will wonder what they did to earn the wrath of vindictive tory politicians. Tony Abbott has broken his word; it is as simple as that. If there is any sort of fairness or balance in the reporting of Australian politics and in the response of the Australian electorate to political messaging, then our Prime Minister should be absolutely taken to task. When Labor sought to introduce an emissions trading scheme via a fixed period price on carbon it was deemed a ruinous 'carbon tax' and clearly a broken promise. The coalition hammered this point at every opportunity at the expense of intelligent debate or analysis. They misrepresented the price on carbon and, sadly, their attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator succeeded politically. So here we are with their new taxes and clear broken promises, and I certainly hope that those opposite are held to account. In some small way I actually marvel at their pluck. Here are two leaders who advanced their careers beyond most people's expectations by misrepresenting Labor's carbon policy as a 'carbon tax' now nonchalantly introducing new taxes which they actually promised they would never introduce.

It just gets worse and worse no matter how you look at the budget. In my own role as shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care I have taken careful note of some of the harmful changes that will impact on older Australians. Just a little over six months after scrapping the Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing, the government has opted to also axe the Andrew Fisher Applied Policy Institute for Ageing. This was a body charged with placing Australia at the forefront of policy development on the opportunities and challenges of an ageing population. Now, due to the short-sightedness of the Abbott government, it is gone. Right now, we have an ageing baby boomer population entering retirement. This is something that the Abbott government really needs to pay close attention to but we know it is not their priority—they do not even have a minister for ageing. The government has no strategy. There is no vision here in their budget and there certainly is no heart either.

I would also like to point out that many of the aged care cuts in this budget will negatively impact on those who deliver care and support for older Australians at the most vulnerable point in their lives. The decision to reduce the annual growth of the Commonwealth Home Support Program means that valuable services such as Meals on Wheels and respite care will be hit hard. The axing of the National Respite for Carers Program is particularly cruel. This program had a simple but compelling aim: to provide just a little bit of help to those relatives and friends caring at home for older people who are no longer capable of caring for themselves. But of course there is more bad news in this budget—it isn't just deceitful and cruel, it is retrograde. This budget cannot be seen as an anomaly and it cannot be seen in isolation. It is part of a broader trend in conservative politics and it needs to be analysed in full, proper context. So that is precisely what I will do and what we on this side of the chamber will do.

If we are looking for reasons as to why we are being handed this budget, I think we need to look at the people that are influencing the coalition's direction. As Rachel Nolan noted recently in The Monthly, the Abbott government is influenced by certain figures who wildly agree with each other at every opportunity. As soon as the coalition assumed power, it was review time. It is not so much what the reviews were investigating that is so important, it is who led them. Let us look at the cavalcade of conservative white men who lead the charge.

The man who led the National Commission of Audit, Tony Shepherd, is a past president of the Business Council of Australia. He is someone who is so out of touch that he falsely claimed that Australians were going to the doctor too frequently—a claim soundly rejected this week by the ABC's Fact Check. His comment that a GP co-payment will 'give people cause for thought over whether they really need to go to a doctor' was nothing short of condescending. He may have a born to rule mentality, typical of conservative Australia, but he is not a medical professional nor is he a health policy expert.

Then we saw a similar sort of comment today from our esteemed Treasurer, Joe Hockey, who momentarily lost control of his conversation on ABC radio and claimed that the co-payment was not a big deal because it was only equivalent to a few beers. I certainly hope people remember that one. I certainly hope it comes back to haunt him. Treasurer, there are people out there struggling to make ends meet. Once costs like school equipment, medicine, petrol and healthy food for the family are factored in, there is not very much left over in their weekly budgets. And, when there is, it does not necessarily go to cigarettes or alcohol; it goes to things like a visit to the doctor—and now that has become just a little bit more difficult. I just do not think you guys understand it.

It just goes to show how out of touch you all really are—I mean, really, the pure arrogance to lecture people on how to spend their money wisely when families around the country are doing just that! A GP co-payment will disproportionately affect those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds—a segment of our society especially prone to chronic diseases that require medical attention. The Treasurer should consider this and, as our Prime Minister is so fond of saying, stick to his knitting. We do not want people avoiding the doctor, for crying out loud! Don't you get it? Those opposite me are so out of touch. They have no vision. They have no concern for families. They have no concern for those struggling to make ends meet and no concern for the future environmental challenges. All they are about is short-term political gains.

The Prime Minister himself said, 'It just isn't right that people should say one thing before an election and do the opposite after the election.' Well, for once, let Hansard show that I wholeheartedly agree with the Prime Minister. Those opposite should hang your heads in shame for the decisions that you have brought before this chamber and the other house and before the Australian people with your budget. I certainly hope that we and the Australian people make you a one-term Tony.