Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise today to take note of answers provided by the Leader of the Government. I want to echo and support the contribution by my colleague Senator McAllister. I think it's very important that as individuals and people who are leaders for our community in this place we set an example. Whether people have been here for a very long time or, as in my case, a very short period, we all aspire to make sure that we provide the right example to future leaders—to future women, in particular—and to see that this place is representative of everyone, regardless of race or gender. For us, we do need to stand up and say, 'Enough is enough.' We get to a stage in life where we have to start to think about the actions that we and our colleagues take and call out those actions for what they are. After all, we can't afford to walk past standards and say, 'Do we believe that they're acceptable or not?' We are community leaders and we have been elected to this place by our peers, so we have to do the right thing.

I also want to take the opportunity to place on the record my thoughts about the answers that were given today by the government. Senator Gallagher asked Senator Birmingham about the coalition claiming to be great economic managers, but, although there is always a headline, there is no substance behind that headline. We hear talk about the millions and billions of dollars that they're going to spend, and yet, when we dig deep, as we did through the recent Senate estimates, there is no detail. One needs to ask: Is this all about good photo opportunities? Do they like to stand up for the cameras and get that front page? They don't deliver or follow up for the Australian people. The budget has racked up close to a trillion dollars of debt, but that doesn't inspire in me and my colleagues the belief that there is a bold plan for jobs, the jobs that many Australians need right now, especially in my home state of Victoria. We're close to a trillion dollars of debt and yet we are still expecting close to 200,000 people to join the jobless queues by Christmas. How many families won't be able to put food on the table? How many families will have to have very hard discussions about how they are going to make mortgage repayments and pay their bills? The cost of living does not seem to be on the radar of this government, especially in my electorate of Chisholm.

My electorate is supposedly in the Liberal Party heartland, and yet a lot of people call my office every day because they're struggling to understand how the government has left them behind. I invite the government to come to my electorate of Chisholm and talk to the small-business operators I regularly talk to. Their business activity statements are due, and yet they've had no or very little support in the government's recent budget to get their businesses up and running again. But that hasn't stopped this government from neglecting the many millions of people in Victoria. In question time today we heard that the leader of the government in this place is acutely aware that the quality of government spending is what matters when it comes to how we invest. All I can say is: How can he and his government defend a decision to spend 83 percent of the $3 billion allocated under the Urban Congestion Fund in Liberal-held seats? Do Liberal-held electorates deserve better quality roads than Labor-held electorates or electorates held by independents or other parties? Are Liberal-held electorates worth 83 percent more? These questions really do need to be asked. When you dig deep, you find that the voters in Dunkley have questions about the quality of these investments, as do the voters in Scullin, Hotham and Bruce. Time and time again we seem to hear only rhetoric from the coalition government. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.