Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (14:10): The Deputy Leader of the Opposition says that we had PEFO. Well, they said that the deficit would be $30 billion; it turned out to be closer to $50 billion— Ms MacTiernan interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Perth will desist. Mr ABBOTT: so, under the circumstances under which we now find ourselves, it is necessary for the ABC to face the kind of savings search which every other part of government is subject to. The Leader of the Opposition thinks there is something wrong with finding savings in the ABC. Mr Shorten interjecting— The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition has asked his question and will desist. Mr Perrett interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Moreton is warned! Mr ABBOTT: Who said yesterday, 'We don't think the cuts need to be as deep as they are'? Who said yesterday, 'We wouldn't be making the same cuts'? Ms Macklin interjecting— The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will resume his seat, and the member for Jagajaga will leave under 94(a). The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order. The member for Jagajaga then left the chamber. Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order on direct relevance. There is no way the material that the Prime Minister has just turned to can be directly relevant to the question that was asked. The SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Mr ABBOTT: This is someone who Julia Gillard could not trust, someone who Kevin Rudd could not trust, and now he wants to make trust an issue. Well, I tell you what: the act of faith— Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Isaacs on a point of order? We have already had one on relevance. Mr Dreyfus: Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order. The point of order is under standing order 91(c). We are seeing wilful disregard of the standing orders by the Prime Minister. The SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat. Mr ABBOTT: This is an important question and it is an important issue, and when the budget situation deteriorates from what Labor said was a $30 billion deficit to what turned out to be closer to a $50 billion deficit, obviously government has to respond accordingly. Mr Burke interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Watson is warned! Mr ABBOTT: All we are doing is applying to the ABC the same kind of search for efficiencies that have been applied to every other part of government. What the Leader of the Opposition is trying to suggest— Ms Plibersek interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Sydney is warned! Mr ABBOTT: is that the ABC should be a protected species. Wrong! The Leader of the Opposition— Mr Perrett interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Moreton will leave under 94(a). The member for Moreton then left the chamber. Mr ABBOTT: is trying suggest that the ABC should be a protected species, but he is not even straight about that, because when he was asked yesterday, 'Would you reverse the cuts if you took office?' he replied, 'We don't think the cuts need to be as deep as they are.' So tell us: just what should be cut? What should be cut? And when he was put on the spot he said, 'We wouldn't be making the same extent of cuts to the ABC.' So, there is the difference. Well, what cuts would the Leader of the Opposition be making? If the Leader of the Opposition does not like the savings that the government is proposing, if he wants to be fair dinkum and if he wants to avoid the charge of hypocrisy or even fraud, he should tell us exactly what he has in mind. Mr Shorten: I just want to table the Prime Minister's hypocrisy—the Prime Minister's lack of fair dinkumness. The SPEAKER: That cannot be a serious question. It is impossible to table a concept.