APPROPRIATION BILL (NO. 1) 2001-2002—BUDGET DEBATE

The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the question—That the Bill be now read a second time—

Debate resumed.

Mr Tanner moved, as an amendment—That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: "whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House condemns this Government for its:

(1) reduction in the projected Budget cash surplus from $14.6 billion when the 2001-02 Budget year first appeared in the 1998-99 Budget Papers to a surplus of $1.5 billion and an accrual deficit of $0.8 billion in this Budget;

(2) failure to address the significant investment needs in the areas of education and health provision;

(3) string of policy backflips and wasteful, panic driven spending across almost all program areas;

(4) commitment to sell the rest of Telstra if re-elected;

(5) failure to provide relief for Australian families under financial pressure;

(6) failure to address the hardship, and red tape nightmare faced by small business arising from the introduction of the GST;

(7) deception of self-funded retirees and pensioners through misleading taxation claims;

(8) failure to provide a comprehensive retirement incomes policy which addresses the needs of the new century;

(9) lax approach to corporate governance issues which has contributed to the recent spate of corporate failures;

(10) lack of an ongoing commitment to the protection of employee entitlements;

(11) misuse of taxpayers' money on its politically partisan GST advertising campaign;

(12) provision of complex, confusing and uninformative budget documents;

(13) failure to identify in the Budget papers the true cost of GST collection and implementation; and

(14) failure to deliver its guarantee that no Australian will be worse off as a result of the GST package".

Debate continued.