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

I am pleased to participate in this discussion on two of the key issues for this country—the health of the population and the education of the population. I note that Senator Nash made a 10- minute contribution and in my estimation she managed to talk about her own portfolio, and I will be very generous, for about a minute and a half, if that. We had a minute and a half from the junior minister on her portfolio. It was a pathetic performance. All we heard was the old rhetoric from the coalition about balanced budgets and responsible and sensible management of the economy. Who in this country believes that the coalition are capable of sensible and responsible management of the economy? No-one, really, because they have seen the budget. We know the budget was based on a complete fallacy. Prior to the election, people were told there would be no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to the SBS, no cuts to the ABC and no cuts to pensions. That was the line being run out, and it was nothing more than a line.

When did we see the coalition's real policy? We saw the real coalition policy in the budget. In the budget we saw a move away from every promise they made—on health, on education, on the ABC, on the SBS and on pensions. It is one of the worst-received budgets ever. The budget was so bad that 40 per cent of the Liberal backbench wanted to get rid of the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. That is how bad the budget was. Coalition backbenchers are now coming in and basically saying that they are economically responsible. How can it be economically responsible to take $80 billion out of the budget for health and education? What is responsible about that? What is responsible about targeting the weakest and most vulnerable people in our community? None of that is responsible.

Senator Cormann was asked repeatedly yesterday in question time to rule out further cuts to health and hospitals, and he just refused to do it. Hopefully, sometime, Senator Nash can be in the same shot as Senator Cormann and maybe she can do the same as the foreign minister and put her head in her hands, shake her head in disgust and look with disgust at the Treasurer. Maybe Senator Nash can do that with Senator Cormann and maybe we will save further cuts to health and education. It seems to have worked in the other place when the foreign minister shook her head and looked disgusted about the contribution from the Treasurer, so maybe we should try doing that. Maybe the National Party, just for once, could stop using the rhetoric of opposition, could stop attacking the trade union movement in this country and concentrate on the issues that are good for rural and regional Australia. Maybe it could deal with the issues of a decent health system in rural and regional Australia and a decent education system—public schools that are well-resourced. Maybe for once we can hear the National Party deal with these important issues, but what do we get? We get the argument that Australia is an economic basket case. That was just put to the sword, that argument. It was put to the sword by the Minister for Trade and Investment, Mr Robb. What did Mr Robb say in a publication called: Why Australia: Benchmark report 2015this is a senior frontbench Liberal. He says:

With more than 23 years of uninterrupted annual economic growth, a AAA sovereign risk profile and diverse, globally competitive industries, Australia remains well placed to build on an impressive record of prosperity.

Either we have got a budget emergency or Mr Robb has got it right. I know what the answer to that is: Mr Robb has got it right. We have got a AAA credit rating. We have had 23 years of uninterrupted economic growth, and yet we get scare campaigns from the coalition trying to justify the worst budget ever in this country.

The people of New South Wales have to understand when they go to the polls that this is the Liberal Party that Mr Baird is the leader of, and Mr Baird supports the economic ideology of Mr Abbott. He cuddles up to Mr Abbott. He wears the same colour tie as Mr Abbott. He is part of the team. He is part of the club. He is a Liberal through and through.

What is going to happen in New South Wales as a result of this budget? New South Wales schools will lose around $9.6 billion; and $1.3 billion from New South Wales universities. We are watching the TAFE system being decimated under federal and state Liberal coalition governments. New South Wales hospitals will lose more than $16½ under the Prime Minister's budget.

We have Senator Seselja coming in here saying, 'We're increasing expenditure.' It is the oldest trick in the book. You just look at the GDP of the country and say: 'We're increasing expenditure,' but it does not tell you the real story. The real story is in the budget papers. That is where you look for the real story. If you look in the budget papers, what do they say about public hospitals in this country under the coalition government—$57 billion being cut out over a decade? That is what the budget papers say. That is in the budget, and you cannot come in here with some political argument from your advisers to try and give you cover for cutting $57 billion out. This is what is going to hurt people in New South Wales. If you are a family on $65,000 a year and you are going to be $6,000 worse off, how are you going to pay for your education? How are you going to pay for your health? It is just impossible.

Pensioners—how are they going to pay for more when they are being ripped off to the tune of $80 a week under the projected cuts by the coalition government? A hundred New South Wales seniors will be $886.60 worse off each year as a result of the government's plan to abolish the seniors supplement. Then we will get petrol taxes imposed on top of that.

The people who vote for the National Party drive more and use more petrol. They are not poor people who do not have a car; they are actually poor people who need a car. They use a car. They use petrol, and yet we have got a Treasurer here who says that poor people do not drive. Well, where were the National Party—where were the doormats of the Senate—when this was being doled out? We never heard a word from the Nationals and we never heard a word from the Premier of New South Wales, Mike Baird.