John Cobb (Parkes, National Party, Assistant Minister for the Environment and Water Resources ) Share this | Hansard source

No, sorry, he was younger than that. He was only 25, because he had only been out of school for something like seven years. He was asked by one of the local media what he thought about the Treasurer’s 11th budget and he said, ‘Oh yeah, it’s okay I suppose.’ He was asked who he would vote for in the election and what he had done in the past. He said, ‘In the elections that I have been involved with I have always been a coalition voter.’ He was then asked, ‘What are you going to do this time?’ He replied, ‘Oh well, I don’t know. I’m getting a bit bored with them. I don’t know whether I mightn’t think about Labor.’ I thought: ‘That is very interesting. It is fascinating.’

This young man of 25 has been pretty fortunate, I must admit. Since he left school he has not really had much of a problem getting a job. In fact, certainly in recent years, he has never had to worry about getting a job. This young man may have borrowed money to buy a car and, perhaps, even at 25 he may have—and I hope he has—made an investment in a house. Whether he is paying interest on a car or a house or whatever it might be, interest rates have always been well down in single digit figures. In his education and health, life has been pretty good to him, really. In our part of the world the Commonwealth has done everything you could expect it to to try and prop up state responsibilities as well as to keep interest rates totally under control and to ensure that this young man could get a job—and he can get a good job and has never been better paid for it. Probably never has a man of 25 had more disposable income. I guess he is finding that a bit boring.

If he wants life to be a bit more exciting then I do not doubt it will get more exciting if there is a change of government, but I am not quite sure about the excitement that he will get out of it. We only have to look at history to know that what I say is 100 per cent true. The chances are that two or three years after a change in government it will get very exciting because he will then almost inevitably be looking at higher, double-digit interest rates to pay for that car and house—that will be a bit more exciting. If he then decides that he wants to get a second job, or even hang on to the one he has, to help pay for his car and house, it will be even more exciting because there is nothing surer than that it will be one heck of a lot harder to get a job—a primary job let alone a second job—with a change of government. When interest rates go up and businesses start going to the wall again, it is going to be exciting, but I think the stress and the strain that go with it might get rid of some of that excitement.

It is a fantastic budget, but you can only have budgets like that when the economy is under control, when inflation is under control, when people have jobs, when you have record low unemployment and when you have record wages and record amounts of disposable income. I think we have to take our hats off to the Treasurer and to a government that has produced a budget like this.

See this speech in context