Dr EMERSON (Rankin—Minister for Trade and Competitiveness) (15:01): I thank my friend and colleague the member for Blair for his question, because I know how much he cares about the people of Blair and of Ipswich. He has been discussing with me the increase in unemployment associated with the savage cuts of the Queensland state government. We know that investing in skills and education is the pre-eminent source of competitiveness in the 21st century. Yet across coalition states we are seeing savage cuts to investment in education and training. New South Wales is taking $1.7 billion out of schools and cutting 800 TAFE jobs and increasing TAFE fees. Mr Pyne: I rise on a point of order. The standing orders are very clear that ministers should be asked questions within their portfolio. Question time is not a time for a general question to the Minister for Trade and Competitiveness to slag and bag coalition states. I ask you that, if question time is to mean anything, you bring the minister to order or sit him down. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. Mr Albanese: On the point of order, the minister is the minister for competitiveness. If the shadow minister for education does not understand that education and skills have something to do with us having a competitive economy then that is his problem. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Leader of the House will resume his seat. The minister has the call. Dr EMERSON: The Queensland government is cutting the number of TAFEs by half, the Victorian government is slashing TAFE funding by $300 million and of course just today this has been fully endorsed by the Leader of the Opposition when he said: 'I respect the job they are doing. I work closely with them as far as I can. But they are dealing with their problems at the state level and I will seek to deal with federal problems at our level.' You have the Leader of the Opposition endorsing the cuts and saying that he too would engage in savage cuts to government programs. We know the size of the problem, because the shadow finance minister indicated that there is indeed a $70 billion funding crater. That was confirmed again today by the shadow Treasurer. The shadow finance minister further said to Business Spectator, in August: 'I have on my desk 49 policy documents, with covers'—that is nice —'and the costings.' So they have the costings and they are concealing them. We know that they are deliberately concealing the costings of where these savage cuts are coming from because he said at the same interview that they would not make the same mistake as they made with Fightback! and set out those policies before an election. Indeed, the device of an audit commission is the device of choice of the coalition. It is the device that Campbell Newman used to conceal the cuts to education, to training and to the workforce in Queensland. And we know that this opposition has said no to the charter of budget honesty, which was designed by former Treasurer Peter Costello. They will not go to the Parliamentary Budget Office. The shadow Treasurer obviously is going to hire a retired Mosman bookkeeper to put a little ruler over the costings and then say that it all adds up. But in truth they have in mind the same device— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister will get back to the issue— Dr EMERSON: and that is an audit commission. You, the Leader of the Opposition, should have the courage to say to the Australian people where you are going to make cuts. Be a man, front up and tell the Australian people how you are going to savagely cut education— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.