Senator O'NEILL (New South Wales) (15:14): I am pleased to speak on this day after the disastrous budget this government has brought down. What a budget of deception, continuing the terrible form that we saw from them last year. While promising less tax and fewer taxes they have delivered 17 new taxes. Minister Cormann had the gall to stand up in this place today and bald-facedly say zero. I will mention just two, because I do not want to spend too much time on it There is a new import tax—cost-recovery for licensing import processing. There is a new citizenship tax—cost-recovery for citizenship and increased visa application charges. Those are just two of the 17 that it seems the Minister for Finance has forgotten he okayed in the new budget. They promised less debt and what they delivered in this budget is $12.5 billion of new debt. They have done so much damage to economic and business confidence since they got into government. They have driven confidence through the floor, they have driven unemployment through the roof and they have managed in one year to double the deficit, from $17 billion to $35 billion, yet they continue to stand there and pretend they are great economic managers. Senator Canavan says we want to talk about last year's budget. We do, because they want everybody to forget that they have still got those savings that they wanted to bank from last year. One-hundred-thousand-dollar degrees remain in their budget calculations; $57 billion in cuts from last year remain in their budget; $30 billion in cuts to education remain. The budget this year retains the very same stench of unfairness that every Australian detected when the government put their budget out last year as well. It is clear that Mr Abbott has simply not learnt from last year's budget. This is the same style. It oozes unfairness. It operates like this government: on a platform of unfairness and misrepresentation. With regard to health and the appalling attempt at not answering the question that we saw from the minister today, we are seeing a government that simply does not understand the investment in health that is the right of Australians. Last night, in addition to the $57 billion that they cut out last year, they added another $2 billion. Just last weekend, the health minister was promising Australia that the Abbott government would sink its teeth into dental reform, promising $200 million in spending, but the only thing that we can see in this budget that the minister has sunk her teeth into is Australian kids—stealing $125.6 million out of the next four years from Labor's scheme that provided millions of children with dental care through Medicare. That is what is wrong with this government. Look at the policy that they choose to inflict on the nation. They take to children's dental health and they take $125 million out of it. It is a budget that is short-sighted in so many ways. It threatens the future of Australia's health system and it entrenches the fundamental unfairness of this government's very first disastrous budget. Close to $1 billion is going to be cut from programs that fund preventative health care, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and mental health and other crucial health programs. Literally thousands of organisations around the country that do vital work, caring for Australia's most at risk and vulnerable people, will be left reeling from this further assault on their core funding. What have they cut overnight that they want to run away from and hide from? I mentioned the $125 million from the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. There is $144.6 million from the MBS. There is the appalling response we had from the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. He did not even seem to know that he had cut $70 million from the Department of Veterans' Affairs dental and allied health payments. There is $214 million from e-health and not a single dollar is allocated beyond 2018. There is a bit of a pattern. This government seems to have funded a few things for two years. The science that underpins the policymaking that leads to preventative health does not end in two years. Programs that deserve funding should be funded into the long term. They have cut $252 million from PBS listed drugs. They have cut $72.5 million from health workforce scholarships, wrecking the very fabric of prevention and good health. This Abbott government has gutted Medicare since coming to office. The budget that we saw last night inflicts further damage. The GP tax, no matter what they say, remains. It is just thinly veiled in a freeze on indexation. As every day passes, the people of Australia are seeing more and more. This government cannot be trusted and they have slashed the opportunities for Australia with this budget. (Time expired) Senator McGRATH: I probably should remind the Labor Party that we inherited a deficit of $48 billion and the deficit for this budget year is going to be $35 billion, and it is forecast to reduce each year to below $7 billion over the next four years. This is because the coalition—the Liberal Party and the National Party—are careful economic managers. But on the other side we have the Labor Party, led by Bill Shorten. We are almost halfway through Bill Shorten's year of big ideas. So far his only big ideas have been taxes. Bill Shorten should be careful about Tanya Plibersek's big idea, and that is that she is going to become the leader. So I would suggest to the Leader of the Opposition that the Labor Party response to this budget has been all about saving Bill Shorten's job, because Bill Shorten is on thin ice because the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party is circling. She is circling. She is like one of those— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McGrath, I generally do let a few instances of referring to people by their incorrect titles go if it is in the run, but— Senator McGRATH: Okay. The Leader of the Opposition is being circled by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I do apologise, Mr Deputy President. If I were the Leader of the Opposition, I would be certainly locking the Leader of the Opposition's office because the deputy leader is certainly on the war path. This is a great budget for Australia and it is particularly a great budget for small business. I should remind the Labor Party about small businesses, because they do not know what a BAS is. They think BAS is something on the radio dial in their cars. This is a budget for small businesses across Australia, because small businesses are the engine of the Australian economy, and this budget has done fantastic things to grow the small business economy. We should support that. Senator Conroy interjecting— Senator McGRATH: I am being shouted down by the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party in the Senate who has no experience with small businesses. He is probably very good at turning large businesses into small businesses, in terms of when Labor are in power. Through you, Mr Deputy President: that is his experience of small businesses. Senator Conroy: Why did you leave the UK? Why did Boris sack you? Senator McGRATH: I would love to talk about the UK. Let's talk about the UK. Let's look at what happened to Labour in the UK. Let's talk about a Conservative party that had a strong deputy leader and a strong leader. I am happy to talk about the UK until the cows come home and they are milked by the dairy farmers of the Sunshine Coast. I am more than happy to do that. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator McGrath, just resume your seat for a moment. I think there has been enough interjection, and I will ask for that to cease. Senator McGrath, please come back to the question before the chair. Senator McGRATH: I will certainly come back to talking about the budget and talking about some of the wonderful measures that will help small businesses in Australia recover from six years of Labor government. In particular, I want to talk about the tax cut that small businesses are going to receive—a 1½ percent tax cut. I think that is fantastic for small businesses. I hope that those opposite in the Labor Party do not oppose this wonderful tax cut. The Liberal Party and the National Party are the parties of lower taxes, and we should be proud of that. Through you, Mr Deputy President, I would love the Labor Party senators to come across and support the lowering of taxes for small businesses. Also, I want to talk about the ability to deduct assets up to $20,000 from 7.30pm last night. I have a lot of friends in small business and I know that already, last night and today, they have been out looking at what they are going to buy. I think that is a wonderful boost for the economy—in terms of what small businesses can buy, products up to $20,000, to push and grow the economy. I hope that those opposite will also support that. It is a wonderful measure for small businesses in terms of what small businesses can do to grow Australia. The other thing the budget will do is help everyday Australians to access jobs. Sadly, in some parts of Queensland youth unemployment is still too high. I think we should all come together to work out what we can do to grow the job market in Australia. There is going to be a $1.2 billion national wage subsidy pool to target long-term unemployment. I think that is fantastic. Employers will receive the subsidy from the time they are starting a job, when hiring—when training costs are greatest—rather than waiting six months or more. This will ensure wage subsidies are more effective. This includes reforms to Restart. It will make it easier for small businesses to receive government support sooner when they employ older workers. (Time expired)