Mr TEHAN (Wannon—Minister for Education) (15:24): If there is one thing that it is certain that the Labor Party will do if they form government it is that they will tax the life out of the Australian people. They will spend like drunken sailors and they will place a debt burden on future generations of Australians the likes of which we haven't seen. What we've seen here today from the member for Corio are exactly the type of lies that we saw during the last election campaign. Australians know that we have put record funding into education. We've put record funding into child care. We've put record funding into schools, whether they be state, Catholic or independent schools. We've put record funding into higher education. We've put record funding into health and we've put record funding into infrastructure. We will make the case strongly at the next election. You over on that side might be measuring up the curtains, but I can tell you we're going to put up one hell of a fight and we are going to make sure we retain government. Let's have a look at school funding. What are the facts? The government will boost our investment in public schools from $6.8 billion, which is what it was in 2017, to $7.4 billion this year, to $10.8 billion in 2023 and to $13.7 billion in 2029. There are no cuts. That is an increase year upon year, making an absolute mockery of what they on that side were saying. Let's have a look at what we're doing for Catholic schools. It's exactly the same—$6.3 billion invested in 2017, $6.6 billion in 2018, $8.6 billion in 2023 and $10.2 billion in 2029. For independent schools it's the same—$4.4 billion in 2017, $4.7 billion in 2018, $6.6 billion in 2023 and $8 billion in 2029. That is an increase year upon year, making an absolute mockery of this idea that somehow when you invest more and more each year the Labor Party can call that a cut. What about health? Health is exactly the same. The government will invest $130.2 billion in public hospitals, an increase of $30.9 billion, with record funding each year for each state and territory. Our government's funding for public hospital activity will increase from $99.3 billion between 2015-16 and 2019-20 to $132 billion between 2020-21 and 2024-25. Commonwealth funding for public hospital services will more than double from $13.3 billion in 2012-13 to a record $28.7 billion in 2024-25. Commonwealth funding for Victorian hospitals has increased from $3 billion per year in 2012-13 under Labor and will increase to over $7 billion in 2024-25, at the end of the new hospital funding agreement. The pattern is also clear in Medicare services. Investment in Medicare services to Victoria has increased from $4.6 billion under Labor to over $5.5 billion under the Liberal-Nationals government. And the same is true when it comes to medicine. The last Labor government reversed the policy of the coalition to list all medicines approved by the independent PBAC. In fact, they deferred the listing of seven medicines due to their financial mismanagement. Mr Tudge: They couldn't pay for it. Mr TEHAN: Yes, because they couldn't pay for it. They deferred the listings of seven medicines because they stuffed up the budget. Mr Tudge: How many people were affected by that? Mr TEHAN: How many people, indeed? And they are probably still affected, sadly. For Victoria, Australian government funding for schools and hospitals has increased. The opposition should not say anything else. When it comes to infrastructure, it is the same story. Since coming to office in 2013, we have committed $17 billion to land transport infrastructure projects in Victoria. I must confess that my electorate of Wannon has been a beneficiary. There is the Murray Basin rail project of over $400 million, reopening the rail line between Maryborough and Ararat. When it comes to passenger rail, there is an investment of over $100 million in upgrading the Warrnambool-to-Melbourne line. I must say that—and this is one of the great ironies—during the state election campaign in Victoria, the state government members were out there claiming this as their own investment. It is $100 million by the Commonwealth to upgrade that line, and they were making up that it was they who did it all. We will give you the facts on a daily basis between now and the next election and we will not let you get away with these lies. Funding for schools has increased. Funding for child care has increased. Funding for universities has increased. Funding for health has increased, whether it be hospitals or Medicare. And funding for infrastructure has increased. It's worth knowing that the Labor Party will promise a lot, but how are they going to pay for it? This is something that the Australian people will become more and more aware of over the coming months. They will pay for it by increasing taxes by $200 billion. They are going to tax the life out of the Australian people and they are going to spend and spend. And we know this because their track record says that they will do this time and time again. They will place this nation back into debt. How long is it since we've had a budget surplus? Mr Sukkar: I think it was Costello. Mr Buchholz: About a decade. Mr TEHAN: Costello. How long is it since the Labor Party delivered a surplus? Mr Joyce: It was 1989. Mr TEHAN: It was 1989. I remember Wyatt Roy say in this place that he didn't think he'd seen one in his lifetime. So we know you'll never be able to deliver a surplus. We know that you will place this country into debt. We know that future Australians will be saddled with a burden that will take years and years to pay off. That is what you are promising. It is the most radical change that this nation has seen since Whitlam was in power. No opposition has promised to increase taxes like you are, to increase spending like you are and to saddle this country with the debt that you will. When it comes to our government, what we're able to do is, through sound economic management, deliver record funding for schools, record funding for hospitals and record funding for infrastructure. We know that, while we're doing that, we can deliver a surplus and we can start repaying the debt that you mounted up when you were last in government. That is going to be the contrast that we will put to the Australian people at the next election, and it will be a stark contrast: big-taxing, big-spending opposition policies versus sound economic management on this side. The Australian people will know that, through our delivering of a strong economy, when we make promises, we can keep them. When we say that we have record levels of funding for schools, for hospitals and for infrastructure, they know that it is there because of our sound economic management. They know that what you are promising to try to deliver we will never, ever see. It will never see the light of day. We only have to look back at education, for instance. What happened with the Building the Education Revolution? Six billion dollars was wasted. It didn't lead to a better outcome for a student. It was $6 billion of waste. We know you are about big spending and big taxes. We on this side know about sound economic management that can deliver the programs, the education policies, the health policies and the infrastructure outcomes that this nation needs. I can't wait till we get that election campaign going, because you'll be there measuring up the curtains and we'll be making sure that you never, ever get the chance to put them there.