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Budget 2016: Bill Shorten unveils $71bn in savings over 10 years – politics live Budget 2016: Bill Shorten unveils $71bn in savings over 10 years – politics live
(35 minutes later)
11.12am BST
11:12
Shorten on 7.30
Bill Shorten is up now in the ABC studios.
Q: You seem upset the budget isn’t giving every last Australian a direct handout. Is that your idea of responsible economic stewardship?
Bill Shorten:
It’s a question of priorities, Leigh. What we believe is that the government shouldn’t be giving millionaires a $17,000 tax cut whilst working mum with two kids at high school on $65,000 is actually facing losing over $4,700, it’s a matter of priorities.
Q: Let’s have a look also at your claim that Australians on lower incomes are getting nothing or not getting enough. Overlooking the fact they get health, education, roads, defence, as a given...
Bill Shorten:
Is that something people should be grateful for? That’s why they pay their taxes.
11.08am BST
11:08
11.06am BST
11:06
11.04am BST
11:04
It had a very good tempo, that speech. Bit of abstract theatre criticism perhaps, but true nonetheless.
11.03am BST
11:03
I think it’s worth posting the wrap up, because it’s the election pitch.
Bill Shorten:
My fellow Australians, in 58 days, you will have your say on who governs the country for the next three years.
We might be the underdogs in this election, but we have never sought to be a small target.
We are offering a social and economic program for betterment of this nation.
The markers we set for the future of Australia: Jobs, education, Medicare, climate change, affordable housing and fair taxation, equality for women, our belief in young Australians.
By contrast, this budget punishes people who can’t afford it and rewards those who don’t need it.
Worse than that – it speaks for a lack of vision, a lack of understanding of what makes this country great.
It shows the Liberals have never given up on the idea that it’s up to every individual to fend for themselves and those who fall behind, get left behind.
Prime Minister – Australians honestly thought you were so much better than this.
Because Australians are so much better than this.
Australians built superannuation and created Medicare. We are delivering the National Disability Insurance Scheme. We opened ourselves to Asia and forged a new identity as a leader in our region.
We said Sorry.
We are a nation the world admires as prosperous and fair.
An economy where growth comes from extending opportunity.
A country where your destiny is not pre-determined by your postcode, or your parents’ wealth.
Where aspiration is encouraged and success is earned, not inherited.
A nation of courage, community and compassion.
This is the Australia I witnessed at Beaconsfield, a decade ago.
At Black Saturday, and through the Brisbane floods.
It is the Australia I’ve had the privilege of representing my entire working life – standing up for people, every day.
An Australia enlarged by all who call it home.
Striving for the best, but caring for each other.
An Australia of common effort and shared reward.
This is the Australia Labor believes in.
And it is the nation I hope to lead.
Tonight my team and I offer ourselves as your next government.
We have learned the hard lessons of the past.
We have put forward our positive plans.
We are united.
We are ready.
A Labor Government will always put people first.
10.58am BST
10:58
Another tally of savings, culminating in the marriage equality pledge.
Bill Shorten:
From infrastructure to health and education, Labor has made it clear how we will fully-fund each and every one of our promises.
Responsible savings for a stronger budget and more jobs. We will save $1.4bn by repealing the Nationals’ new Baby Bonus.
We will recover another $1bn by abolishing the discredited Direct Action. Paying big polluters to keep polluting, stops under Labor.
We will not spend $160m of taxpayer money on a divisive plebiscite dredging up all kinds of harmful prejudice. Instead, the Parliament of Australia will do its job – and within our first 100 days of government - vote to make marriage equality a reality.
10.56am BST
10:56
I don’t really know what legislating to protect Medicare means, but Shorten says he’ll do it within the first 100 days.
10.55am BST
10:55
The VET changes. And the flourish of the abacus on the savings.
Bill Shorten:
Tonight, I declare the pendulum has swung too far to private providers - Labor will be backing public TAFE. We will restore integrity to the training system, by cleaning out the dodgy private colleges who have been ripping Australians off for too long.
In 2014, the ten largest private training colleges in Australia received $900m in government funding. Yet less than 5 % of their students graduated.
Tens of thousands of Aussies are being loaded up with massive new debt – but not the qualification they need to find a job.
And for the past three years, the Liberals’ only response has been to blame someone else.
At last, after three years, Malcolm Turnbull has acted – he has demanded…a discussion paper.
The prime minister may not be capable of making a decision – but I am.
While Mr Turnbull dithers – Labor will deliver. A Labor Government will cap Vocational Education loans at $8,000 per student.
We will cut this wasteful spending, saving an estimated $6bn over the decade.
Tonight I have outlined $71bn of additional budget improvements over the decade.
These are the decisions our nation needs.
This is what a responsible budget looks like.
10.52am BST
10:52
To schools now, and another less than subtle dig at the prime minister.
Bill Shorten:
In the shadows of the election campaign – having ripped $30bn out of schools – they’ve promised to put one billion back.
And there they sit, awaiting the thanks of a grateful nation. But Australians know they can’t trust this prime minister on education.
And when they hear Liberals lecturing teachers, saying: “More money won’t solve the problem.”
Australians know the only people who ever say this are those for whom money has never been a problem.
10.49am BST
10:49
10.48am BST
10:48
Labor has obviously packed out the galleries tonight, there’s lots of clapping. It’s helping Shorten lift. He looks like he’s enjoying himself now.
10.47am BST
10:47
Infrastructure now and another little dig.
Bill Shorten:
Labor will turbo-charge Infrastructure Australia with a new $10bn funding facility.
A ‘concrete bank’ to get investment from the private sector, particularly big super funds, flowing into projects.
Instead of taking selfies on the train, we’ll get new projects underway.
Nation-building, not ego-boosting.
10.46am BST
10:46
"You've done both"
A segment in the speech on women includes a promise to restore funding to community legal centres.
Shorten is on to climate change now.
Taking real action on climate change will create new jobs, attract new international investment and power our industries and services.
Of course, advocating climate action is hard, and running a scare campaign against it is easy.
Mr Turnbull should know – you’ve done both.
Turnbull smirks slightly, writing on his papers.
10.42am BST
10:42
This is the section on the super changes. Grave concerns, which means maybe we oppose this, maybe we don’t.
Bill Shorten:
Labor has very grave concerns about retrospective changes - which is precisely why our reforms to negative gearing and capital gains explicitly rule out retrospectivity.
10.39am BST10.39am BST
10:3910:39
"Goldman Sachs is not a small business""Goldman Sachs is not a small business"
Bill Shorten:Bill Shorten:
Labor will support a tax cut for small businesses with a turnover of less than $2m dollars per year. Because that’s what a small business is. We will deliver tax relief for the small businesses representing 83% of Australian companies.Labor will support a tax cut for small businesses with a turnover of less than $2m dollars per year. Because that’s what a small business is. We will deliver tax relief for the small businesses representing 83% of Australian companies.
But billion-dollar operations are not small businesses. Never have been – never will be.But billion-dollar operations are not small businesses. Never have been – never will be.
Coles is not a small business.Coles is not a small business.
The Commonwealth Bank is not a small business.The Commonwealth Bank is not a small business.
Goldman Sachs is not a small business.Goldman Sachs is not a small business.
10.38am BST
10:38
"The more you have, the more you get"
Bill Shorten:
On Tuesday night the treasurer said he didn’t want to talk about ‘winners’ and ‘losers’.
Now we know why. The more you have, the more you get. The less you earn, the more you lose. This prime minister has the audacity to accuse us of waging ‘class war’.
It is not ‘class war’ to disagree with cutting money from families on fifty and sixty thousand dollars in order to give millionaires a tax break.
It is not class war to ask why he is cutting $80bn from schools and hospitals – but spending billions on big business.
It is not ‘class war’ for Labor to speak up on behalf of everyone this government has forgotten and betrayed – women, young people, pensioners, carers and veterans.
Labor will never apologise for standing up for Australians who go to work every day and want to come home safe, who rely on penalty rates to make ends meet.
Who don’t want to be forced to work until they’re 70.
This prime minister talks a lot about aspiration – but there’s a part of it he always leaves out.
That the aspiration to equal opportunity, to a fair start for everyone, to a fair go.
That’s what Labor will always fight for.
10.35am BST
10:35
Bill Shorten:
More than ever, we must be honest about what our budget can truly afford. We must maintain the triple-A credit rating from all three agencies Labor worked so hard to secure.
This is why my team and I are treating the Australian people with respect. Being frank and upfront about our plans. We are making the hard choices to fully-fund our investments in Australia’s future.
To turn around these Liberal deficits and deliver budget repair that is fair. Restoring the national budget – without smashing family budgets. Building a stronger economy – without hurting the things that help it grow. You don’t plan for the jobs of the future by cutting education, cutting infrastructure and making broadband slower.
10.33am BST
10:33
Bill Shorten:
From Tony’s tradies to Malcolm’s millionaires - this is a budget for big business over battlers. This budget fails the test of fiscal responsibility too. Having banged the drum of ‘budget emergencies’ for so long. Despite all their cuts and broken promises – in the past three years, the Liberals have tripled the deficit.
10.31am BST
10:31
Bill Shorten's budget-in-reply at a glance
Welcome to tonight’s live coverage of the budget-in-reply speech.
Bill Shorten is on his feet now in the House of Representatives, practising his alternative prime minister pitch.
Here’s what you need to know quickly.
10.06am BST
10:06
I’m going to go quiet now until the budget-in-reply gets underway at 7.30pm so I can bring you Shorten at a glance first up when he begins speaking.
Down in the House, the long serving Labor MP Alan Griffin has said farewell to politics after a two decade stint.
This parliament is now in its final hours. Big night.
9.48am BST
09:48
It really is very early days for me to give you a view on the Middle East coverage I’m afraid.
Michelle Guthrie, still facing questions, three days into the job. Liberal Senator James Paterson asks Guthire whether she’s comfortable with having a political activist as the ABC’s correspondent in Jerusalem. Paterson means Sophie McNeill.
Guthrie isn’t going to cop that one.
She isn’t a political activist, she’s a journalist.
Updated
at 9.49am BST
9.38am BST
09:38
I’m just having a bite of food to ensure I don’t fall over between now and the budget-in-reply speech, which is now less than an hour away. Michelle Guthrie is still in estimates, Malcolm Turnbull wound up the ABC interview by refusing to confirm he will call the election on Sunday. Current smoke signals suggest the election will be called Sunday, by the by. All things liable to change without notice.
9.20am BST
09:20
Karvelas tells the prime minister the Seven Network has just reported internal Liberal party polling showing the government losing the marginal seat of Eden Monaro and going backwards in NSW. Is he worried about this? Malcolm Turnbull says he doubts the accuracy of the story, and he doesn’t intend to comment.
9.14am BST
09:14
Michelle Guthrie is still being peppered with questions in estimates. Things have been mildly testy down there.
The prime minister, meanwhile, is on my wireless. He’s being interviewed by ABC RN host Patricia Karvelas. Like everyone else today, she wants the ten year costings for the company tax cuts.
Malcolm Turnbull:
The important point Patricia is not the number.
9.11am BST
09:11