A shameless con: More debt, higher taxes and nothing new for the New South Wales North Coast

May 11, 2010

“This is another big taxing, big spending Labor Budget, with no serious reform and nothing for the New South Wales North Coast,” Federal Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker said.

“Despite increasing spending over the next three years by $26 billion there is no new money for the Pacific Highway and no detail about how North Coast health services will stop deteriorating. In health, all we know is that the Government has committed an extra $500 million towards another layer of bureaucracy in the health system.

“The Government has not taken a single tough decision to rein in its reckless and wasteful spending and North Coast families will pay the price through higher interest rates and increases in the cost of living.

“Kevin Rudd’s great big new tax on the mining industry takes a dagger to the heart of the Australian economy, putting major projects at risk and sending jobs offshore. Mr Rudd and Mr Swan want to sacrifice Australia’s future economic prosperity to improve the numbers in this Budget’s bottom line. In the next financial year the Government will have to borrow over $700 million a week to fund its reckless and wasteful spending. In 2010/11 interest on net debt will be $4.6 billion.

“According to the Budget, the 2010/11 budget deficit will be $40.8 billion and debt will peak at $93.7 billion. That is $93.7 billion which Australian taxpayers will have to pay back because of Kevin Rudd’s spending spree. The Budget also exposes the costs of the Government’s waste, mismanagement and policy failures. There has been a $1 billion Budget blowout as a result of Kevin Rudd weakening Australia’s borders and $1 billion will be spent to fix Labor’s tragic home insulation mess. The Budget confirms that Kevin Rudd’s health policies will be about more bureaucrats and not better services.

“In less than a month, Kevin Rudd has broken his promise of no net increase in health bureaucrats.  Having broken his election promise and built just two of 36 GP super clinics, Kevin Rudd is now asking the Australian people to trust him when he says he will build 23 more.  The Labor Budget does not invest a single additional dollar in Australia’s major road networks. And in an undisguised election campaign strategy, the Government will spend $126 million on print, radio and television advertising.”