“You Chased the Car and Caught It” – Labor’s budget hypocrisy
In Parliament, I spoke in support of the Treasurer and the Government during the debate on Tasmania’s Budget and fiscal sustainability. I argued that you cannot demand budget repair while opposing the measures needed to achieve it. I also highlighted the importance of responsible financial management while continuing to invest in essential services like health.
Watch and read the full speech below.
Mr FERGUSON (Bass) – Deputy Speaker, I’m pleased to be able to rise to support the Treasurer and the government on this matter of public importance. I thought we wanted budget sustainability. That’s what I remember very vividly out of the last probably two debates around the budget presented by previously the Treasurer in the interim Budget last November and also the previous treasurer, Mr Barnett, at this time last year.
It was this day one year ago when we got the no-confidence motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition when he chased the car and accidentally caught it and found that he actually had a majority of members of this House who supported that motion. I don’t believe for one moment that he actually wanted to proceed with that motion, but following his great mentor, Mr Lennon’s advice, I believe, he led us all into that merry dance. I remember very vividly that the then Leader of the Opposition very deliberately targeted the then treasurer, Guy Barnett, and Jeremy Rockliff as Premier in that no-confidence motion. The point had to be made to the opposition at that time by none other than David O’Byrne, the honourable member for Franklin, that the budget is not a Treasurer’s budget, it’s not a Premier’s budget, it’s Cabinet’s budget. You’re doing it again today. You’re now trying to make it personal about the person, the Treasurer, Eric Abetz. It’s like you’re trying to pepper every question through the day and through the MPI and you’ve tried to divide ministers from one another.
For example, you’ve asked questions earlier today of minister Archer as if she has a different point of view from another minister with whom she shares a Cabinet decision. That is how it works. It does rather give it away that not one member on the other side of this Chamber has been a minister and you don’t know and don’t act like you would know about how those things work. You had to have Mr O’Byrne teach you, and you’re doing it again here and now.
Last year you made it very clear that the budget needed to be repaired. You made it abundantly clear. Your own alternative budget that you published at the election had a $1 billion in cuts and the year before that in the March 2024 election, you had $2 billion of infrastructure and operational cuts, but of course now that we have a government, a treasurer, and a Cabinet presenting a budget before our House that reins in operational expenditure growth – Health still continues to grow in funding but the growth trajectory has been addressed you’re seeing budget repair and you’re opposing it wherever you can.
We’ve been told time and again by eminent people like Saul Eslake, and he’s not alone; we’ve had Treasury’s fiscal sustainability report. You raise that in a merry hurry, but now when you see some of these measures being introduced, you’re taking every opportunity to oppose them and you’re targeting one person, the Treasurer. That’s what you’re doing and it’s very obvious.
Yesterday it was alternative budget day and we didn’t get an alternative budget. We’ll get one today instead because the Greens always do their homework. It might be a very alternative budget., I’ll grant you, but it will nonetheless be a commitment by the Greens with their policies, not just the ones they oppose but the ones they propose, and they’ll be committed to an operational statement. They will show –
Mr Winter – Maybe when you’re up there with Angus you can help him with one.
Mr FERGUSON – I’m not sure why you would dare interject. You’ve had a shocking week and your leader had a shocking day yesterday. He ran with a lot of extra time up his sleeve and took his seat. He got nil applause, didn’t front the media, and not one of the Labor Party members have put any of their material up on their social media to share with the community. You’re embarrassed and well you may be. Labor’s policy was so poor. It was clearly written by the Waterside Workers Federation and the various unions there and he could not even front the media. No doubt we will get an alternative budget today and that would have been a reasonable thing for the opposition to do.
I also want to remind members opposite that the Labor legacy on finances is not flash. We had $1.5 billion in the Superannuation Provision Account and they spent it and when we came to office in 2014, a Treasury analysis showed a billion dollars in cumulative deficits over the forward Estimates.
