Mr McCORMACK (Riverina—Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) (15:35): Ventriloquist dummies? The opposition leader is leaving the chamber. He should stay and listen. Ventriloquist dummies? That is the pot calling the kettle black if ever I heard it. He is leaving the chamber. He should stay and listen. I do not think too many of his frontbench actually were listening when he was reading his prepared speech. I know because— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ): Order! I do not think we have got the clock going at the moment. Mr McCORMACK: I can start again if you like, Mr Deputy Speaker. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Riverina has the call. Mr McCORMACK: I was referring to the fact that the pot was calling the kettle black. Certainly it is a bit rich for the opposition leader, the member for Maribyrnong, to call anybody a ventriloquist dummy. The Australian public have not forgotten his mob. They have not forgotten, and they will not forget when the next election comes around, the six years of waste, mismanagement and total incompetence. Mr Thistlethwaite interjecting— Mr McCORMACK: The member for Kingsford Smith is yelling out something in favour of his leader. He could do a lot better job, because the Leader of the Opposition is not listening, and his frontbench were not listening to him either. But I was listening in question time. I heard the member for North Sydney, the Treasurer, talking about 106,000 jobs in four months created under the coalition. I heard the member for New England, the Minister for Agriculture, talk about the fact that it was Labor that wanted to put a 6.85c per litre increase on the price of diesel. I heard the member for Curtin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, talk about the fact that, under our policies, the live cattle trade has been reignited and 230,000 head of cattle have been shipped to Indonesia. That is of the 585,000 head of cattle that have been moved since we took back office. I heard the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the member for Cook, talk about 168 days without a boat—and 100 days without a question from the member for McMahon. No wonder the member for McMahon, the shadow minister, does not want to get up and ask the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection a question. He is embarrassed about the fact that, under his watch and under Labor's six years, 55,000 people came to these shores unauthorised and they are currently in detention centres—mind you, nine of which we have closed under our policies because the boats have stopped. Each and everyone of those 55,000 people cost taxpayers, cost the public purse, $170,000 to process. It is just a disgrace. Under our policies, we are saving people's lives. We have stopped the boats and we are saving people's lives. We also heard the Treasurer talk about the billion dollars of interest that is being racked up each and every month because of the interest bill on the debt and deficit left by that fellow over there, the member for Lilley. I might read from his 2012-13 budget speech. Member for Lilley, I hope you are listening. He began: The four years of surpluses I announce tonight are a powerful endorsement of the strength of our economy, resilience of our people, and success— success?— of our policies. Have you ever? He pretends not to listen. He went on to say: In an uncertain and fast changing world, we walk tall—as a nation confidently living within its means. Have you ever—'living within its means'! That is what our budget is getting on with the job of doing. We are going to live within our means. Under the member for Lilley, we certainly did not live within our means. We just maxed out the credit card each and every day, each and every week and each and every month under his stewardship as Treasurer of this country. Our future generations are going to being paying dearly for the mess that he left us, the mess that Labor left us. But we are getting on with the job, because we now have a responsible Treasurer and we have people on this side of the House who know business and understand that you cannot spend more money than you earn. How many of you people have actually been in a small business, a farm or— Government members interjecting— Mr McCORMACK: Exactly; we see lots of raised hands. How many people on the opposite side have? None; nobody put up their hand. I am not the first person to ask that question. The Treasurer did and he got the same sort of response, because they do not understand business. Mr Fitzgibbon: What was the question? Mr McCORMACK: A lot of them are union hacks. I can hear the shadow minister for agriculture— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ): The parliamentary secretary will resume his seat. Does the member for Hunter have a point of order? Mr Fitzgibbon: I am giving him the opportunity to— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No. That is grossly disorderly. Mr Fitzgibbon: What was the question? The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You will get an early leave pass very shortly if you interrupt like that again. Mr McCORMACK: The member for Hunter is embarrassed, because he probably read, as I did, the Australian of 2 June where it said 'Coalition cuts water buybacks'—and we have—'Labor accused of spending $1.5 billion on projects that didn't help Murray flows'. It was all about the environment, wasn't it, Member for Hunter? It was all about putting money into bureaucracy and spending money on everything bar helping those people who grow food and fibre, helping those people who you should have been getting in and assisting by insisting that your two Prime Ministers help them. Actually we had three, I suppose—three different sorts of Prime Ministers but two different people. It was just shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic. Under Labor we spent far too much money on bureaucracy, far too much money on water buybacks—taking water out of those valuable irrigation communities—far too much money on health bureaucracy and far too much waste. We could talk about pink batts and overpriced school halls, but we are not going to. We are going to be positive. We are going to talk about this budget being a key component of the Abbott government's economic action strategy, which will build a strong, prosperous economy and a safe, secure Australia. That is the job that we are getting on with doing. The infrastructure growth package takes the government's transport investment to $50 billion by 2019-20. As a result, total infrastructure investment from Commonwealth, state and local governments as well as the private sector will build to more than $125 billion by 2019-20. That is a great investment in Australia. We have the infrastructure Prime Minister. We have got 'Australia open for business'. Andrew Robb, the Minister for Trade and Investment, was out forging key preferential trade negotiations with Korea and Japan. That would not have happened under Labor. The government is creating the world's largest medical research endowment fund—a $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund. Contributions to the fund are coming from a new patient contribution to health services and from other health savings. We have to get on with the job of making some savings, because of the mess we were left by your mob—the debt we were left by Labor. This endowment fund, when mature, will double current direct medical research funding with an additional $1 billion a year. And who knows what sort of great medical research will come from that. Young people with a work capacity will be required to be earning, learning or participating in Work for the Dole. There is nothing wrong with that. People cannot expect to just keep getting a government cheque. They cannot expect to just keep getting money which is actually coming out of the pockets of other Australian taxpayers. The buck has to stop. It stopped on 13 May when the member for North Sydney, the Treasurer, brought down his budget. Businesses will receive up to $10,000 for employing workers older than 50—that is a good initiative—who have been on income support for six months or more, meaning that there will be stronger incentives to hire older workers. We are getting on with the job of giving people incentives to work. We are getting on with the job of making sure people either learn or earn. The government will reform the age pension to make it sustainable. We have to make our country sustainable. Our health system has to be sustainable. We are getting on with the job of making Australia a fairer, stronger nation—we have to. Dr Chalmers: Fairer? Mr McCORMACK: Yes, fairer. I will take the interjection—absolutely fairer. It is not fair to keep taking money away from some Australians and giving it to others. Some Australians who want to work—who are just yearning for the capacity to get a job—are getting a job. Under the coalition, 106,000 jobs have been created in just a few months. We are getting on with the job of making Australia work again. More importantly, we are paying down the debt, the $667 billion debt which Labor left unchecked. Labor, quite frankly, in six years, lived beyond its means. Labor had no plan for agriculture, no plan to stop the boats and no plan to pay down the debt. We are getting on with the job. We are providing hope, we are providing reward, we are providing opportunity, we are getting Australia working again and we are doing it in a measured, sensible way. The people of Australia know that the sensible people are in charge and they will vote for us at the next election.