Mr MITCHELL (McEwen) (16:23): It is a pleasure to follow the member for Brisbane, who reminds us that it was a Liberal government that reduced the feed-in tariff to families and households—please do not walk out until I am finished, because you will love this—from 32c to 8c. You have actually ripped the guts out of it. Just for the record, I want to clear this up. I know she did not mean to deliberately mislead the House, but Queensland does not have daylight savings. You said they did. You might just want to find out where you live, mate. It is unbelievable. I tell you what: the biggest joke was the cuts in health insurance that she talked about. What she is saying clearly is that every working family should be subsidising her health insurance, my health insurance and that of everyone else in here. That is an absolute joke. Mr Dutton interjecting— Mr MITCHELL: Don't you talk, mate. The shadow minister at the table interjects because he has not asked a question all term of the health minister. That is why he has the hashtag 'world's laziest shadow'—because he does not do anything. Our economy is very strong because this government put in a fiscal policy that has kept us out of recession and kept us the envy of the world. We are the envy of the world because what our government has done is give assistance. We have had the biggest pension increase to pensioners we have seen. It was not under your government—in 11 years there was not a thing. You are running behind. You talk about social housing. There can be nothing clearer than the hatred of old people by those opposite when you listen to Campbell Newman saying, 'Don't live on your own. You should all get into a communal home. You should all be locked down in a little dog box together.' That is what they want. It is absolutely amazing when you listen to those opposite whinge and whine and carp, and they come up with nothing. The simple facts are that since we have come to office we have created 100,000 jobs. Since we have had Liberal or LNP—or whatever they are calling themselves this week—premiers in different states we have seen job after job being slashed. In my home state of Victoria, over 50,000 jobs have gone. How does that help people with the cost of living? Mr Tehan interjecting— Mr MITCHELL: The mumbler for Wannon over there was out there supporting Premier Baillieu as he cut the pensioners' winter concession on power and electricity bills. He smiles and he laughs; he thinks it is fun. But it just shows that he is a heartless, empty shell. He is a very empty shell. Mr Tehan interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Rishworth ): I ask the member for Wannon to cease interjecting. Mr MITCHELL: During the GFC we had the opposition leader sitting there and going to sleep. He did not think there was a GFC. He just missed the whole lot because he was snoozing. He was snoozing away in his office, doing nothing, while Treasurer Wayne Swan was getting on with the job of keeping us the strongest economy in the world, delivering things that they can only dream of. We had lower interest rates, lower unemployment, higher job growth—every major factor that you look at when you talk about the economy we had, and they sit there and wallow in their negativity. They cannot find a positive thing. I want to quote Julian Morrow because I reckon his quote was fantastic. He said that the Leader of the Opposition is so negative the only thing he would eat for an entree is an antipasto. I think that was an absolutely amazing and so truthful comment. We have been working extremely hard to deliver the things that they cannot do. Our net debt is one-tenth that of major advanced economies. We have to tame inflation. We have a budget coming into surplus in 2013. We have done this during the toughest economic times in my lifetime. We have delivered this and we have got on with the job of making sure that we support working families. We support workers. We do that by not cutting their wages and conditions. That is really not going to help them, is it? Lose your wages and conditions and earn less money—that is the Liberal way of thinking. They have voted against every single opportunity to support families across this nation. When our bills come before the parliament, they are gone. They hide away and they keep coming up with this idea of, 'We can do it better. But we can't.' They will not release their policies. The cat was let out of the bag by the shadow minister for finance, Andrew Robb. He said they will do that at a later date because at the last election they went and got their policies audited by an auditing company and, lo and behold, that company was charged and fined for fudging the figures. Today we learned—because Minister Emerson came out and showed us—that the $70 billion black hole has grown to $84 billion in one day. That is $84 billion that they have to find. Where are they going to find it? They are going to cut workers' jobs. They are going to cut wages and conditions. They are going to cut support to families. It is just rank hypocrisy for them to come in here and say, 'We're here to help look after the families.' The shadow minister, Sophie Mirabella, said on Q&A— Mrs Griggs: What's her title? Mr MITCHELL: Well, there are a lot of names for her, but we will just stick with— Mrs Griggs: She's the member for Indi. Mr MITCHELL: the member for Indi. She said that their small-business tax levy is an impost on families. She said: 'It is a small levy on a small number of businesses. I'm assuming businesses will have a cost structure that reflect their costs. So if that modest cost increase directly from the levy is incorporated in their prices then, sure, it is an increase.' She would have to be the only member I have ever seen get booed on the stage during Q&A. That was about the grocery tax that they are going to deliver which will cause the cost of living to increase. We have seen right across this nation—and I have seen this in my own state of Victoria—that since the Liberal-National parties have come to power they have slugged commuters with fare increases, without delivering on their previous plans to improve public transport. They have stripped $300 from the household budgets of 100,000 families by axing the school start bonus. At a time when parents need money, when their kids are going to school for the first time, they take the money away. They take it away and what have they delivered? Absolutely nothing. The report in the Herald Sun today showed just what the LNP think, their big priorities: 'Let's go and see if Victoria has pumas running in the wild.' Fifty thousand jobs are gone. Businesses are closing because 'Premier Faillieu' cannot do anything, and what do they do? 'We're going to go and look for pumas.' It gives you an insight into—you could not say the intelligence of those opposite, but their way of thinking. We also see that they forced up apprenticeship fees by $200 a year by cutting support for apprentices. They cut the school bonuses. They cut the education maintenance allowance for all students, putting schools in the red. That is taking away uniforms, it is taking away equipment and it is taking away excursions. We have to go back and have a look at how their scare campaign works and how what they say can never, ever be believed. Joe Hockey, the shadow Treasurer, said on 12 March 2008: I firmly believe we are heading into recession nationally, and this government is taking us down the path at high speed. That was backed up by the member for Sturt, who said: … we are definitely— I should not use a deep voice— … we are definitely going to be in a recession this year. That was followed up by Tony Abbott, the Leader of the Opposition, who said: I think what we're going to get is massive debt and a deep recession. The great Nick Minchin, the great factional warrior—remember him?—said: … particularly at a time when the economy is … headed for a recession. Well, where is it? It never eventuated, because what they say and what is actually happening are two different things. They talk about carbon pricing. I tell you what: these are direct quotes from the member for Warringah. When he talked about the Medicare safety net he said it is not the same as a carbon backflip: 'It's not the same. When I said we wouldn't touch it, I meant that.' But straight after the election he said: I faced changed circumstances. I made a choice and I'm happy to stand by it. What we know is that circumstances were changed. They won the election, they won control of the Senate and they thumbed their noses at the Australian public. If you want to talk about untruths, you do not have to look any further than the member for Warringah and what he says. What about this golden oldie from last year? You can imagine sitting at the Liberal Party's national conference and there is the member for Warringah. He sits there and he says: 'Reithie, mate, I'll look after you, old son. You nominate for the Liberal presidency. I'll look after you. You're the man! I'll do the right thing.' Then he turns to his left and says, 'Stockers, mate, here's my vote.' That is a deliberate untruth. He set up Peter Reith—not that I am complaining about that, but you cannot trust a word that comes out of the opposition leader's mouth. He has never ever stood by what he has said. He admits you cannot believe anything he says unless he writes it down. And then what happens? He writes it down and says, 'Oh, well, I didn't really mean that.' This government has delivered the strongest economy that we have seen. We are the envy of the world and we are going to keep delivering for families and keep your hands off the Australian economy.