LNP State Council - Keynote Address - Gold Coast
30th October, 2011
LNP President Bruce McIver, LNP State Leader Campbell Newman, ladies and gentlemen.Since the last time we came together the Gillard government seems to have gone from bad to worse and is now making a pitch for self-annihilation.
Carbon tax
The passage of the carbon tax through the House of Representatives was bizarre.
A government bereft of legitimacy, cobbled together out of expediency and self-interest, and without a mandate has imposed the will of a very few on an entire nation.
The government then proceeded to congratulate itself for imposing a tax on the businesses and families of Australia. But not just any tax, the biggest carbon tax in the world - starting with 400 times the impact of the European scheme.
Despite no other country going down the carbon tax route - and last week even Canada, one of the great enthusiasts for the Kyoto Protocol, emphatically ruled it out forever.
Despite the rejection of the carbon tax by the Australian people, the House of Representatives erupted with Labor, the Greens and Independents cheering, applauding and back-slapping each other.
They rejoiced at enshrining their deception and betrayal of the Australian people in legislation.
No sombre thought was given to the mums and dads in living rooms across the country worried about inevitable higher prices for everything.
No concern was demonstrated for the tens of thousands of Australian jobs now in real jeopardy.
In the unseemly hooting, hollering and high-fives in the House of Representatives, it was clear to me just how out-of-touch Labor has become.
It was a show for the cameras and the small crowd pof Labor-Green die-hards, but, along with an unhealthy smattering of arrogance, Labor, the Greens and Independents simply don't get it.
The gloating of Bob Brown, the self-aggrandisement of Messrs Oakeshott, Windsor and Wilkie, and the celebration of Julia Gillard and her cohorts only inflame the betrayal felt by ordinary Australians across the length and breadth of this country.
That sort of arrogance was never going to go down well.
Lies paved the path to The Lodge for this Prime Minister. The Australian people were assured there would be no carbon tax under a government this Prime Minister leads.
She also assured them there would be 'community consensus' before she did anything at all. The only consensus this Prime Minister has mustered around her carbon tax is a resounding 'no' from the Australian people.
Another consensus is mounting within her own party. That Julia Gillard's days are numbered and, as for her replacement, it's just a matter of who and when.
It is obvious to all that Kevin Rudd wants his old job back and is actively making his pitch to his increasingly desperate colleagues. This is the guy they couldn't tolerate just 18 months ago because he lost his way.
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
If Labor's does lurch to the past in recalling a failed former Prime Minister for a second shot at mediocrity, the public will soon see through such a cynical last-ditch bid to trick voters to revive its flagging political fortunes.
Regardless of the figure head, it is still the same, distorted and corrupted Labor Party. At their federal conference in a month's time, they may talk reform but the faceless men will make sure nothing actually happens.
The people have been shut out, ignored and treated with disdain by this government.
The voting public did not expect this carbon tax, they have been denied the opportunity to vote on it, and since the last election they have made their displeasure plain.
It's Labor that is on the nose. History will damn this government, reserving a special place in its annals for this Prime Minister, condemned by her own words.
Asylum seekers
The day after the carbon tax vote Julia Gillard followed up by completely capitulating on offshore processing of asylum seekers.
She will now allow asylum seekers to live and work in the community while their claims are assessed.
Labor has surrendered control of our borders and people smugglers are celebrating... all because the Prime Minister won't do the reasonable, tried and proven thing and reintroduce temporary protection visas and process boat arrivals in Nauru or one of the 147 other countries that have signed the United Nations Refugees Convention.
It's often forgotten why we insist on offshore processing of boat arrivals and hold them in detention.
It's because we don't know who these people are. Their claims, identities and security clearances all have to be verified. It is useful to know where they are if it turns out they cannot be allowed to stay.
The Coalition is not opposed to genuine refugees coming to this country and nor are most Australians. In fact, Australians have a proud history of welcoming genuine refugees and we welcome the contribution refugees have made to our nation for almost 200 years.
But we want to make sure those we invite to this country come in a safe, orderly way that also safeguards our borders and our people.
Labor's relapse into onshore processing rounded out a great week for the Greens. They got their way twice in as many days.
A carbon tax at the $23 per tonne Bob Brown called for back in January 2010 and a return to onshore processing.
Bob Brown has more say over Labor policy than the ALP caucus, which just watches on like stunned zombies.
The Economy
Just the week before we were treated to the $1 million tax talkfest in Canberra for a privileged 200. That was money well spent, wasn't it?
It was always going to be a two-day waste of time. Without the carbon tax, mining tax or GST on the agenda, Labor ensured its Oakeshott-inspired tax forum was another farce in a conga-line of disasters.
Is it any wonder this government fails to inspire trust or confidence? That lack of confidence has real impacts, on businesses and consumers.
From Opposition, we face a familiar economic challenge.
In 1996, the Coalition inherited $96 billion of Labor debt and paid it off. It was a long and hard road to recovery but, as a nation, we got there together.
In 2007, Labor inherited $60 billion of hard-earned savings and a $20 billion budget surplus, boasting it would deliver a $22 billion surplus the following financial year.
It didn't happen. In fact, Labor delivered a $27 billion deficit, followed by a $55 billion deficit and now a $49 billion deficit in the current financial year.
After running up over $150 billion in accumulated deficits, they guaranteed next year will return a $3.5 billion surplus.
But, as we now know, that promise has withered to a faint, quivering hope.
Wayne Swan is doing a lot of wishin, hopin and prayin... but that guarantee is fast becoming a dream.
At the last election, promoting fiscal responsibility in Opposition, the Coalition identified $50 billion in savings across the forward estimates, which gave room for new spending.
Lower taxes, less spending and lower interest rates are in the Coalition's DNA - achievements that come about for all the right reasons.
The Australian people are struggling under mounting cost of living pressures, business and consumer confidence are low and global uncertainty is at fever-pitch.
Adding to the stockpile of misery is what Australians have sadly become accustomed to - thousands of jobs being shed.
105,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in Australia in just the past three years. Labor should be ashamed.
I say to you that the Coalition does not accept those jobs losses. We do not accept that manufacturing is finished in this country. We do not accept Australia's declining place in the world and we will never accept a systematic downgrading in the living standards of Australian families.
Over the past few years I, and my Coalition colleagues, have visited small and large businesses across the country. Businesses and employees are united in pride that they produce... things of value, things that matter.
Already under pressure, an ever-growing carbon tax is frightening them.
Labor's economy-wide, job-destroying, confidence-sapping carbon tax will be a dead weight around the necks of every business and every family - and all for no environmental gain.
We are opposed to it and, in government, we will repeal it.
The Gillard government has not heeded the warnings from the people a year ago. It has descended into a leaderless rabble, and the arrogance, waste, mismanagement and incompetence of the Rudd era continues.
It's still a government that is all talk and no action - health reform that has withered into more bureaucracy, and no assurance of local control or improvement in services for regional Australia.
Nation-building infrastructure to overcome the global economic downturn - but three years later most projects have not even started.
A jobs plan - that the Auditor-General reports had no application process and that Minister Albanese hand-picked the funded projects and not one was in a priority area for unemployment.
A regional development program - where most of the money has been allocated to marginal Labor electorates and on pet projects of the Independents, even though Labor and the Independents represent only a small part of regional Australia.
Announcements of a mental health initiative - but no real money until after the next election.
Disability reform - but not until after the next two elections.
But, worst of all, the Prime Minister lied to the Australian people... 'there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead'... words that will dog this government to its electoral grave.
Now we are about to get the world's harshest carbon tax - starting 400-times higher than the European emission trading scheme - taxing our strength and our competitive advantages, but also taxing our vulnerabilities and our competitive disadvantages.
It's unilateral economic disarmament of Australia but with no benefits for the environment.
Labor has lost the plot, has no compass and is leaving Australia adrift and directionless.
Only an election can fix this mess and restore Australia as a prosperous place to do business, a thriving place to raise a family and with a future more positive than the past.
My fervent hope is that comes sooner rather than later.
Thank you.
