Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (15:04): The last budget was a disaster and the next budget will be more lies and more cuts and more chaos. But the problem is this government's approach to the next budget is presenting some very poor signals for Australia's future. We see cabinet leaking and fighting in the newspapers. What amazes Labor is that, even though their political allies, the New South Wales Liberal Party, are fighting an election on Saturday, this mob opposite cannot contain their chaos even for a few days to help them. What makes it amazing is that we know that Tony Abbott and Mike Baird are great mates—and, to be fair, Tony Abbott got at least invited to this Liberal launch. But of course what we saw, most remarkably, is that they will let Tony Abbott out but they will not let him speak. All I say is that, if you do not let him speak at the New South Wales Liberal convention, why on earth do you inflict him on the rest of Australia? But this has been a most chaotic week for the government. Not the least of the chaos is the discovery that in New South Wales, if you answer the telephone, you may or may not get some sort of crank call, or it may indeed be a Malcolm Turnbull robocall, automated pleading for a vote. But what is interesting is that the New South Wales Labor Party think an automated Malcolm Turnbull is better than a real Tony Abbott. I am not so sure they are right, but it is an interesting theory to debate. Of course, this morning on radio we learnt that Mike Baird was asked why the member for Wentworth was being used for robocalls, not Tony Abbott—good question. Mike Baird said: 'Malcolm is very well known.' This is of course the problem, because Tony Abbott is very, very, very well known. The people of New South Wales know all about Tony Abbott. So do the people of Australia. But the chaos and confusion is not just confined to the New South Wales election and they tactics they are trying to use to put Tony Abbott into witness protection. What we saw is Joe Hockey again repeating earlier styles. They love to hide the bad news before state elections and get it out after voters in a particular jurisdiction have voted. Treasurer Hockey says there is no need for us to reveal the report to Australians, no need to reveal it to the New South Wales government yet, because there is nothing to see: 'Nothing to see! Please keep moving along. Don't look at the scene of the crime.' Then we discovered today that Joe Hockey produced another thought bubble. That man has a thought bubble factory. He has shares in thought bubble businesses. He said New South Wales would be $206 million worse off. But before the last election, before even the last chaotic budget, Tony Abbott was in Tasmania saying, 'I'll look after GST here.' And then he flew across to Western Australia and said, I'll look after GST here.' These people are all things to all people. The problem is that the music stops and the truth catches up with them; this next budget will be most chaotic. Of course, there are different ways of dealing with the budget. Julie 'sounds like a good idea' Bishop, in a Chavez style, said, 'Let's cap iron ore production.' Why didn't we all think about a cartel? Oh that's right, we are not the Foreign Minister of Australia! You can just imagine the klaxon and red light in the Prime Minister's office—look out, another minister on the loose! The only question they ask in the Prime Minister's officer is, 'Was it a deliberate attack, an undermining of the government, or was it just another mistake from Julie Bishop?' And, of course, we saw the eye roll from the Foreign Minister about foreign aid cuts. Mr McCormack interjecting— Mr SHORTEN: Oh my Lord, Mr McCormack! This whole government is funny; it would be, except you are running Australia! The Treasurer has ruled out cuts to foreign aid in this budget. We acknowledge that they have already knocked off $11 billion. That was a good day's work for these conservative right-wing ideologues—cutting $11 billion of aid to the poorest in the world! We had an eye roll from the Foreign Minister and the Treasurer ruled out cuts. What I do not understand is why they will not rule out cuts to schools, hospitals and pensioners. Why is it that this government can rule out some things and cannot rule out others. Mrs Sudmalis interjecting— Mr SHORTEN: I am sure the member for Gilmore, in her private moments, is thinking, 'Good point, Leader of the Opposition.' Then, of course, we come back to the chief problem of this budget—or one of the two: who is Batman and who is Robin in this budget? I do not know. Is it Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey or is it Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott? They both have a problem in that they both own this next budget. We saw the Prime Minister engage in what he is famous for—economics. Actually, he is not that famous for economics! He said that the debt to GDP ratio of about 50 to 60 per cent— Mrs Sudmalis: Don't misquote it! Mr SHORTEN: Don't worry, I won't misquote it. We can't even get the Prime Minister to quote it again! Believe me, nothing I produce is as good as what this bloke does to himself. He said the debt to GDP ratio of about 50 to 60 per cent is 'a pretty good result'. A pretty good result! My Lord! It does make you channel that question asked on radio: 'For a Rhodes Scholar, how come you say such stupid things, Prime Minister?' The problem is that this budget is in chaos and this government is in disarray. Last year's budget was written by the big end of town. It was written by Tony Shepherd and Maurice Newman, from the Business Council of Australia. It was a debased, politicised, ideological process. We saw good public servants sidelined. It was straight from the pen of Tony Shepherd and Maurice Newman. The Treasurer made a dreadful mistake in handing over to the big end of town alone the pen that wrote the budget. Business has a role in forming the budget—of course it does—but a budget should be of the people, by the people and for the people. Last year's budget certainly was not. This government is out of touch. We know that they have no idea how people live their lives in the real world. There are no signs or any hopes that this budget will be any better. This is a big statement but I think the evidence supports it: the two single worst performers in this government—and there is stiff competition—are the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. If Tony Abbott were smart, he would give the Treasurer's job to someone else. Here is some free bipartisan advice from the opposition to the government on behalf of the people of Australia: you need a new Treasurer, and fast. The problem is that the Prime Minister cannot give away the Treasurer's job because the Treasurer is glued to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister is glued to the Treasurer. They are the modern Thelma and Louise of politics, their fates inexorably tied. The budget they politicised was written by the top end of town with manifest unfairness—a GP tax; pension increases; cuts to the rate of pension increases; higher education changes; and the dreadful treatment of the unemployed, with six months of nothing at all. The problem is that the government could not sell its budget because it is manifestly unfair. This is a government with no vision of the future. Their vision of the future is starkly ideological. They can never dig themselves out of the last budget hole because they are not capable of doing it. These people have never in their lives tried to fight an argument about the future of Australia These two, Hockey and Abbott, could not go two rounds with a revolving door; they cannot fight anyone. They have no plan in the next budget to make Australia a better destination, a better place for change. They have no view about foreign policy—the change from the West to the East—and our part in Asia. All they have is tired old ideology from the conservative rule book of 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1980. They say, 'Let's get rid of bulk billing and then we can undermine universal Medicare.' They say, 'Let's bag working conditions in the safety net for working Australians.' They say, 'Let's freeze superannuation.' This mob opposite have never supported an increase to workers superannuation in their lives. The only thing I expect to see in the next budget is that they will try and save their own skins. The Prime Minister says that this budget is dull. How does he think that reassures Australians? What that tells Australians is that he and Joe Hockey have given up; they have decided that they want it to be dull because that is the only way they think they can hang onto their jobs. The economic policy of this nation is run by two people's desire for their own job security—Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey. The government has not yet done what it should do—dump the $100,000 degrees. Their education minister—and that is a misnomer—is running around saying, 'I'm not beaten; I want to force $100,000 degrees.' Their GP tax they will reinvent with a different name. They are cutting $80 billion out of hospitals and schools. They are cutting billions of dollars out of New South Wales. The retirement age is up—well done! But you have brought the pension down and you have frozen superannuation. In the next six weeks we in the Labor party will be making sure we talk to pensioners. We will be making sure they understand that Labor will not let Tony Abbott and this mob opposite pocket their pension increases. In the next six weeks we will hold them to account. We will explain to Australians that there will be no touching the pensions and no touching Medicare. We will make sure that we keep this government honest in the lead-up to the next budget. (Time Expired)