Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This motion goes to the issue of broken promises, but what it really goes to the issue of trust and integrity. What we seen from this government is an enormous breach of trust. It is an enormous breach of trust because the changes to these commitments that were made during the election campaign and that are now no longer relevant are so significant, so severe and so blatant that there is no hiding from it. Sometimes in politics we find these areas of grey. We see one side saying one thing, another side saying another and the truth is somewhere in the middle. But on this issue there is simply no excuse for what has occurred. There have been a string of broken promises and there has been a breach of trust.

This is a government that campaigned on the issue of trust and was relentless in its prosecution of the lies told about the carbon tax—to use their words. This is a government that promised in opposition that it would be open, honest and accountable and—to use the Prime Minister's words—that they would do what they say and say what they do. How is it that they could effectively reverse position on so many issues of fundamental importance to the Australian community? The answer is straightforward. The changes announced by this government in this budget are so unpopular, they are so brutal and they are so necessary that, had they promised these things in the election campaign, people would never of bought it. The government would not have been voted into office. They simply did not have the courage to put this narrow, brutal and ideological world view to the Australian community. They did not have the courage to do it.

They did not have the courage in education to stand up and say, 'We are going to make it harder for a young kid to get a university education.' They did not have the courage to say, 'If you are unemployed, we are going to kick you off welfare for six months. If you cannot cope, well, that's tough.' They did not have the courage in health care to say to people, 'You know what, we're going to make it harder for you to see a doctor. You might be struggling, but we are going to put a whopping great co-payment for when you go and see the GP; but we are going to add another co-payment on top of the existing co-payment for your medicines. We are going to make it harder for you to go and get a x-ray done because there will be costs associated with that as well.' They did not have the courage to put those issues to the Australian community.

They are based on a lie. In health care, we are told that the health system is unsustainable, that it is out of control and that we have got some sort of emergency or crisis. Let me tell you what a crisis looks like: over the last decade, Commonwealth spending on health care has been stable. It has not changed. If anything, it has decreased. We saw the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's report announced a month or two ago for the year 2012-13. There was the lowest growth since 1990 and 1991. I will say that again: we have seen the lowest growth in health spending for over two decades. When it comes to the amount we spent on health care, we are somewhere near the bottom of other OECD countries and half what the US spends on health care. That is what a crisis looks like and that is what unsustainable health spending looks like this government.

It is totally confected and their solution is: 'We are going to whack in a great big co-payment, making it harder for people to see a doctor and particularly for those people who can afford it least.' But just as importantly, there are massive cuts to the way our hospital systems are funded. Over the next decade, we are going to see $50 billion taken out of our hospital system. Anyone who thinks that somehow that is a way of improving the health of the Australian community needs their head read. We have got a situation now where people already struggling through the public hospital system to be seen in a timely way in emergency departments. We have got long waiting lists for elective surgery and we have got people who are unable to get access to life-saving treatment. This government's response is to rip out $50 billion from the Australian hospital system.

When you combine the cuts to education, New South Wales stands to lose $25 billion over the next 10 years when you include those cuts to hospitals and education. In Victoria, over the next three years and this is when we take out that huge figure, we are looking at almost $400 million. This is a great breach of trust to the Australian community and the government did not have the courage to put it to the Australian people. (Time expired)