Senator STOTT DESPOJA (Leader of the Australian Democrats) (3:27 PM) —I rise on behalf of the Democrats to address the issues in question time today that relate to the budget. The Democrats are well aware of the fact that Senator Carr and other Labor members would have you believe that this budget is mean spirited, tricky and economically irresponsible. On the other hand, I have just heard Senator Mason and others in a spirited defence of this budget and the economic record of this government.

The Democrats are well aware that the truth lies somewhere in between. We have commended a number of the small initiatives we have seen in this budget—some in relation to welfare, some in relation to, for example, the Australian Research Council funding and the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation for which we are responsible in terms of initiating that. There is some money there for the ABC, but it is pretty pathetic in comparison to the amount of money that has been cut by government. And certainly some of the payments for senior Australians are endorsed by the Democrats.

However, when we were told that welfare reform would be a centrepiece of this budget we were fooled because clearly welfare is a footnote in the context of this budget. Reports that more than $1 billion will be spent over four years is clearly wrong, given that in the first year we will see spending of around $78 million maximum and over four years we will see less than $1 billion net spent on welfare reform.

The government seem to have cherry picked from the McClure proposals, despite their talk—not only in the Senate today but also last night in the media—that they were endorsing McClure's recommendations. What they seem to have done is cherry pick the bits that relate to punitive measures or mutual obligation, specifically the extension of Work for the Dole—although it is debatable whether that is endorsed by McClure—and they have failed to look at the issue of supplements for work or participation assistance for those people who are not only unemployed but may also be poverty stricken.

Senator Vanstone, in her comments to the chamber this afternoon, was all set to have a great go at me. Although she did not explain to what she was referring, I suspect that she was alluding to comments I made on Lateline last night on ABC television. If I have misrepresented the Senate or misled any Australians, I do unreservedly apologise. I am aware of the fact that I had a short period of time in which to refer to the changes to the parenting allowance and I wanted to make clear for the record that parents with children between the ages of six and 12 would have to attend a compulsory interview with a view to assessing their appropriateness for work, et cetera. Similarly, parents with children between the ages of 13 to 15 would have to engage in six hours per week of work training or community work. I am well aware of that distinction, but I suspect in my comments—and this is something I pointed out to my staff immediately afterwards—that I may have given a mistaken impression that the six hours per week applied to those parents who had children under 13. If there is any mistake there, I certainly apologise. I do not think it is really the stuff of Senator Vanstone's beat-up and what she tried to imply in the Senate today. Ever since Senator Crowley and I exposed that good old fictional Wright family, Senator Amanda Vanstone has been looking for a way to get back at us.

In relation to the budget overall, this has been a wasted opportunity. There is no vision there. There is no real attempt to address the fundamental economic, social and environmental problems that beset us in Australia. It is clearly full of pre-election sweeteners and some nasties as well. The Democrats will be assessing all those measures on their merits. We will not support measures that are designed to hit hard those already living in poverty. We believe, as expressed in my comments to the Assistant Treasurer in question time today, that this budget has failed manifestly to even look at job creation strategies. There is nothing that we can see in this budget that is specifically about creating jobs. Certainly there are initiatives for training, although I noted an interjection from Senator McGauran that suggested a work creation measure was actually Work for the Dole. So it shows how far out of touch he is. I think even Minister Abbott and others admit that it is not a labour market program, it never has been, and it is certainly not working as one. Overall, this has been a lost opportunity: a failure to invest in our future. It is lacking vision and is certainly not a blueprint for a sustainable economy. It was not a 21st century budget. It was short-sighted. It was designed to win back and shore up votes that this government believes it may have lost. In that respect, we find it unfortunate. There are a number of small measures that the Democrats have commended, but overall we are very disappointed. (Time expired)

Question resolved in the affirmative.