Speeches

Kevin Rudd could not trust her word – why should we?

 

there is one very big question mark hanging over the heads of the new Prime Minister and the government she leads.

 

That is the question of competence.

 

Julia Gillard, as new to the job as she is, leads the most incompetent government in this nation’s history. Since November 2007 everything this mob has touched has turned to mud, and Ms Gillard has been right in the middle of it.

 

She has muddy hands, and of course, bloody hands too.

 

The Rudd Government came to power on the familiar claims that this time Labor would be different.

 

Well, Labor has been different this time, but not in a way you might think. As big spenders go, they are worse than Whitlam. As taxers go, they are worse than Hawke. As promise keepers go, they are worse than Keating.

 

And they beat anyone we’ve ever seen when it comes to the sheer, scandalous waste of money we’ve witnessed over the past 31 months.

 

Although she seems keen to suggest otherwise, Julia Gillard was there when the decisions were made for the disastrous FuelWatch and GroceryWatch schemes. Julia Gillard was there for the bungled employee share schemes. Julia Gillard was there for budget after budget that never delivered a surplus. Julia Gillard was there for the wild and reckless spending. Julia Gillard was there for the development of the discredited emissions trading scheme and the mining profits super tax.  She was responsible as Minister for Training to train the installers of roof insulation in a scheme that has now caused 175 house fires and 4 deaths. She was the Minister who wasted more money than any other over the school halls rorts. She promised a computer on every desk but delivered only one to every third desk in spite of a $1.7 billion cost overrun. 

 

Julia Gillard was there for all of it. This is a sad and very sorry record of incompetence on a grand scale.

 

Julia Gillard is just as culpable as Kevin Rudd.  She was in the kitchen cabinet and the ‘gang of four’ that made all of the key decisions.

 

In 2007, Labor inherited a $20 billion budget surplus and $60 billion in the Future’s Fund.  By 2010, they have delivered a $41 billion budget deficit.  Every day, they are borrowing $100 million just to pay for the excess of their expenditure over income.  Just while I have been speaking, they have borrowed another quarter of a million dollars to pay their bills.  Labor is in trouble because of their incompetence – not just because of Kevin Rudd. Labor has delivered a crisis of competence. 

 

Labor is addicted to spending - that’s why they needed a great big super tax on mining.  Now it has a new name and has become even more complicated and tricky, there are concessions to everyone but unbelievably we are told that it will still raise $10.5 billion instead of the $12 billion originally budgeted. 

 

The facts are that it is still a bad tax.  It will still cost jobs and it has still trashed Australia’s international reputation. 

 

Labor changed the Prime Minister to change the tax. But we will have to change the government to dump the tax. If you want to stop the mining tax, you will have to change the government. If you want to stop the CPRS, you will have to change the government. If you want to stop the reckless spending, you will have to change the government. If you want to stop the boats, you will have to change the government. If you want to stop the rorts, you will have to change the government.

 

 

Now, much of the greater understanding the public has of this Government’s lack of competence can be credited to the man I introduce today.

 

From the first minutes of his time as Leader of The Liberal Party, Tony Abbott has taken a clear and hard-nosed approach to the job of  opposition. He has shone light on Labor’s dark places, and brought a commonsense approach to leadership. 

 

But as Tony has highlighted Labor’s incompetence and general unfitness to run Australia, the Coalition team has also announced new, serious and positive policies that will make life better for so many of our fellow Australians, in areas like mental health, regional education, defence force pensions and infrastructure.

 

We have not made promises we cannot keep. We do not propose to spend dollars we do not have. We will not substitute Labor’s spin for the Coalition’s traditional focus on well thought out policy.

 

Tony is a man of compassion and concern. He has a core, one that has guided him through his life and political career. He fights for what he believes in, and he believes in giving every Australian the very best shot at life.

 

He stands before us today as perhaps the fittest man ever to run for the highest public office in the land – fit in mind, body and spirit.

 

 

He has a proud record as a minister – don’t believe those tawdry Labor ads about cuts in health spending. Health funding increased from $19.8 Billion to $39.9 Billion during the Coalition’s 11 years in office. Public hospital funding rose every during Tony Abbott’s turn as health minister, from $7.5 billion to $9.8 billion. That represents a $10 billion increase in overall spending, not a $1 billion decrease.

 

Tony is someone you can trust. I stand proudly with him as part of the leadership team taking us to this election.

 

I trust Tony Abbott, and I trust you will help him become the next Prime Minister of Australia.