Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on this matter of public importance to expose some of the nonsense and the rhetoric that we have just heard from Senator Mason. The Prime Minister has said that he is about removing barnacles. I have to say: it is not the barnacles that are the problem. It is the actual ship. This government reminds me of the political equivalent of the old 'ships of shame' that used to come to this country—rust buckets with people in the bilges, trying to pump the bilges out on a continuous basis. It is not the barnacles, it is the ship.

Senator Mason said, 'merry Christmas'. I have to say that it will not be a merry Christmas for the pensioners who are getting indexation reduced by this government. It will not be a merry Christmas for those who need and rely on the health system, with $50 billion cut out of the health system. It will not be a merry Christmas for kids in needy schools, with $50 billion cut out of schools over 10 years. It will not be a merry Christmas for those students who would have been facing $100,000 a year to get an education if we had not stopped that crazy proposition from this coalition government. It will not be a merry Christmas for those workers at the ABC and SBS who are losing their jobs because the government cannot lie straight in bed. It will not be a merry Christmas for the poor in this country, or the unemployed, or the vulnerable because they are, according to this government, the 'leaners'. They are leaning on people. This is a government with no compassion, no common sense and no economic credibility, and I will not be lectured by the coalition about economic credibility.

This is a coalition that, under Peter Costello and John Howard, just threw the rule book out the door. It was tax cut after tax cut, after tax cut, with no building for the future. There was no investment in schools, no investment in infrastructure and no investment in health. That was not the way for this country to get ahead and look after future generations. It was short-termism of the worst nature—and a lack of political vision, and certainly no political values.

This budget takes from the have-nots and gives to those that have got it. The so-called 'contribution' of a politician or a high-income earner—on three times the average wage—to this government's budget repair is $29 a week. People earning $200,000 or $300,000-plus are paying $29 a week. That is one per cent of their disposable income. But if you are a single-income couple with two school-age children on average earnings—guess what?—you pay $90 a week. That is the contribution of single-income families with a couple of kids at school under this government. That is six per cent of their disposable income. Where is the fairness in that? How can anyone trust a government who does this?

This is a government who did not tell the Australian public about any of the policies they would introduce after the election. This is a government who systematically lied to the Australian public. They told the Australian public that there would be no cuts to health, no cuts to education and not cuts to the ABC, no cuts to SBS and no cuts to pensions. Yet what do they do? When they get into government, they rip and tear at our education system, our health system and the poorest people in this country. They are really the political equivalent of the ships of shame.

It is a government that is forever on reset, forever on reboot, forever on remessage. Now they are on barnacle removal duty. What a rabble this mob is! What an absolute rabble! They are untrustworthy. They have lied their way into power. If the public had known what this government was going to do, they would not be sitting on the government benches now.

The Treasurer only opens his mouth to change feet. His foot is always in his mouth. The government just does not get the message. They have not got the message from the Victorian election. The Australian public are just not buying the budget or the poor sales job. It is not about the sales job; it is about the policies. The policies are bad. The budget is a shocker. The budget is unfair. The government cannot be trusted. This is the problem with this government.

Then what do they do? They rely on the rhetoric from Senator Mason about bad economic management. They just failed to tell anyone that there was a global financial crisis. They just failed to tell people that governments all over the world had to invest in keeping people in jobs. No, that was not mentioned. In fact, they argued here it was only a North American crisis; they said there was not a crisis in Australia at all. Yet business could not get any investment; funds were drying up; the market was grinding to a halt. It was only the Labor Party in government that fixed that.

They are not getting the message. The message is: the Senate is not going to pass your GP tax. The Senate does not like your cuts to health. The Senate does not like your cuts to schools. We do not like you beating up on the poor and the vulnerable. These are the issues that are important to the Australian public. No matter what they are told, this government is completely deaf to the real issues for ordinary Australians. They are completely out of touch. It is a government in utter chaos.

They talk about a year of achievement. It has been a year of achievement for the government! You have chased the autoindustry out of the country. You have trashed billions of dollars of investment in renewable energy projects. You have reopened tax loopholes for multinational tax avoiders. You have doubled the budget deficit, even before your disastrous budget was handed down in May. You broke every promise you ever made. And there is not a South Australian senator in here that stands up for jobs in South Australia, because they are too weak-kneed and jelly-backed to actually stand up to a bad budget and bad decisions by this government.

They have trashed the trust of the voters. That is their achievement. They are significant achievements. They have proved that you cannot govern without ideas, you cannot govern on three-word slogans and you cannot govern if you tell lies. That is what this government is: completely out of touch. They are so out of touch.

The Liberals are out of touch, but the National Party is all at sea. They have gone from being the wombats—you know, the tough guys: the Sinclairs, the Anthonys and the Nixons—to being the doormats. That is what they are. Senator O'Sullivan, you are no Sinclair. Senator Canavan, you are no Doug Anthony. And, Senator McKenzie, you will never be as good as Nixon was at looking after country people. You are the doormats.

Nowhere is that clearer than when you hear Senator Canavan get excited—being from Rockhampton you would think the senator would be interested in things like making sure the agriculture minister's botched handling of the farm household assistance and drought funding was fixed. But, no, Senator Canavan comes in here and makes speeches about Hayekian philosophy. He talks about currency competition. He talks about Friedman. This is awful. I am sure listeners to the Senate broadcast in Central Queensland in Biggenden are glued to the radio, listening to Senator Canavan. Senator Canavan is not representing Biggenden; he is representing the big end of town. (Time expired)