Download Fragment

Thursday, 23 June 2011
Page: 3713

Government Policy

Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (14:06): My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Evans. Why, 12 months after the Prime Minister stabbed her predecessor, Mr Rudd, in the back, has the government broken its promise not to introduce a carbon tax, broken its promise to relieve cost of living pressures on working families, broken its promise to get its $107 billion of public debt under control and broken its promise to stop the boats?

Senator CHRIS EVANS (Western Australia—Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:06): As I said, it is surprising that the Liberal opposition still have nothing to say about the big policy issues of the day. On a day when there is a historic announcement about the NBN and the future of tele­communications in this country, we have the announcement by President Obama of a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, we have our defence minister's defence posture review, and we have the anti-dumping reform launched by this government, what do the opposition want to talk about? They want to try and make silly, trivial point-scoring political points, because they have no interest in policy.

They have no interest in the big issues of the day, and they have no interest in the issues that the Australian people are interested in. They are interested in the cost of living issues, Senator. That is why they are interested in the compensation package that we will put in place when we introduce a price on carbon. They are interested in the detail and the nature of the changes that are coming. But they are also interested, as I mentioned earlier, in our record investment in pensions, the largest single pension increase in the history of the nation that we made as an acknowledgment of the cost of living pressures that were being placed on pensioners—people living on very low incomes. That is why this government did not just mouth rhetoric like the Howard government did for 11 years. We actually got in there and funded a huge increase in the pension to try and lift the standard of living of those persons.

We are also very focused in this budget on returning the budget to surplus. We are serious about returning the budget to surplus. We invested heavily in the stimulus when we needed to, and now we are returning the budget to surplus because our stimulus package got us through the global financial crisis in a manner better than almost any other nation in the world. So we are serious about issues of importance— (Time expired)

Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (14:14): Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. When she stabbed her predecessor, Mr Rudd, in the back, Ms Gillard said that the government had 'lost its way'. Does the minister regard the last 12 months of incompetence, broken promises, debt and instability as evidence that Labor has found its way, or is that just the Labor way?

Senator CHRIS EVANS (Western Australia—Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:15): As I have made clear, this govern­ment is very much focused on the issues of importance to Australia and the citizens of Australia. We are interested in the cost of living issues. We are interested in trying to reduce the pressures on families. We brought down a budget very much focused on that. It was a budget focused on skills formation and opportunities in employment. As I said earlier, we have created over 700,000 jobs. This has allowed Australians to live better, to have a better standard of living, because they have been in employment. This budget invested in those people who were not getting employment opportunities—the disabled, the long-term unemployed and a whole range of groups that perhaps were not getting the opportunity to fully participate in the community.

We are focused on the issues of importance to Australians and the issues that will build a better future for them and their children—be it employment, be it education or be it national security. That is what the government is getting on with doing—and I suggest the opposition join us in focusing on these issues. (Time expired)

Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (14:16): Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Minister, why should the Australian people trust a Prime Minister whom Mr Kevin Rudd could not, and still does not?

Government senators interjecting—

Senator CHRIS EVANS (Western Australia—Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:16): I am reminded by my colleagues that Senator Brandis's largest claim to fame was his description of a former Prime Minister, whom he allegedly served and followed, as a 'lying rodent'. So it is a bit surprising for Senator Brandis to ask this question of me. That is one that I would have handed on to someone else, Senator Brandis. I would have said, 'That's not really a question that I can ask, because I have a history of being disloyal to my leader and calling him names.' So I do not think that you are the one to try to make such claims.

I suggest that you return to the issues of real importance to Australians—the issues that they are interested in—rather than this cheap, low-life, political point scoring. You think it is interesting, but I think most Australians will ask why you are not asking questions about the NBN, about the defence force posture review, about antidumping, about the cost of living and about things that they care about. (Time expired)