Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (15:15): This is the week that truth has caught up with the budget and caught up with the government. It is fair to say that the parallel universe that this Liberal regime inhabit is shrinking fast. Reality keeps getting in the way of their rhetoric. The truth keeps shining a light on their broken promises and lies. On five different matters this week the truth has mugged this lying government. Firstly, we have learnt about the GP tax, justified on the basis of an out-of-control health spending crisis that does not exist. Secondly, we have learnt that university fees will increase in a manner which will discourage many students from studying. Thirdly, we have discovered that the government has been systematically engaged in a wilful conspiracy to destroy the renewable energy industry in this country. Fourthly, we have seen that when it comes to keeping promises on building submarines in Adelaide this government cannot lie straight in bed. Furthermore, fifthly, we have seen warnings from the banking sector of Australia that this government has gone too far in deregulating consumer protection. They are five matters this week where the truth has uncomfortably reared its unwelcome head in government considerations. The GP tax, an attack on the sick and the vulnerable, has been justified on the basis of out-of-control health spending. The government has said that the GP tax is being imposed because we have an unsustainable health spending system, yet they propose to put the money from it into a future fund for medical research and none of that money will be used to deal with the health spending crisis that they allege exists. This is a government that is addicted to scaring Australians and inventing false crises to justify unfair tactics. But the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has blown a big hole in the logic and the rationalisation of the government. Federal government health spending is at its lowest in 30 years—its lowest. How on earth can you justify taxing the sick and the poor and the vulnerable on a rationale that does not exist? We have discovered this week that Australians are spending more on their own health care than Medicare is, and yet this is a government that wants to transfer more of the burden onto ordinary Australians. AMA president Brian Owler has belled the cat. He says that this research makes 'a mockery of the fact that the government's been claiming that health care expenditure is out of control.' He goes on to say simply and purely and unequivocally on behalf of the patients of Australia, 'there is no justification for a GP co-payment.' Look at those government members opposite—their heads are bowed; they are not arguing back because they know the truth when they hear it. There is a second truth this week that has embarrassed the government. Education is essential to our future. Going to university should depend upon your hard work and your good marks, not your parents' wealth. Letting universities charge what they like will mean crippling debts and higher fees. People are worried—not just young people but families and mature age students. The Minister for Education visited the United Kingdom recently. You would have thought he could have discovered that fees are trebling under the system he advocates. He challenged us this week to look at what some of the university groups have said, and then he had the cheek—what a cheeky fellow this Minister for Education is—to accuse Labor of selectively quoting. We have discovered in the Senate submissions that no-one universally and unanimously supports all these recommendations. Frankly, we cannot get enough of this out-of-touch, arrogant fellow because we selfishly want Australia to see what this government is like. Never hide Christopher Pyne—keep bringing him out. We love him, but the people of Australia don't. We have discovered this week that the University of Western Australia has said that medical degrees will cost $100,000. Fantastic, Christopher Pyne—the worst Minister for Education we have ever had is introducing the highest fees we have ever seen in Australian education history. They can put that on his tombstone. The cost of doing a science degree is going up 82 per cent, and economics is going up 56 per cent. This government have a plan to create a two-class Australia, and they cynically keep arguing that the people who have not been to university should be presented with a bunch of flowers by the people who have gone to university. Christopher Pyne is so out of touch it is breathtaking. I know not what planet he lives on, but it is not the one the rest of us live on. When he says that parents and grandparents who have never been to university somehow begrudge their children and their grandchildren going to university, he is being so shockingly arrogant it is a disgrace. It is not just universities—there is also the renewable energy target. This week se have seen the government continue to do everything it can to destroy an industry. Let me quote John Hewson, Tony Abbott's former boss. He has said it well, thus proving that even a stopped clock can be right twice a day: You're asking people to make long-term investments and then you change the policy in the middle of that and you reduce the value of those investments. Mrs Sudmalis: What—the mining tax? Mr Shorten: Be careful—he even says more. Former Liberal leader and Abbott boss Hewson goes on: This is a government that says it's open for business. For Christ's sake, what business are you open for? It is certainly not renewable energy. Then, of course, we got the broken promises on submarines. I thought the performance of the Acting Prime Minister in question time today was outrageous. We put to the government a very straightforward statement. David Johnston, the little-known defence minister, who was being stalked by Mathais Cormann and his faction in the Western Australian Liberal Party—I would not want to be in the same party as that chap—fronts up at the Australian Submarine Corporation. No shame. He is right in front of where they build the subs—we know Liberals love being photographed with the military; it is just what they will not do for military equipment that is so outrageous—and on 8 May says: 'We will build 12 submarines in Adelaide.' He did not say what that Truss fellow said just before. He did not say, 'Well, the bulk of the Australian work will be done in South Australia.' No, he did not say that. He said: '12 submarines in Adelaide'. We just asked them a simple question today. If any of the backbenchers have any courage at all they should get up and say, 'Will the Liberal Party of Australia keep its promises on submarines?' Just keep your promises on submarines! Ms Gambaro interjecting— Mr SHORTEN: Come on, Teresa. You have a crack at it. Keep your promises. Let me quote the Governor-General and former CDF , Sir Peter Cosgrove. Right before he became Governor-General, he said: Whenever I am asked why we should build submarines in Australia, my short reply is that we can’t afford not to. Of course, what would the former CDF compared to all the Colonel Blimps over here know? Then there are the financial changes that the government is making. The government is so out of touch with the truth that it is recklessly deregulating consumer protections for people who consume financial products to a point where even the banks have said, 'You've gone too far.' How you can get outflanked on the left by the big banks of Australia defies me. It sets new land speed records. It is not only that the government have been outflanked by the banks where even they think the government is going too far in drinking the drug of deregulation and exposing people to further financial risk; it is that they lied about it. So this week we have five different matters where this government continued to lie—despite the truth. It does not matter if it is jobs and renewable energy. It does not matter if it is jobs and submarines. It does not matter if it is out-of-control health spending—a confected crisis where they are scaring Australians to justify their rotten GP tax. It does not matter if they want to make it harder for working-class kids or kids from the bush. Wasn't that a classic answer from the Leader of the Nationals? His own party has said it is a bad idea. Of course, the Liberal Party has got its hand so far up that chap's back that he does not even remember the bush anymore. What I saw today and what I have seen in the last couple of days with financial protections is that even Innes Willox, the spokesperson for the Ai Group, the Australian Industry Group, spelled out the lies of this government. Remember the dirty deal the government did with the Palmer United Party to wreck the retirement savings of millions of Australian? Innes Willox said: … we wouldn't expect wages to rise to completely offset the postponement of the superannuation guarantee … This mob promised real solutions, but all they are is part of the real problem of Australia.