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Monday, 2 March 2015
Page: 1639

Budget

Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (14:59): My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to reports that the Prime Minister plans to shelve his unfair GP tax and his cruel cuts to job seekers for the moment. Does the Prime Minister still agree with the statement by the Minister for Communications:

… of course every single member of the government supported every element in the budget—of course. We are a united government.

Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (15:00): Well said. You can do nothing better than to quote ministers in this government. I applaud the Leader of the Opposition for quoting ministers in this government, particularly the Minister for Communications, who put it very well. All ministers in this government support the measures put forward by this government. The measures put forward by this government are good measures.

We accept that legislation needs to go through the Senate and we accept that we need to work with people of goodwill in the Senate. That is exactly what we do. While members opposite are playing their usual Canberra insider games and while members opposite are engaging in their usual jeer, sneer and smear, we are getting on every day with the job of delivering better government and delivering the right thing to the people of Australia.

Let me go through the list again. Just in the last fortnight, we have finally delivered some certainty that Australia will get the submarines that we need, after Labor sat on its hands for six years. We have ended the dam-phobia in this country by getting on with the job of building water storages in Tasmania. That is just the start. We are doing the right thing by the pensioners of this country with changes to the deeming rate and by scrapping the carbon tax, but keeping the compensation.

Again, I say: look at what the Minister for Small Business announced today, which is a code of conduct for the grocery sector. That is something that that sector has been crying out for for years. In Labor's wilderness years, they cried out, 'Give us something that will enable us to get a fair go and that will enable us to have a level playing field.' That is exactly what the grocery sector now has. Every day, we will do the right thing by the people of Australia. Every day, we will get on with the job.

We accept that the professional saboteurs opposite will do their best. We accept that, having been incompetent in government, they are now on wreckers in opposition. We will just get on with doing the right thing by the people of Australia. This day and every day, we are doing the right thing by the people of Australia.