Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

What he named was a threshold that does not exist. The spin merchants of the Labor Party yesterday were saying: ‘Mr Rudd’s office said he had made a mistake. He was just $5,000 out, not the $25,000 the government claimed.’ He was $25,000 out—but that is not the point. The point is that he did not know a single rate, let alone a threshold.

Enter stage right, the member for Lilley. The member for Lilley had another explanation as to why the Leader of the Opposition should be excused. Have a listen to this: the member for Lilley was asked this morning:

... don’t you need to know where you’re going from to where you’re going to?

That is not bad. The member for Lilley said:

We absolutely know where we’re going to, because you see, we authored the current tax cuts that are in the system.

Listen to this:

Eighty-five cents in every dollar of tax cuts in this year’s Budget were authored by the Labor Party.

Blow me down! When I wrote that budget speech, I did not realise my hand had been overcome by the Labor Party. It is getting pretty spooky, isn’t it? My budgets are now being authored by the Labor Party. If I really believed that, I would stand down.

But it gets even spookier. Members will know that the Leader of the Opposition specialises in asking himself questions and giving the answers. The reason he specialises in asking himself questions is that they are the only ones he can answer. He got on Today Tonight last night and he said:

“Someone asked me the other day ‘Who do you model yourself on?”‘ And I said, ‘Ah... Kevin’. I’m just me.”

That is pretty spooky because now he is modelling himself on himself. Last year he was modelling himself on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But he has found an even better role model now. ‘Move aside Dietrich. I am now modelling myself on myself,’ he says. He is now authoring tax rates that he does not know exist. He is now auditioning for a job that he is not up to. That is the most important point: he is authoring, auditioning, for a job that he is not up to. He has not done the work, he does not understand the economy and he is not ready to be a leader in Australia.

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