Senator REYNOLDS (Western Australia) (18:44): I would like to start by heartily congratulating the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the finance minister and their staff, who have put this 2017-18 budget together. I believe it delivers a responsible, fair and appropriate budget in the circumstances.

Our first responsibility in this place, which seems to be forgotten by many in this chamber, is that we are elected to represent the people who voted for us. They expect us to act and achieve things. However, to act needs compromise, and those opposite seem to think that the only responsible thing for them to do in opposition is to oppose everything.

I listened very carefully to Senator Wong and others who were speaking today on this issue, and it is quite astonishing to think that, on the one hand, they are criticising the government for not sticking with their savings while, at the same time, blocking absolutely everything. Again, I have listened very closely to those opposite for a very long time now in this chamber and I cannot recall a single suggestion from those opposite on how we could find another area to compromise in to make savings, because that is what Australians expect us to do.

I well remember 21 April—I think it was—2006 when we had the first national debt-free day. That was the day when the Commonwealth went into negative debt, which means the Commonwealth had no debt; in fact, it started to save and put money aside for the Future Fund. Ten short years later and after seven years of Labor, they have indebted several generations from now with over hundreds and hundreds—I think between $450 billion and $500 billion worth of debt. Even when we get the budget back into surplus, we will still have the debt to pay back.

I, again, commend the government on this budget. I think they have absolutely prioritised those who need it the most but they have also made sure that it is deliverable. Those opposite endlessly pontificate—and, again, we have heard them here tonight—about fairness, equality, opportunity and compassion. Talk is cheap, and those opposite, who take the high moral ground in these areas all the time, forget one important thing that those of us on this side never do—that is, to be fair and compassionate. Words and great ideas are not enough; they have to be paid for.

Again, in all of the overblown rhetoric we have heard here tonight about the budget, there has not been one positive suggestion on how we could actually move forward—no alternatives or other good ideas on how to do it. We saw very clearly that Labor, when in government, had great ideas. They wanted to implement things—fantastic—but, as any household who manages the budget knows: you have to live within your means. You have got three options, if you do not live within your means. For new expenditure, you have to make savings somewhere—you have to go to the bank, take out a loan and pay back the loan, the principal and the interest. What else do you have to do, Senator Duniam?

Senator Duniam: You have to—

Senator REYNOLDS: You have to raise money elsewhere.

Senator Duniam: That is true: you have to raise money elsewhere.

Senator REYNOLDS: You have to raise taxes in this case. So what did those opposite do? Not only did they raise taxes but they just kept borrowing and borrowing and borrowing to pay for some of the most ridiculous, wasteful expenditure, which is to their shame.

On this side, we have a highly responsible budget. We are putting money where it needs to be, and it is into reducing the costs of living pressures on Australians. There are many ways in which this budget is doing that. We are easing the pressure by tackling energy prices—again, irresponsible, ideologically-driven Labor state governments are pushing up the price of energy, which is crippling many, many families—so we are putting in measures to, at least, provide some relief.

We have already put in measures to reduce the burden of child care, which, again, is a huge cost-of-living pressure on many Australian families. But the best form of welfare—and, particularly, for the people of Western Australia at the moment—as we always say, is a job. This government continues to create measures for small business so that they can employ more people—for example, in my home state of Queensland, they have just announced $2.3 billion worth of expenditure, most of it from the Commonwealth, for new infrastructure projects, which will be at least 6,000 jobs. The new defence projects, the new shipbuilding projects, again, mean many thousands more job. We are putting money into providing people with the skills that they need—the skills to get jobs, the skills for the future.

Senator Hume talked very eloquently about what we are doing for housing affordability—helping young Australians realise that dream of affording their own home, and providing older Australians who have worked hard all their lives to have equity in their own homes with the opportunity to downsize, sell their home, put money into superannuation and still, hopefully, have money for the things that they would not otherwise be able to afford to do.

On healthcare costs: those opposite deride us for healthcare costs, but we are doing more than they ever did in their time in government towards reducing healthcare costs; making health care more affordable and also making prescriptions— (Time expired)