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

I rise to make a contribution to the matter of public importance debate this afternoon about the Abbott government's budget of barnacles and broken promises. I would like to follow on from Senator Mason, who wished everyone a Merry Christmas. While it is a very noble expression of goodwill, it is a shame this government has not demonstrated any since being in power.

I would like to reflect on those people who have lost their jobs in my home state of Tasmania under this government. There have been countless Tasmanians who have lost their jobs. Thousands and thousands of pensioners around this country were lied to before the election. They were told that there would be no changes to the pension, just as people were told that there would be no new taxes—'not under my government', according to Mr Abbott. The list goes on. Those people who are unemployed will face a very bleak Christmas. But with the changes this government tried to introduce, it would have been much darker. This is a government that is heartless and it is harsh.

We know that those people who work with the ABC and SBS and their families—those tens of hundreds of Australians who work for those two institutions—are going to have a very bleak Christmas. This was the government and this was the Senate that tried to pass a budget and has failed to do that since May—and they still have not. Why has the budget not passed? Why have those bills not been passed? It is because the Australian people know that they were lied to. They were lied to by Tony Abbott.

I just want to reflect on Mr Abbott's performance on the Today show this week. It was really quite interesting. It is not a show that I watch that often. But to have the Prime Minister, in a very sincere way and even with a straight face, complain about the Senate being obstructionist towards them! He said that the Labor opposition was in a 'feral mood'. That is the biggest—the biggest!—case of the pot calling the kettle black that I have ever heard!. It is not often that I actually agree with Karl Stefanovic, but I think he hit the nail on the head this week when his response to the Prime Minister was:

With respect you were fairly feral in opposition ...

That is the truth. That is precisely what those people who are now sitting on that side of the chamber were when they were in opposition. They were negative, negative, negative.

If the Today show are scoring important points off Mr Abbott, the situation must be getting pretty desperate. Perhaps it is time that Mr Abbott gave up? Recently, we have also heard that the Prime Minister says he needs to take care of a few 'barnacles' on the ship before Christmas. I think that Senator Cameron was quite right: it is not the barnacles on the ship, it is the ship that is on its way down to the bottom of the ocean, along with its captain and a few of the lieutenants—or should I say 'chief petty officers' on that side? They are going to find themselves in the drink.

Before the election, the government promised and said, 'We're on a unity ticket with the Labor Party. There will be no cuts to education.' But we have seen the first attempt in this government's plan to wreck higher education in this country. Yesterday we also learnt that there was a deal being discussed that would see federal money going towards a revamp of the University of Tasmania, in my home state. Well, that is all very well, but if it were not for the government abolishing the Education Investment Fund in the first place such drastic action would not be needed.

But I have to say that we have not seen any real detail, and I have no confidence at all in the 'three amigos'—the members for Bass, Braddon and Lyons—to be able to negotiate anything with this government to ensure that there is adequate funding going to the University of Tasmania. This government has ripped $30 million out of the university's budget in Tasmania. My colleagues, senators Brown, Singh, Urquhart and Bilyk, and me have no confidence at all in the three amigos. And I know that the Tasmanian community does not have any confidence at all in those three amigos.

But we should not be fooled, because we know that the higher education changes will make a university education inaccessible for many people. As I have said earlier this week, going to university should be based on your talent and hard work, not how big a cheque book your parents have or how big a credit card you have. It should be your talent that decides whether or not you should be able to continue and have the opportunity of a tertiary education. Scraping off one or two of the barnacles will not be enough. As I said, it is not the barnacles that are the problem: it is the ship and the captain. I have to say that this ship is sinking fast, and there is no harbour in sight. I can assure you, Mr Acting Deputy President, that no-one is taking charge.

We have to remember—it has to be 6½ months ago now—that the Australian people listened to the Treasurer bringing down his budget. But they do not buy it: they did not buy it in May, they did not buy it in June and they did not buy it in July, August, September, October or November. And they certainly are not buying it now. We know that this budget was made up of nothing but broken promises—promises that were made, I would have thought, in good faith, to the Australian community. But what we have seen is that there was deception and deceit by the Prime Minister and his Treasurer. Quite frankly, I think it is pretty obvious that they are both out of their depth.

Let us look once again at the proposed GP tax—another tax. But those people on the other side said during the election campaign that there would be no new tax, and that there would be no cuts to health and no cuts to education. The leadership team still do not know: is there going to be a GP tax or is there not going to be a GP tax? One thing I do know is that if they do bring such legislation into this chamber that we will fight tooth and nail to prevent it. That tax will hurt the most vulnerable people in our community. But, no, those on the other side—what did they say?—they said they were going to be the 'adults' in government. They were going to be the adults! I have to say that they are not even behaving as well as children in pre-kinder would, because they have no idea. They have no vision.

We know how heartless they are, because there is not a sector in our community that has not been hit. And there is the uncertainty—because these people do not care. I have heard it firsthand from people working in pharmacies and the pharmacists themselves, saying, 'Older Australians are concerned about whether or not they are going to be able to afford their medication.' They are going to their pharmacists—

Senator Smith interjecting—

This is serious! You may laugh on the other side, but this is quite serious! They are asking in the pharmacies whether or not they need to take all of their tablets. That is serious!

As I said, those people on the other side have misled the Australian people. They have misled them and, in fact, this is not only about misleading them: they have lied. Those opposite can never again criticise Labor for being dysfunctional and uncertain. They can never again launch attacks on internal tensions on the other side. They can never again claim that they are the party of stability. Most of all, they can never again claim that they are a party of no surprises and no excuses, because they have fallen; and how mighty those on the other side are when they fall—they fall very hard.

What is also incredible is that at least some of those on the frontbench, including the Treasurer, are committed to persisting with the GP tax. He wants it to go ahead. As I have said in this place on a number of occasions, this is going to hurt people in my home state. This is a short-sighted tax because it is going to hurt those who can least afford to be hurt. It is going to hit pensioners, it is going to hit low-income families and it is going to hit people with chronic illnesses in particular. No parent should have to decide whether or not they can take their child to see a doctor simply because they do not have a large enough credit card.

It does not stop there. My area of responsibility is aged care, and we on this side know they have lied to this sector. They took away the dementia supplement that was paid to the providers; they said a new scheme would come in, but we have seen nothing of that. The fact that they have changed the way pensions will be indexed will affect the aged-care sector as well. We are still waiting for those in government to come into this chamber— (Time expired)