Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We heard earlier in this discussion that members opposite think that they might be living on another planet. Well, I think they are. Not only is this budget fair; it is one that delivers opportunity and security. A couple of headlines, for those opposite, who I think have probably not read the budget papers properly at all: there is record schools funding of $18.6 billion over 10 years; the so-called $22 billion was never in Labor's budget. And let us not forget the words of the former tertiary education minister in the Labor government, Craig Emerson, who described Labor's attempts to block our education bill as 'heartbreaking'. He said that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to guarantee record funding for schools, and what the Labor Party is doing—and this is from a former Labor tertiary education minister—is 'heartbreaking'. So we are seeing fanciful claims by members opposite, and even Craig Emerson has called them out on it.

We are delivering record funding for child care and more funding for kindergartens, to fund 15 hours a week. We are delivering tax cuts for 3.2 million small businesses, to grow jobs, business confidence and investment. We are delivering massive investment in infrastructure. We are guaranteeing Medicare. We are unfreezing Labor's indexation freeze. We are delivering a financial services complaints authority—access to justice for consumers ripped off by the banks.

As for Labor: as I mentioned, Labor members, yes, are living on another planet. This is a party that championed business tax cuts a few years ago and now demonises those initiatives, in utter hypocrisy. This is a party that talks about tackling multinational tax avoidance measures that will deliver something like $4 billion in additional revenue in this financial year, and a party that votes against those measures. The Labor Party talks about standing up for those with a disability and then will not fully fund the NDIS—in contradiction to everything that members opposite have said before. This is a party that indulges in a fake class war, when it does not have the guts to admit that a millionaire is not someone who earns $87,000 a year or more. It is a party that talked about 'the most vulnerable in our community' but which, when it was in government, stripped billions of dollars out of the family tax benefit and, in one of the most shameful acts under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, slashed the sole parent pension. Even Kevin Rudd said belatedly that that was a terrible mistake. And we hear members opposite talking about standing up for single mothers—what an absolute joke! The Labor Party left single mothers high and dry.

This is a party that is so intent on being an economic wrecker that it blocks its own savings. It took $5 billion in savings to the people of Australia when it was in government and then it turned around and completely blocked those savings. This is a party with a policy black hole—

See this speech in context