Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition has lodged this matter of public importance about the so-called lack of an effective plan for managing the Australian economy. There is a certain irony about this matter of public importance, because the government which did not have a plan for Australia’s future was thrown out on 24 November. The government which did not have a plan to bring Australia’s level of investment in education and skills up to international standards was thrown out on 24 November. The government which did not have a plan to let Australians compete with the rest of the world on the basis of their skills and innovation was thrown out on 24 November.

The Australian people voted in a government with a plan for Australia’s future. The Australian people voted in a government willing and able to invest in skills, education and infrastructure. The only plan that the previous government had was called Work Choices, and the Australian people passed judgement on that plan on 24 November. Of course, the shadow cabinet also passed judgement on that plan this week and rolled the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

To cover up their lack of a plan in that election campaign, they developed a scare campaign. Remember the ads? ‘Seventy per cent union officials will ruin the country.’ Those terrible union officials! ‘Labor is anti business.’ That was their excuse for a plan—a scare campaign. Well, a scare campaign does not fix inflation. A scare campaign does not fix the bottlenecks in the supply chain of this country. A scare campaign does not put downward pressure on demand and interest rates. Only a plan will. They delivered a scare campaign; we delivered a plan.

We have a plan to compete on innovation and skills. They had a plan to cut wages and have a race to the bottom. We have a plan to increase productivity. They had a plan to slash working conditions. That is the essential difference between the two sides of the House. They did not develop a plan when the Reserve Bank gave them 20 warnings on the growing inflationary pressures. They did not develop a plan when the Reserve Bank warned that the economy was overheating. They did not develop a plan because they were not capable of it. Of course, they have not learned. They still do not have a plan. They are the alternative government of Australia.

Remember what the shadow Treasurer’s plan to fight inflation is? It is an oldie but a goodie. Remember his plan? ‘Ignore it and it shall go away.’ ‘Don’t talk about inflation because you’ll exacerbate inflationary tendencies.’ He has issued press releases saying, ‘The Treasurer is increasing inflationary pressure in Australia by talking about inflation.’ His plan is: ignore it and it will go away.

The Reserve Bank minutes came out yesterday. I am sure we all read them. We all know about them. What did they say when talking about their decision to increase interest rates? They said:

In debating this recommendation, members agreed that a key issue was that inflation had increased, and was running at a higher pace than had been expected prior to the release of the December quarter CPI. On a year-ended basis, CPI inflation would rise further in the March quarter.

I would expect that the shadow Treasurer last night penned a very strongly worded letter to the Governor of the Reserve Bank, complaining that he was increasing inflationary expectations in this country. Has the shadow Treasurer called each and every member of the Reserve Bank board to complain that they have been talking about inflation too much? Silence—he has not put in the call. Why didn’t you call, Malcolm? He has not put in the call and he has not penned the letter, because he is full of hollow words. All he can come up with is to say that the Treasurer of this country should not talk about inflation. When the Reserve Bank talks about inflation, we have deathly silence from the shadow Treasurer, because he does not want to get into a public spat with the Reserve Bank governor. He does not want to get into a spat with the Reserve Bank board. He has been caught out. He has been caught out saying we should stop talking about inflation, and what does the Reserve Bank do? It issues a warning: inflation is growing. The Treasurer says that the inflation genie is out of the bottle. The Reserve Bank comes out and says ‘inflation would rise further in the March quarter’. Deathly silence—he is not going to criticise the Reserve Bank because he does not want to be at war with the Reserve Bank. He does not want that; he just wants to be making cheap political points against the Treasurer of the country.

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