Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I decline. I would like to continue. Would a colleague in the national parliament rise to stop a member of the federal parliament who represents a seat in Queensland where many constituents love their football and love their State of Origin? This is an analogy to federal politics because it is all about teamwork, discipline, ability and skill. That is where I lead into my comments on the federal budget. I have a high regard for the member for Denison from Tasmania but for him to try to stop me from talking about skill and teamwork and ability, qualities that are not acquired overnight, is not on. I think there is a remarkable analogy there.

Of course, I am here to talk about the budget in more depth. I want to congratulate the Treasurer on handing down a very successful budget, his 12th consecutive budget, and, more importantly, his 10th surplus budget. The people of Ryan, whom I represent in this parliament, might be interested to know that the Australian budget is some $247 billion in size and value. Total revenues are $247 billion and total expenditure is $236 billion. So of course there is a budget surplus and the estimates are that it is some $10.6 billion.

I am a very big fan of the Treasurer, not only because he is a great guy and someone with a great sense of humour but especially because he is a fiscal conservative—a real fiscal conservative, not a pretend one, not a TV fiscal conservative—who has a real ability to do the job, just like the Queensland State of Origin players. He has a real ability to do the job, an ability to manage the economy of our nation. I believe that the people of Ryan will also share my view, as I am sure will the people of the electorate of Blair—I am delighted that my colleague and friend the member for Blair is with me at the moment in the chamber. I am sure that both our constituencies will share the view that the economic leaders of our country should really believe in what they say and they should have the ability and the skill and the experience to implement their policies. I think that on election day, when the tough decision has to be made to decide whether they want security for their families and economic stability in the country, and of course looking into the decades ahead at which political party has the ability to deliver results, at the end of the day, I am sure and I am confident that they will cast their vote for a very successful coalition government.

But this federal budget delivered by the Treasurer was a visionary budget. This is a budget for Australia’s today and for Australia’s tomorrow. This is a budget for modern Australia in the first decade of the 21st century and a budget for the future of Australia long after many of us in this parliament will be gone. There was a completely responsible fiscal budget and a budget that was practical in its direct benefit to the economic and social needs of the people of my electorate of Ryan and the greater wellbeing of our wonderful country.

The Australian economy is some $1 trillion in value. It is hard to imagine having that sort of economic security in your hands, but that is precisely the enormity of the responsibility in the hands of the federal Treasurer. Our $1 trillion economy is nearly 50 per cent larger than it was 10 years ago. With a population of 20 million, Australia spends more money on health alone per year than the GDP of some 65 per cent of the world’s nations. Just a one per cent margin of error in the guidance of our economic responsibilities in a $240 billion-plus budget such as this would wipe some $2.4 billion off our surplus. So this is no small responsibility that the national government has and that the federal Treasurer in particular has. There is just no margin for error in looking after an economy of our size. We do rank as the 13th largest economy in the world, despite only having a population of 20 million, or 0.3 per cent of the world’s population. So it is very significant for our country’s future that the government of the day is re-elected, with its skills and its experience acquired over many years.

The Australian economy simply does not run on some kind of autopilot switch. I know that many people in the community perhaps think that, and certainly I know that some in my Ryan electorate might have a view that our economy is just a case of switching on and off switches and pressing buttons here and there. But it does not work like that. It is not an autopilot system. One needs to have immense skill and ability and judgement to run our economy for the benefit of our nation.

I am delighted to see that another of my colleagues, the member for Canning, in the great state of Western Australia—another booming state, another booming economy—is in the parliament to support my remarks, as I am sure he does. I am sure that he will agree with—

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