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

Fundamentally, it comes down to where the priorities are. The point that I am making is that the priorities here are wrong. Fundamentally, there is a bigger question here: where do we want to go as a nation and what kind of a society do we want to be? I think those in this chamber have a responsibility to protect the social security system and to protect the welfare system. We need to accept the fact that those of us who have the opportunity to be in this chamber have had many things in our lives—we have put in a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication, but we have also had a lot of luck and a lot of opportunity. Not all Australians have had those kinds of opportunities. The privilege and the honour of being able to serve in places like this increase our level of responsibility to those Australians, some of whom are doing it really tough.

Fundamentally, when we look at these issues of budget and when we look at issues around tackling fiscal challenges, we have to ask ourselves: whose backs are we doing it on, how are we doing it and what are the priorities and values that underpin it? I disagree with those on the other side of the chamber. I believe that these bills—and certainly many elements within these bills—fundamentally fail the test of priorities and the test of values.

I was here when Senator Ketter was talking earlier. He outlined how these measures will affect older Australians, and he outlined the great work of COTA and of National Seniors. I think that we also have to remember that younger Australians are at risk of being the most damaged as part of this process. Just because they are not necessarily the loudest or the most organised group does not mean that their issues and what is happening to them are of any less significance.

In conclusion, everything comes down to priorities and values. When we debate bills in this chamber, we should not only look at the specifics of legislation—and there has been a lot spoken about the specifics of these bills—we should take a step back and say: 'What is this saying about our society? What is this saying about Australian identity?' Fundamentally, I and many others in this place believe that the problem with these bills is not just that there are individual measures within them that are wrong—though I believe there are. The problem is that they are a fundamental statement about what kind of a society we want to be, and the society that these bills suggest is not the Australia that I am proud of, not the Australia that I want to see in the future and not the Australia that I want my two young girls to grow up in.