Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to an email I received from Marie Kinniburgh in my electorate and her 23-year-old daughter with a disability. Marie said: 'We will be affected by all the constraints imposed by the new pension indexation, health payments, student loans, petrol excise, utilities concession defunding and rebate freezing.' On top of this, Marie tells me her daughter will lose the pensioner education supplement, which is worth more than $1,600 a year. Can the Prime Minister advise what further cuts he is now planning that will hit Marie and her family?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the honourable Prime Minister and I would advise this is a very broad ranging question, and therefore there will be no points of order on the question of relevance.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do appreciate—

Mr Husic interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley is anxious to leave and get an early plane, is he?

Mr Husic interjecting—

The choice is yours. You can leave now.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I? Thank you! Better than hearing another Truss answer.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will withdraw—

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course I withdraw.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and leave quickly under 94(a).

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll be quicker than Warren's answer.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the member is named.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the member for Chifley be suspended from the service of the House.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley is suspended from the service of the House for a period of 24 hours.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not pretend that the decisions that this government have made are going to be cost-free for members of the public. I do not pretend that for a second. Obviously, we have changed the indexation system for various social security benefits and, obviously, we are seeking to introduce a co-payment for doctors visits. I absolutely accept that. I accept also that this will impact on the people of Australia. But I simply make the point that there is no cost-free way of dealing with Labor's debt and deficit disaster. I do hope that the member who asked the question was honest with Marie and said to her—

Ms Kate Ellis interjecting—

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Adelaide will desist, as will the member for Sydney.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

that the government do not particularly want to do these things, but the government have to do these things in order to deal with the debt and deficit disaster which the Labor Party—the party that the member who asked the question represents—created. The difference between the government and the opposition is that we have a plan to deal with the debt and deficit disaster that Labor created and Labor is in denial about the debt and deficit disaster that it created.

Labor used to think that a surplus was important. As soon as they moved into opposition, they thought that a surplus was unimportant. As soon as they moved into opposition, they abandoned even the rhetorical commitment to achieving a surplus. This is the problem with members opposite: they were incompetent in government and they are irresponsible in opposition. They were wreckers in government and now they simply want to wreck government generally.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You could not even put out a fire in your stables!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Whoever said that last comment will withdraw it.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.