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

My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Conroy. I refer the leader to the Prime Minister's very first press conference as Prime Minister, at which she said:

And today I can assure every Australian that their Budget will be back in surplus in 2013.

I also refer to the Prime Minister's speech last week at the National Press Club, in which she reported that Australian families were saving a lot more and spending a lot less than they were before the global financial crisis hit 4½ years ago. Why is it that Australian families have been able to tighten their belts so that they live within their means but the government has not?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That question just demonstrates the total economic illiteracy of those opposite. For three years those opposite have said, 'We'll tighten the belt further; we'll have a bigger surplus than you.' 'We'll have a bigger surplus than you,' has been the refrain. Yet within 24 hours Mr Hockey and Mr Abbott had entirely different positions. In the 'Real Solutions' plan there was no commitment whatsoever. Mr Abbott does an announcement—a mini faux launch—and there was nothing about it. Yet Mr Hockey, within 24 hours, contradicts Mr Abbott about the surplus saying, 'And we'll be in surplus,' and Mr Abbott, dragged to reality by Mr Hockey, decides he has nowhere to go.

What we have in this country at the moment—as you can see if you look at the front page of the Ageis a state government in Victoria that has brought the state of Victoria to a standstill. What do the statistics out of the state of Victoria say? More than 12,000 construction jobs have been lost and more are at risk. The reduction in jobs in Victoria's construction sector is twice that of the national average. We have a state Liberal government, that those opposite fully support, that has ground the state of Victoria to a standstill. (Time expired)

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is it economic illiteracy to say that getting the budget back to surplus is necessary to relieve cost-of-living pressures on Australian families? That is what the Prime Minister said some two years ago. Does the leader still agree with this statement and, if so, what does he say to Australian families for continuing to deliver budget outcomes that actually increase their cost-of-living pressures?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What increases the cost-of-living pressures for Australians is losing their job. In Victoria 12,000 construction jobs are gone—twice the national average. In Queensland, since Mr Campbell Newman was elected in March 2012, Queensland has lost 17,000 jobs. So 29,000 Australian families have a much, much tougher living because of the state Liberal governments in Queensland and Victoria.

The unemployment rate in this country would have come down but for the Queensland state Liberal-National government. If the Newman government's employment performance was taken out of the national figures, the national unemployment rate would be 5.2 per cent. But it gets worse. (Time expired)

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. The minister is right: it does get worse in Tasmania, which has had a state Labor government for over a decade. I refer the leader to the Prime Minister's statement at a town hall meeting just two days before the 2010 election, at which the Prime Minister said that failure to deliver a surplus was 'not an option'. Can the minister confirm to the Senate that failure is now an option for this Prime Minister and her government?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite airbrushed the global financial crisis out of their knowledge—it did not happen. The global financial crisis and the Labor government saving 200,000 jobs and steering us through the global financial crisis was just a six-week—

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

Mr President, I raise a point of order. To save the leader from embarrassment: the Prime Minister actually made these comments after the global financial crisis.

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

There is no point of order.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite describe the global financial crisis as something that happened for six weeks in the Northern Hemisphere and did not have any impact. Do not worry about Europe. Do not worry about the US. Do not worry about China. Do not worry about Japan. All of these international effects have knocked the revenue streams of the Taxation Office seriously. In December, when those statistics were received, the Gillard government was honest and up-front. The Treasurer stood up and explained exactly why. (Time expired)