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Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Page: 4392

Mr VAN MANEN (Forde) (19:49): I touch tonight on the budget that was presented last night. I think at best it can be described as a 'get them by' budget. It is a budget that has no coherent strategy to deliver strong economic growth or long-term sustainable surpluses, or even a strategy to tackle the mountain of debt that this government has accumulated in four years. We saw that debt in the current year blow out from $22 billion to $44 billion. How do we expect to see a surplus in the next financial year's budget? Our net government debt will climb to a record $145 billion. This has required the government to legislate to increase its debt limit—the limit on the national credit card—from $250 billion to $300 billion. These are records that nobody should be proud of achieving, nor are the number of new or increased taxes that this government has introduced since 2007. With this budget's various tax hikes and measures, the total now stands at 26.

These new and increased taxes have done nothing to help ease the pressure of the rising cost of living for the Australian community. They do nothing for families who are facing higher costs of living every day. As an example, since this government was elected in 2007, electricity prices have gone up by some 66 per cent, and that is before the introduction of a carbon tax on 1 July; gas prices have gone up by 39 per cent; food prices have gone up by 11 per cent; petrol prices have gone up by another 11 per cent; and education and health costs have gone up by some 25 per cent. This is Labor's second budget in a row that has not provided tax cuts for everyday Australians. Instead, Labor is hitting Australian families and the economy with more tax hikes, including the world's biggest carbon tax, which will push prices up even further. The carbon tax will result in $9 billion a year in new tax revenue, an immediate increase of around 10 per cent in electricity bills and a nine per cent increase in gas bills in the first year alone. The impact on families will get worse with a carbon price rising to $29 a tonne in just three years. This compares to a current global carbon price of $6 to $8. Needless to say, this toxic carbon tax will have devastating effects on industries and jobs yet will do nothing for the environment. The compensation and handouts from the government are being given out to cushion the blow of these new taxes but no amount of compensation can be measured to protect the jobs of everyday Australians—and no amount of compensation will compensate them for losing their job. These sugar hits are counter-productive: they do not go the distance and they do not keep pace with the new and increased taxes designed to drive up the cost of living.

We just saw with the legislation passed today that the education tax rebate was dumped and replaced with the schoolkids bonus. Not only that, but we have blowouts like the NBN, which is not in the budget. There is another $1.4 billion blowout in asylum seeker management. Defence continues to be cut. A broken border protection and onshore-processing policy rages out of control.

Labor has delivered its fourth deficit in four years, which is, in total, $174 billion. As I said earlier, the blowout in this financial year's proposed deficit from $22 billion to $44 billion is a great example of what we are going to see over the coming 12 months. The baton of debt will be passed down to the children that are supposedly getting the benefit of these handouts. Once they enter the workforce they will be paying the interest on the debt and they will be paying their taxes to repay this debt. This government is protecting itself and the Prime Minister is doing everything in her power to keep her job. The budget is a purely political document—as I mentioned at the outset, a 'get-em-by budget'. It is only the coalition that has a proven track record of providing hope, reward and opportunity. (Time expired)