Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The reason that standing orders must be suspended, and the reason why it is urgent that this happen, is that we have a government that have absolutely no idea of the consequences of the course of action that they are choosing to take. They have no idea of the consequences for Australia’s families, and they have no idea of the consequences of talking down the Australian economy.

What plans, if any, does this government have to manage the economy? We had adverts running in Western Australia during the election campaign, with Kevin Rudd coming forward and saying, ‘We have a plan to manage Australia’s $1.1 trillion economy,’ but all we hear from the government now is complaints about the economy it inherited, even though this economy it the strongest of any incoming government in the history of this country. The reason that this motion must be agreed to is that we have had a collapse in consumer and business confidence. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index fell 9.1 per cent in March to 88.6 points. This index is 23.3 per cent below its level a year ago, and it is at its lowest level since September 1993, which was at the end of the ‘recession that we had to have’.

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