WONG: Tonight Mr Abbott failed to put forward a single new policy, a single new save or a single tough decision.
Tony Abbotts Budget in reply shows he is all opposition and no leader. All opposition and no leader.
Hed rather block surpluses than build them. Hed rather wreck budgets than write them. He failed the test of an alternative leader. He failed to make savings in his Budget reply, choosing instead to rely on his $11 billion black hole.
He reheated his 2010 costings blunder; he in fact couldnt even get the date right on his speech.
And he failed the most fundamental test of all: to outline how he would return the budget to surplus. In fact, he did not even commit to it.
He talked about forgotten families but he forgot how to return to surplus. Tony Abbott had one job tonight to balance the books, and he couldnt do it.
You cant run a $1.3 trillion economy on three word slogans. You cant run a $1.3 trillion economy on mindless negativity.
But thats what we saw from Tony Abbott tonight. He simply doesnt have what it takes to run the Australian economy.
It takes more than mindless negativity to be a leader you need a funded plan.
People understand in this country it is time to tighten ours belts to get the budget back to surplus. But all we get from Tony Abbott is mindless negativity.
This is not what the nation needs at the moment as the nation recovers from the global financial crisis and the natural disasters, which also werent mentioned in his speech. Tony Abbott promised an alternative vision for the country what did he deliver? Blinding negativity. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Well he made a pretty sharp point that the Government has some damage from the point that just days before the election, no carbon tax, and then the Governments talking about a carbon tax. He says its haunting the Government, reducing credibility.
WONG: Mr Abbott continues to rerun that over and over again. This is Budget week. This is the week where we in the Government after months of work on the Budget, laid out our economic plan for the nation: how we bring the budget back to surplus. How we deal with the impacts of the natural disasters on our economy, the overhang of the global financial crisis, and most importantly make the decisions to bring the budget back to surplus. Where was Mr Abbott? Where was Tony Abbott when it comes to that task?
JOURNALIST: Would you be willing to fight an election on the carbon tax and if so, would you win it?
WONG: The Prime Minister has made clear our intention in relation to the carbon price. But tonight was about the Budget. And Mr Abbott, Tony Abbott, simply was found wanting yet again. Really, do we really think that the man who pretends to be seeks to be the leader of the country can get away with the sort of mindless negativity we saw from him tonight.
JOURNALIST: You made the point that he seemed to be relying upon the discredited black hole. But isnt it true that he didnt actually claim to have savings at all. He didnt even go there. So youre saying that hes presented these costings but in fact he didnt talk about anything financial.
WONG: What Tony Abbott did was demonstrate that hes really about wrecking budgets rather than building them. The test of leaders is this: you put forward a plan, you work out how you fund it and how you deliver it. On that test Tony Abbott failed yet again. And he continues to fail. Every time hes asked to show the Australian people how he would match his rhetoric with funded plans, he fails. And he failed again tonight.
JOURNALIST: As a Labor minister, how does it feel to hear him talking about Ben Chifley?
WONG: I dont think that kind of rhetoric is going to get Tony Abbott out of the position hes in. I think its quite clear that all he is about is negativity and hes simply not up to the task of doing of whats required in the budget.
JOURNALIST: The position that he is in is that hes way ahead of you in the polls. So presumably some of your supporters have taken a shine to him.
WONG: You know what I think is important, Matthew? I think whats important is that we put forward our economic plans for the nation. I think whats important is we bring the budget back to surplus. Thats what will help Australian families and Australian households.
Now weve put out our Budget, our numbers, our costings and our savings decisions. Tony Abbott had an opportunity tonight to do the same thing and all we got from him was more opposition.
JOURNALIST: Youve put out your Budget, you havent put out the legislation and he says that he will decide or the Coalion will decide its position as the legislation comes on. How quickly will we see that legislation? Do you have anything that you might be able to put to the Parliament before June 30? Or is it going to be after that?
WONG: There are already bills before the Parliament as you know. The appropriations bills are before the Parliament and weve had some discussion about those today. But look, ultimately, the timing is obviously going to be decided through the Parliament and the Government is going to put the various bills into the Parliament as is appropriate. But the substance on the issue is this: Tony Abbott, every time he opposes a savings measure, every time he opposes a part of the Governments budget savings, hes simply demonstrating his intent is only to wreck the surplus. And we know that wrecking the surplus is bad for Australian households, bad for Australian families.
JOURNALIST: But he didnt do that tonight. He said hed wait until you put the legislation up. So the sooner you put the legislation up, the sooner youll get an answer to that question.
WONG: If you think that Tony Abbotts negativity would be cured by the Government putting legislation into the Parliament, then youre frankly much more optimistic than I am, much more optimistic than most Australians.
JOURNALIST: Senator Wong clearly Tony Abbott thinks the Government is vulnerable in the families space; there was a lot of that rhetoric in the speech tonight, and he contrasted, or was open with his family situation as a point of implied contrast. Do you accept that Labor is vulnerable in terms of the middle class families pitch that Mr Abbott was outlining this evening?
WONG: No I dont, and what I would say is this: if youre serious about looking after the wellbeing of Australian families, if youre serious about looking after the jobs of Australian families, if youre serious about cost of living pressure, then you would ensure that you supported the return to surplus and you would ensure that you supported those savings decisions that would enable that to happen. So when it comes to those hard decisions, Tony Abbott goes missing.
ENDS