Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (15:10): To the statement or whatever it was that the member for Mackellar just came and spoke at the dispatch box about, can I say this: the Treasurer is doing a fantastic job selling a budget that is about jobs and opportunity for the nation. Opposition members interjecting— Ms GILLARD: Of course we are seeing this reaction by the Liberal Party, because they do not care about jobs, they do not care about a strong economy and they do not care about opportunity. Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The Prime Minister will resume her seat until the House comes to order. The member for Calare is warned. A question was asked, its order was disputed, I allowed part of the question and the Prime Minister is responding to that question. I would have thought, given that sequence of events, people would wish to listen to the Prime Minister's response. She should be heard in silence. Ms GILLARD: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was, of course, very conscious when I used the word 'jobs' that the opposition would jeer. They just do not care. I knew when I used the word 'opportunity' the opposition would jeer. They just do not care. And I knew when I used the words 'strong economy' the opposition would jeer, because they do not understand the importance of a strong economy to this nation's future. So that is exactly what I expected them to do, because in the modern age—and it does pain me to say it because it has not been true of the Liberal and National parties in the past—the only role that they have is to try and wreck, destroy and create fear. They have no policies or plans for the nation's future. Let's just start with the budget and a strong economy. Nothing matters to working families more than keeping the economy strong. The transition our economy is in now requires bringing the budget back to surplus. The Treasurer, working with other members of the economic team, has taken the decisions to get that done. Meanwhile, over there on the opposition front bench, we have had no budget reply and no plan to return the budget to surplus, because they do not have the intellectual capacity or desire to do something in the nation's interest. This week we have had to watch the absolute shambles of the shadow Treasurer blaming his poor budget reply on the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Goldstein. Mrs Bronwyn Bishop: Mr Speaker, on a point of order in the light of the new paradigm and direct answers to questions. My question was about the Treasurer and his competence and nothing else. The SPEAKER: I indicated that, whilst it was debate, I had allowed the argument that was the introduction to the question. As I have said before, that did open very wide the rule of direct relevance to the question. The Prime Minister has the call and she knows that she needs to relate her response directly to the question. Ms GILLARD: Thank you, very much, Mr Speaker. I am relating my response very directly to what the member for Mackellar asked. The member for Mackellar should note that in order to act as the leadership of this nation you have to be able to make the tough decisions to keep the economy strong. We have done that in the recent budget. The Treasurer did that, leading the economic team to deliver the budget back to surplus. If anybody in the opposition—anybody—has a plan to return the budget to surplus we have not seen it yet. In the greatest display of economic incompetence that this parliament has ever had to witness, we have seen no budget reply from any member of the opposition. At the core of the budget are jobs and opportunity. We know that the opposition do not care about jobs. They would have got all the big decisions to support Australian jobs wrong. That is what the budget is about. And it is about opportunity. We know that the opposition do not care anything about opportunity. In government their track record on spreading opportunity was woeful and in opposition all they stand for is cuts to education, apprenticeships, schools and universities—you name it, they want to cut it. We will keep pursuing this vision. I will do it; the Deputy Prime Minister will do it. Of course we will seek advice from those who have served the Australian nation well. I would have thought, if there were a modicum of interest in the nation's future from those opposite, they would be happy to see that someone of the capacity of Ken Henry was still available for public service in the interests of the nation. But cheap politics is all they know. The SPEAKER: I call the very patient member for Melbourne Ports.