Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

And a brave voluntary effort it was. I might be able to share an insight into what Western Australians might be thinking about as they approach the Senate election on 5 April. They most definitely want an improvement in the National Broadband Network. We saw a hint of the deplorable rollout of the National Broadband Network in Western Australia when my colleague Senator Fifield answered a question today from me.

Secondly, they want a carefully considered rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. There is no doubt that we are all committed to improving access to disability services for all Australians. You only have to look at the report that was released on Thursday or Friday last week that shows that more work needs to be done to get it right sooner. That is particularly important in my home state of Western Australia, where we will roll it out on 1 July this year. In addition to that—and you will have heard it very, very often because it is very, very true—they want the carbon tax repealed, they want the mining tax repealed and they want our borders strengthened. On the last three measures, the coalition government has a clear plan.

Labor have got it very, very wrong. When Western Australians hear talk about the National Commission of Audit and taking waste out of government, what do Western Australian say? They say, 'Yes; three cheers!'

There is no more powerful demonstration than Labor's focus on the National Commission of Audit to demonstrate that they do not understand Western Australia. At a time when Western Australians feel aggrieved for making such a hefty contribution to the coffers of the Australian government, Labor comes in here and says that the new government should not be reviewing expenditure. That is a very clear demonstration that they should visit Western Australia before they start talking about Western Australia.

I would just like to focus on what I call the five great myths that Labor, in their matrimonial union with the Greens, are prosecuting in regard to the National Commission of Audit. The first myth is that there is no problem in our country that we need to address through the National Commission of Audit. That is blatantly untrue, and I will come to that in one second.

The second myth is that the coalition is the only one that had a plan to reduce Australian Public Service jobs—not true. I will also come to that in a moment. I can demonstrate to you that Labor had a plan, late in its final stages of government, to reduce Australian Public Service jobs.

The third myth is that it is only the coalition that is using the efficiency dividend across the Public Service to drive greater efficiency—not true. For many years, prior to the election of the new government, the Labor government had an efficiency dividend and, what is more, on two separate occasions it had a one-off increase of two per cent. And I will come to that point in a moment.

The fourth myth is that somehow, in some way, this new government is keeping the 900-page document a secret. As we know, from the Henry tax review and from other matters of government, it is not unusual for governments to take their time to consider reports or inquiries. What will be unique about this government's timeliness in addressing or inquiring into this National Commission of Audit is that it will feed into the May budget process. It is just 48 days until we see the first coalition budget. What is more, Labor's leader in the Senate, Senator Wong, said only last week that, yes, they took time to consider the Henry tax review. Why? Because they needed time to consider it.

The fifth myth that is being prosecuted by Labor and the Greens is that the only way to address our budget dilemma is to raise taxes. I do not know about you, Mr Deputy President, and I do not know about others, but I would like to look at ways of correcting our budget emergency in this country other than slugging Australian families and Australian businesses with more tax.

So let me go to the first myth, and that is that there is no problem. That is blatantly incorrect and ignorant and blind to the facts. What we know is that in our country real incomes have been falling since the second half of 2011. What we know is that there are declining terms of trade for our country, which means there is a slowing economic growth rate. More than that, we know that not I and not my parents but certainly my nephews and nieces and future generations have been handcuffed by the structural deficits that have been put in place by the former government. There is clearly a problem.

Kevin Rudd boasted, in his first 100 days when he was Prime Minister, that he was: 'setting up a razor gang to comprehensively review each Commonwealth government department and cut wasteful spending'. Why is it okay for Kevin Rudd to have a program to examine government expenditure when he is elected but not okay for our new Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, to have such a program? The one difference between Kevin Rudd's program and Tony Abbott's program is that Tony Abbott will make it work, will make it work sensibly, and will manage people's expectations very well.

The reality is that our economy is in a historic transition. I think this was best put by Paul Kelly in the Australian newspaper earlier this year, when he said:

The daunting strategic task facing Abbott and Hockey now emerges: they seek to impose off the Audit Commission a vast fiscal and public sector efficiency reform on an economy that is fragile and facing great investment uncertainties.

These are the realities we are dealing with. These are the realities that some people in this place would prefer to ignore, would prefer to be blind to, would prefer to put their heads in the sand about. So these are significant challenges.

We know that the PBO, the Parliamentary Budget Office, found that health spending was increasing by 4.8 per cent a year but our GDP growth was increasing by just three per cent. We know that real government spending has grown by 3½ per cent over the five years to 2012-13 and will grow over the medium term to 3.7 per cent. Cataclysmically, we are facing, already, this day, interest repayments annually of $8 billion. So when people talk about the need for improved funding in health care, when people talk about the improved funding in education, there is $8 billion that we are sending out the door on interest payments that could be put to better provision of health and education services.

The Labor Party in the Senate, aided and abetted by the Australian Greens, are alone. Not even their former leader Bob Hawke and not even their former leader Paul Keating disagreed that a national commission of audit—

Senator Di Natale interjecting—

Sorry, that would be Senator Di Natale, the Australian Greens senator from Victoria, walking hand in glove with Labor senators, denying that there is a problem, denying that there is a budget emergency, and wanting to defend Bob Hawke and Paul Keating—I might have that incorrect, Senator Di Natale.

So what did former Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating say? They urged the new government in January to act quickly to repair the bottom line damaged by Labor. Keating has said that the government should 'earnestly pursue the remedies' that this situation requires. He says that the government must understand the situation and it must be prepared to make hard decisions. Certainly, in regard to the second test, they have met that.

So the first myth is that there is no problem. There is clearly a problem. Our respected political commentators say there is a problem; our former Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating say there is a problem; the evidence in the budget documents says there is a problem. We know—we live with the uncertainty in the Australian economy that is happening as a result of our economy needing to be more globally competitive. There is much to be talked about and there is a great urgency, but some people in this place want to deny that there is an important issue that needs to be addressed.

We are still going through our Senate inquiry into the new government's Commission of Audit, but at the hearing on 15 January it was interesting to hear what the chairman, Mr Shepherd, said:

Australia faces the challenges of an ageing population, poor productivity performance, a persistently high Australian dollar, high energy costs, heavy reliance on the resource sector, and a volatile global political and economic outlook.

There is much to be concerned about. (Time expired)