Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the new Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I hear from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that the road for Labor is inexorably up, undoubtedly leading to the bridge too far. It is particularly interesting to listen to the rhetoric that we have from the two new leaders opposite. We have this whole rhetoric that we are all Adam Smith ideologues, that the Keynesians from the past have gone and that Adam Smith and Edmund Burke have taken off in terms of economic fundamentalism. But what is the reality of the situation? The Weekend Australian, in its editorial, had this to say:

Labor’s narrative to date has been that Mr Howard is a throwback to the 1950s, an idealogue who lacks social compassion and has cut deeply into welfare and Australia’s social institutions.

That is what we heard today from the members of the opposition. The editorial in the Australian said:

Nothing could be further from the truth. According to the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, Australians across the spectrum have prospered during the Howard years and middle-income earners have done substantially better than those at the top. NATSEM’s benchmark study of the Howard decade of income growth from wages, tax and welfare changes shows that, on average, Australians are earning 25 per cent more than they were 10 years ago. The federal Government’s doubling of its spending on family assistance to $28 billion has helped boost incomes and ensured that Australia is no less equal than it was a decade ago.

This is from the Australian editorial last weekend. It says:

According to Access Economics—

always the natural economists of choice for those opposite—

people are paying less in income tax than at any time in almost 25 years, and the average wealth of those aged 45 to 74 years doubled between 1986 and 2001.

It concludes that section by saying:

Unemployment at 4.6 per cent is half the level of when Labor left office, productivity has surged, there has been a boom in job creation and home mortgage rates now stand at 7.8 per cent, down from 10.5 per cent in 1996.

That is the Australian editorial. So much for the rhetoric; this is what an independent source says about how fair the Australian government has been, and this government has certainly shown that.

It is interesting, by the way, that you never find the members opposite talking about—and certainly today you did not hear the Leader of the Opposition or the Deputy Leader of the Opposition talk about—people who are out of work. They only talk about those who are in work, but the reality is that fairness starts with a job. Certainly I know that that is what the member for Deakin believes, as he says to other people in his electorate. With all the regulations that the Labor Party imposed when they were in government, there were over one million people out of jobs. Compare this to the situation that we have today, where we have a 16.4 per cent increase in the income and wages levels of average Australians—I emphasise 16.4 per cent—and we have a total of 1.9 million new jobs created under this government. We are talking about fairness. If fairness relates to creating new jobs, this government has certainly proven itself to be the fairest government we have seen in many decades. The reality is that 165,000 new jobs have been created just since we introduced the new Work Choices regulations and legislation. In comparison, the average is 50,000 jobs a year over the past 20 years. So we have a real comparison of what fairness is all about.

The opposition talks about the economy and how we have mismanaged it. The terms of the debate that we have today from the opposition are:

The Federal Government’s failure to take responsibility for building a strong economy while providing fairness for all, not just some, Australians.

What is the truth of the matter? Let us look at some of the key criteria, as you would judge an economy. The current government has restored Australia’s AAA credit rating—under Labor this rating was downgraded twice—and this is the hallmark of strong economic management. We have had 15 years of economic growth. If members opposite want to talk about economic fundamentalism, perhaps they would like to talk about Mr Keating’s move on privatising the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas, deregulating the banking sector economy and floating the dollar—they would call that economic fundamentalism, but those changes assisted growth. Under this government we have had continued and strong economic growth. We have been through the worst drought in recorded history, the 2001 recession in the US and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and still the economy remains strong. In contrast, what did Labor give us? The 1990s ‘recession we had to have’.

We have had nine surplus budgets compared with Labor’s nine deficits in 13 years, with $69 billion of deficits in the last five years. We have repaid $96 billion of the debt accumulated by the previous government. As I said, real wages have increased by 16.4 per cent. Under Labor, real wages fell by 0.2 per cent. Tax reform has been generous and the government has cut personal income tax to the tune of $83.8 billion. What was the situation under Labor? They promised us ‘l-a-w’ tax cuts. Instead, in 1983, Labor increased every rate of wholesales sales tax and increased petrol taxes. Talk about fairness! Is that fair? I do not think so. Talk about a fair go for average Australians: it fails on every test.

There have been 1.9 million jobs created since March 1996. Unemployment peaked at 10.9 per cent in 1992 under the previous government with over 900,000 Australians unemployed. We have delivered low inflation. Inflation is currently sitting at 3.9 per cent. Under Labor inflation peaked at a staggering 11.1 per cent and averaged 5.2 per cent.

Mortgage rates are currently 8.05 per cent and have averaged 7.18 per cent since the coalition was elected. This is down from 10.5 per cent when Labor left office. This represents a $1,000 interest saving on the average new mortgage compared with the average mortgage interest rates under Labor. As we know, under Labor interest rates peaked at 17 per cent and averaged 12.75 per cent.  Was it a fair go for Australians when interest rates hit 17 per cent? I do not think so. Under this government, savings for the average household represent $1,000 on the average new mortgage.

Real household wealth has more than doubled since 1996, increasing by nine per cent each year. Australian households now have around $6 in assets for every $1 in debt. Under Labor, real net household wealth increased by only 2.9 per cent per annum. Was that fair? I do not think so.

Labor has opposed us at every step, at every reform that the government has introduced. The Leader of the Opposition claims that we are not providing for all Australians, but the evidence simply does not add up. We have the lowest unemployment rate for 30 years. We have created all these additional jobs. Wages have gone up by 16.4 per cent. Average disposable income for all Australians grew by 21 per cent. Yet the real income of lower income households grew by 22 per cent over this period compared to only 19 per cent for higher income households.

The facts are there for all to see. This government has managed the economy well and strongly. The result is that all Australians are the beneficiaries of this in income, low inflation, interest rates and growth in their own personal wealth. We have had an old throwback from dark Keynesian days that this is the way to go, claiming that we are part of some economic fundamentalism. In fact, this government is the only government to show real compassion. (Time expired)

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