Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Cormann. With the Treasurer's declaration that the age of entitlement is over, that corporate welfare is to be stopped and that auto manufacturers, SPC and others are to be turned away regardless of the consequences, is the National Commission of Audit closely examining whether other industry subsidies—such as the fossil fuel rebate to big miners—will be removed? If not, will the government be taking action in the next budget to stop this huge corporate handout?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Di Natale for that question. The Commission of Audit is doing some very important work for the government as we set out to repair the budget mess that we have inherited from the previous government. It is important to remember that we inherited a budget situation with $123 billion worth of cumulative deficits over the forward estimates—$123 billion worth of deficits. The previous government inherited a budget in very good shape—no government net debt, a budget surplus of $20 billion, cash in the bank—and in six short years they turned that into a situation where debt is now heading for $667 billion without corrective action. The previous minister for finance presided over $107 billion worth of budget blow-outs in just the three years that she was minister. I will outline what we have done so far. We took $42 billion worth of—

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order. My question went specifically to the issue of industry subsidies such as the fossil fuel rebate. I did not ask for a lecture on the state of the budget position.

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

You are now debating. You have taken your point of order.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a point of order on relevance. We are now over a minute into the answer and we have not had any discussion on the question, which related to industry subsidies such as the fossil fuel rebate.

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

There is no point of order at this stage. I am listening to the minister's response. The minister still has 56 seconds remaining to address the question. I call upon the minister.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Di Natale asked me about the work being undertaken by the Commission of Audit, and I was providing a very direct answer to exactly what is happening there. We did inherit a budget in a mess after six years of bad Labor government. We do have to turn a very serious situation around. What we have already done so far is implement the savings that we took to the last election. The work of the Commission of Audit will build on that. We have asked the Commission of Audit to look right across government for opportunities to improve the efficiencies of the government's operation.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order on relevance. I asked very specifically whether the National Commission of Audit or the government would be taking action on the question of industry subsidies, such as the fossil fuel rebate. It was a simple question and it deserves a simple answer, and we have not got it yet.

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

As I have said on numerous occasions from the chair, I cannot tell the minister how to answer the question. I believe the minister is addressing the question at this stage, and he still has 20 seconds remaining.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say it again: the government has inherited a budget in a mess, and right now the Commission of Audit and the government are looking right across government for opportunities to improve the efficiency of government, to identify savings and to build a stronger, more prosperous economy, which will drive improvements in revenue. (Time expired)

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. The Minister for Industry, Mr Macfarlane, today spoke about the exciting new high-tech manufacturing opportunities that would be Australia's future and our world-class research and development capability. If the Commission of Audit's razor gang recommends cuts to education, to R&D or to the CSIRO, will you commit to ignoring this counterproductive advice and instead increase investment in these areas?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The commitment that I can give Senator Di Natale and the chamber today is that the government is working very hard to build a stronger economy, to create more jobs and to repair the budget mess that we have inherited from the previous government. I am not going to announce here today our next budget, and no doubt Senator Di Natale would not expect us to do so. Our commitment is a stronger economy, more jobs and repairing the budget mess that we have inherited from the Labor Party with the support of the Greens. Of course, the budget will be released, in the usual course of events, on the second Tuesday in May. I commend Senator Di Natale to it.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Given the news that the privatisation of Medibank Private seems set to proceed, will the government commit to reinvesting the proceeds of that sale into the public health system so that ordinary people's access to a doctor is protected? If not, does that mean that, with $200,000 going to a PR firm to spruik the sale, the government cares more about spin doctors than it cares about real doctors?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government cares about achieving the best possible outcomes for people across Australia. That is what we are focused on. The coalition has been committed to the sale of Medibank Private for a very long time. It is a commercial business operating in a competitive, highly regulated environment. There is no good reason why the government should continue to own a private health fund in those circumstances. I refer Senator Di Natale also to the findings of the esteemed ABC Fact Check, which indicated very clearly that the sale of Medibank Private would not lead to increases in private health insurance premiums. A highly competitive private health insurance market without the involvement of the government as a market participant will be good news for people across Australia that are privately insured. This is all part of the work that we are currently doing— (Time expired)