Page 1736 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 9 May 2018
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and we can outsource what jobs there are left to private contractors because, of course, they will be more efficient than public servants.
But there are departments that are getting more public service jobs. Yes, it is home affairs, the AFP and ASIO. It is pretty clear that we are building a police surveillance state, so why would we need to look after Australians’ wellbeing? We do not need to. We have this one sorted.
No wonder the national institutions inquiry, which does now look like a thinly veiled plan for the Liberals to privatise our national institutions, closed yesterday, before the budget. If it had not, people would have put in their submissions that 10 staff are gone at the National Archives and 12 staff are gone at the National Library.
What about the other stuff that Canberrans love—for example, the ABC? We all know that Canberrans love their ABC. Instead of supporting it, the Liberals are cutting the ABC’s budget by another $87 million. Instead, they are going to spend $25 million on another statue of Captain Cook because, clearly, what Australia needs is more statues of colonisers.
Then, of course, there is the flat tax concept. I think that was borrowed from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation 90s playbook. The entire budget is telling all of us—except, of course, people on Centrelink or people who may be suffering overseas—that we will all be richer. It is setting up a possible future Labor government to cop the failure.
This is going to be short-term pleasure for Liberal donors and Liberal supporters and it looks like long-term pain for the rest of us. It is a budget that fails young people, fails the environment and fails our most vulnerable. It fails just about everybody, except a small group of upper income earners.
I think this may finally be the budget which shows that the Liberals can no longer call themselves sensible economic managers. I do not know if any of you heard Dan Bourchier’s show this morning on 666. He had a good call from someone saying that the situation was like someone who had won the lottery. Instead of using the money to pay off their mortgage, they gave it to their kids to buy lollies.
Visitors
MADAM SPEAKER: Members, before I call Ms Lee, I want to acknowledge that we are joined in the public gallery by Amaroo Scouts. Welcome to the Assembly. If you have not been here before, make sure you come back.
Adjournment
Schools—visits
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (6.05): I rise this evening to talk again about another series of schools I had the pleasure of visiting in the last few weeks. First, I had the pleasure of visiting the Canberra Christian School in Mawson in April. I was delighted to see the approach that school has taken to its pupils. I met with the principal, Bree Hills, who
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