David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

I believe that all political parties seeking votes in an upper house election, like elections for the Senate at the Commonwealth level and for the legislative councils in various states, should let potential voters know of their approach to appropriations bills and the blocking of supply. Today, I rise to set out the approach of the Liberal Democrats. I also speak for the Outdoor Recreation Party—our sister party in the New South Wales election. We reserve the right to block supply. This announcement is of little consequence right now. After all, I have only one vote. But voters should know that if they want members or senators who will always wave through government spending, regardless of its size or composition, they should not vote for us.

Appropriation bills come in various forms. The central appropriation bills are those that appropriate money for the ordinary annual services of the government. These bills effectively authorise spending on the continuing and settled operations of government. While the Liberal Democrats and the Outdoor Recreation Party oppose many of the continuing and settled operations of governments, it would be rare for us to attempt to block such bills. Even if we had the numbers in the upper house, we accept that government is formed in the lower house. We would seek to block these central appropriation bills only if they were used to significantly increase the size of government, contrary to any mandate or if a government was so dangerously bad that forcing an early election was the responsible thing to do. Accordingly, I will support the central appropriation bill before us today—the No. 3 bill.

However, our approach is different for other, more peripheral, appropriation bills. The Liberal Democrats and, obviously, the Outdoor Recreation Party will freely oppose or amend these peripheral appropriation bills. These are bills that usher in new policies that are not already authorised by special legislation.These are bills that authorise capital spending.And these are bills that authorise grants to the states.

The Liberal Democrats and the Out door Recreation Party are small- government parties. We want the government out of your hair , off your back and out of your pocket. As such, we will represent our constituents by opposing the incessan t proliferation of new policies that seem to meddle in every imaginable aspect of our lives. The Liberal Democrats and the Outdoor Recreation Party believe that government is not good at running businesses and that a lot of infrastructure can be built and maintained by the private sector. For instance, the Outdoor Recreation Party provides a unique option for voters in the N ew S outh W ales election because , while we support the rights of shooters and fishers, w e also think it is eminently sensible to privatise government-owned electricity assets. Given this support for the role of the private sector, we reserve the right to oppose appropriations for capital spending by government.

The Liberal Democrats and the Outdoor Recreation Party also think that centralising power in Canberra is a terrible idea and that governments that spend money should raise the required taxes themselves. As such, I will represent my constit uents by opposing Commonwealth government transfers to s tate and local governments, particularly those grants that come with strings attached. Given this, I will be moving an amendment to App ropriation Bill (No. 4) 2014-2015 before us today, and I will seek to remove the authorisation for $ 250,000 of tied grants to state, t erritory and local governments in that bill . The state d purpose of these grants is to strengthen:

… the sustainability, capacity and diversity of regional economies including through facilitating local partnerships between all levels of government and local communities.

This is otherwise known as pork-barrelling. Blocking $250,000-worth of grants will not balance the budget, but it is better than nothing. It should be supported and there should be more like it.