Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, my question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Evans. On the anniversary of the 2010 election, is the minister able to name the Gillard government's biggest achievement? Is it wrecking the live cattle export industry to Indonesia, sabotaging Tasmania's forest industry, its deadly $2.4 billion pink batts program, wasting $5 billion to $6 billion on overpriced school halls, its failed Green Loans scheme, creating a rolling immigration detention crisis, its abandoned East Timor and incompetent Malaysian solutions or its dumped cash-for-clunkers scheme?

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order: I ask you, in the fullness of time, to look at that question against standing order 73 and report back to the Senate on whether it infringes standing order 73 or not.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will look at the question, Senator Brown. My initial assessment was that it did not, but I will look at it. If there is anything to report back, I will report back; if there is nothing, I will not report back.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Abetz for the question. Unfortunately I only have two minutes to take him through some of the government's achievements of which we are very proud. Most important is our economic record, which has brought economic stability to this country. The reason we have one of the strongest economies in the Western world is that, in the face of the global financial crisis and in the absence of bipartisan support for an appropriate stimulus package, this government invested in the future of Australia by stimulating the economy, by providing for jobs in our economy and by giving people a chance to work in the face of the global financial crisis, which has seen us emerge as the envy of the Western world in terms of the success of our economy. We are very proud of that record. It has seen us grow the Australian employ­ment market by over 700,000 jobs. We have been delivering for Australians real jobs and a strong economy in the face of very uncertain international events.

That stimulus package was directed at long-term investment in Australia's future, like education. While the opposition are disparaging about the investment in education, we have improved the education opportunities for Australians, whether in schools, vocational education or tertiary education. We have also taken steps to overcome the long disadvantage that pensioners had in this country—the failure under 11 years of the Howard government to recognise the plight of pensioners. We brought in the largest one-off increase in the value of the pension in decades. That increase allowed pensioners to live with some dignity. So we are very proud of that achievement as well, very proud of the fact that we have supported Australian pensioners and allowed them to live with some dignity.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his answer and remind him that all those so-called achievements were under the Rudd government, not the Gillard government, which is very telling. I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister explain what he considers to be the Gillard government's greatest failure: the budget deficits, the $100 billion debt it has created, the broken promises on public hospitals, the lack of progress on the Murray-Darling Basin or the submarine fleet that cannot go to sea?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I doubt that Senator Abetz wants me to go to the question of defence acquisitions. I had great fun enjoying the Seasprite helicopter purchase under the former Howard government. We lost $1 billion of taxpayers' funds on a project that in the end we had to cancel because it had been so badly managed. If the opposition want to have a discussion about defence acquisitions, I am happy to have it.

We have a very proud record of serving in the best interests of the Australian people, be it in industrial relations, be it in education or be it in health. We are also very proud of our record in job creation. We have made the priorities of this government the priorities of the Australian people—their jobs, their education, their health and the future of their children. Those are the priorities that we always have at the forefront of the government's policy decisions.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Given the lack of achievements to which the minister can point, does he agree that this government has outdone both the Whitlam and Rudd governments as the worst government in Australian history?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Whenever you do not have any questions to ask, resort to political rhetoric. There is no substance to Senator Abetz's question, like there is no substance to the opposition, no substance at all. Political rhetoric and fearmongering is all they have. They have nothing to offer to political debate in this country. The first question time for the week, the first question of the week, and what do we get? Political rhetoric, no substance, no contribution to public policy debate in this country, just the petty point-scoring that served Senator Abetz well in student politics apparently, which he has never matured from, never come forward from. There are important public policy issues at stake in this country, like education reform, health reform and job creation. They are the focus for this government. I urge the opposition to engage in some serious debate about those issues.