Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, Minister for Finance and Administration and Leader of the Government in the Senate. Will the minister inform the Senate of how the government will be working over the winter recess to improve the wellbeing of all Australians? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bernardi for that very good question. Yesterday I reported to the Senate on the benefits that will flow to Australian families from 1 July as a result of our tax cuts and the increased family assistance contained in the budget. That is just one of the ways in which families will benefit over the winter recess as a result of our government’s ongoing work to make this a better country. Australia has come a very long way in the last 10 years. We have enjoyed continuous economic growth, rising real wages, low inflation and unemployment at 30-year lows. Inequality has been reduced due to increased employment and the government’s system of family payments. Net debt has been eliminated entirely, allowing us to increase spending on national security, education and health. Educational attainment is rising. The incidence of major diseases is falling and life expectancy is among the highest in the OECD.

Next week, the Prime Minister will be at COAG working to further develop a new national reform agenda based on human capital, regulatory reform and further competition reform in areas like water and energy. Also at COAG, the government will be further developing its $1.8 billion mental health package in cooperation with the states. Next week, the government will transfer $800 million to the New South Wales government to accelerate the duplication of the Hume Highway. We will also transfer next week $500 million to the Murray-Darling Basin Commission for vitally important work to help restore the health of the Murray River, which I know is of particular concern to Senator Bernardi.

From 1 July, we will be implementing our welfare reforms to encourage participation in the workforce and help job seekers improve their skills and employability. Senator Coonan will be further developing reforms to our media sector. The Treasurer will be consulting on our significant reforms to the taxation of superannuation due to take effect in about a year’s time, which of course not only reduces the tax burden on savings but also dramatically simplifies the superannuation system. The Deputy Prime Minister will be in Geneva, working hard to secure a deal for Australian exporters from multilateral trade talks. On all of those fronts, the government will be working hard to implement good policy and further improve living standards and the broader quality of life of all Australians.

That does beg the question, as referred to in Senator Bernardi’s question, as to what the so-called alternative government will be up to over the winter recess. They appear to have wasted most of this parliamentary session with what has now been exposed as a discredited attack on Work Choices without ever advancing a single positive policy. The only policy they have announced in this session was of course a negative one—‘We’ll abolish AWAs.’ That was the great idea of the Labor Party—to scrap AWAs. They have been roundly condemned by business, most economic commentators and indeed from within their own ranks for a proposal to scrap a policy which only recently Mr Beazley said would remain. Now it is out as a result of the strings being pulled by the union puppeteers.

After only two years since the last election and 10 years in opposition, the Labor Party still do not have a policy agenda of their own. They do not have a detailed alternative plan for how they would run this national economy or how they would raise living standards. The challenge for Mr Beazley and the Labor Party is to spend the winter recess putting forward their alternative vision. We are not optimistic, but we wish you well.