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

I move:

This question time has been an example of the chaos that lies below the very, very thin veneer that this government represents. Everything you look at with this government is about chaos, deception and deceit. The questions answered today have to be looked at in the context of the two budgets that this so-called government has delivered. The first budget was an absolute disaster. The first budget was about attacking families, attacking education, attacking health and attacking those who have the least capacity to look after themselves—the weakest people in this community. That is what underpins the modus operandi of this government.

They have gone from the first budget to the second budget. The first budget was an absolute disaster; the second budget is simply out there as a political lifeboat to try to keep the government afloat long enough to get to an election. Nobody should have any doubts about what this second budget was about. They have gone from Milton Friedman—a right-wing, hard-nosed economic position—to Keynesianism in the second budget, and it is simply a political lifeboat to try to make themselves look like they care about families in this community. We know they do not care about the families in this community. You only have to look at all the things they have done since they have come to government. What have we seen recently? We have seen this green paper, where they continue attacks on the health systems in this country. They continue attacks on education. They continue their attacks on child care. No-one can trust the government; they are an untrustworthy mob if ever we have seen one—an absolutely untrustworthy mob. They are the mob who said, through their now Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, that there would be no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to the pension, no cuts to SBS and no cuts to the ABC. Yet what have we seen? Everyone of those promises has been thrown overboard. The lies, the deceit and the mistrust just permeate the government.

Then we have the Minister for Human Services. What we see here is another attack on workers' wages and conditions. The Minister for Human Services, Minister Payne, has not stood up for the workers in the Public Service once. What has been happening to them? They have been told that they can get this modest pay increase that would mean they would lose money; they would lose pay. They are told, 'You have to accept this. We're going to strip your agreement bare. Your job security provisions in the agreement will disappear. Your working hours will increase. Your rostering will change to suit the boss. Your rights of representation by your union will disappear. Performance management and call monitoring will increase. Your personal leave will be cut. Your pay, superannuation, salary advancement and broadbanding will be moved out of the agreement. Your allowances will be diminished. There will be more part-time workers.'

We know what this government is about. This government is about Work Choices, and we see another example of Work Choices in the attacks on the Department of Human Services. This is a mob that is out of control. This is a mob that is controlled by extremists—the extremists out of the Prime Minister's office and on the back bench of the Senate. They are the ones who control this government. They are out of control. The sooner they go, the better. (Time expired)