Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to contribute to this debate today on the appropriations bills before the Senate and to make some comments about the Abbott Liberal government's budget—a budget that is a litany of broken promises.

It has taken Prime Minister Abbott less than nine months to make so many Australians disenchanted with his government as they realise that the promises that were made before the election are now to be broken; in fact that they were lied to before the election. Before the election they were promised no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to pensions, no cuts to the ABC or SBS and no new taxes. Those promises have been broken—broken too is the pledge from the Abbott government not to cut the jobs of more than 12,000 public servants and the promise not to make further cuts to overseas development aid—and all of this on the back of another lie about the state of the federal budget and the confected emergency about the state of budget.

There is no credible economist who supports the federal government's continued lie that Australia' budget is in a dire situation. It is not, and we should not be making decisions based on a lie. In my home state of South Australia, we have been hit particularly hard by the government's backflips; however, it is regional South Australia that will really feel the brunt of these actions. In fact, rural and regional South Australians will be worse off after $18 million was cut from our road funding. Every local council in South Australia has written to South Australian senators complaining about the devastating effect that that cut to funding will have. We can thank in part the member for Mayo and the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Jamie Briggs, a South Australian himself, for the fact that rural and regional roads across South Australia will be stripped of vital funding. Surely, as a South Australian, Mr Briggs would understand how important it is to have the vast regional road network in South Australia adequately funded to keep those roads safe for regional and rural South Australian drivers.

Furthermore, the member for Barker, Mr Tony Pasin, whose local electorate covers much of regional south-east and north South Australia and the Riverland, has not stood up for the people who voted for him either. Rather than fighting for his local region, fighting to protect the vital infrastructure linking South Australia's regional towns, Mr Pasin is out there giving the message to rural and regional councils and residents that the Abbott government only cares about the safety of motorists travelling on roads within Adelaide and the city's surrounds. This is a budget that defies belief. It has inflicted or will inflict suffering on almost every part of the community. From the fuel tax to the GP tax to the increase in prescription medicines, no-one will avoid paying more because of this cruel budget. I listened in disbelief to fellow South Australian, Senator Birmingham, a Liberal senator, in this place last week when he spoke in a positive light about the budget, mentioning how good it would be for South Australians and all Australians. Senator Birmingham said in his speech, 'Australia should have a society where we look after those who need it, provide opportunity to all those across Australia and reach out to give a helping hand to those who are in need.' What riled me most is that I do not disagree with that comment from Senator Birmingham, but for him to then go on and say that somehow this budget would deliver that is incredible—