John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

who are not doing as well as others. Let me tell the Leader of the Opposition one of the reasons why we have been able to do a lot of things in the last budget that we might not otherwise have been able to do if we had not built up a budget surplus: we have run a strong economic policy. We have a budget surplus and a strong budget position, no thanks to the Leader of the Opposition.

The Leader of the Opposition’s party left us with a huge debt. They then set about stopping us from trying to pay that off. They have opposed every single reform that this government has introduced and now they have the nerve to run around and hold out the false hope that a Labor government would be able to stop every price rise in the Australian community. That, effectively, is what the Leader of the Opposition is doing.

I remind the Leader of the Opposition that in the last budget we were able to provide a $500 payment to every retired person in the Australian community. We would not have been able to do that if we had not been in such a strong financial position. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that we are the first government in Australian history to have tied pensions not only to the half-yearly indexation through the CPI but also to being not less than 25 per cent of male total average weekly earnings.

Of course I am conscious that some older sections of the Australian community are doing it tough. And, where we have had the budget capacity to do so, we have tried to assist those people. But I say to the Leader of the Opposition that the greatest gift you can give any working family is a job, and this government has a proud record of providing that gift to the Australian community. We have a 33-year low in unemployment in this country, and the only side of politics which is a threat to that is the side of politics led by the opportunistic man who just asked me that question.

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