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

I do not intend to criticise you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I do not think there should be shame on you. There should be shame on other members of the opposition because they have zero credibility.

As far as our actions since the election go, they have been at the heart of our election commitment to put the views and interests of Australian consumers at the forefront of our policy. What is their alternative? The Leader of the Opposition is fond of saying that he leads the alternative government of Australia. What is their alternative? What is their alternative to the petrol commissioner? To do nothing. What is their alternative to the increased investigatory powers for the ACCC? To do nothing. What is their alternative to the other steps we have taken to introduce more transparency in the banking industry, to allow people to change their banks more regularly with fewer penalties and to encourage and to allow bank switching? Nothing. What is their alternative to criminalising cartels? We do not know where they stand on that measure either. They promised to do it and then reneged on their commitment. The member for Higgins, the then Treasurer, let the Australian people down by going back on his word and failing to meet his commitment to do it. We are doing it. We released draft legislation within two months of taking office, something they could not do even though it was recommended by their inquiry in 2003. What is their alternative to the first home owners scheme? Nothing. What is their alternative to the teen dental scheme? Nothing. What is their alternative to the increase in the utilities bonus? What is their alternative to the National Rental Affordability Scheme? What is their alternative to the steps that the government has taken to improve housing affordability in this country? They sit there and they carp and they whinge and they complain that they no longer have the chance to do anything about it, when, for the last 11 years, they did nothing about it.

This MPI is what you call a fill-in. The member for Cowper first proposed this MPI on 18 February, I think it was. It was a Monday, of course, and it was a stunt. He got up and said: ‘It’s a Monday. I want to have an MPI on the cost of living.’ It was a stunt because he knows that the standing orders do not allow MPIs on Mondays. I said to my office, ‘We’d better get ready, because they’re clearly going to do an MPI on the cost of living on the Tuesday.’ But they did not get around to it. And they did not get around to it on the Wednesday, and they did not get around to it on the Thursday. Now, three weeks later, they have gotten around to it. That is how important it is. And why? Because usually the MPI is lodged by the Leader of the Opposition or the shadow Treasurer. That has been the pattern.

Why isn’t the shadow Treasurer doing it today? Because he is embarrassed. He is too embarrassed to come in here and propose an MPI because he knows that we will point out his record over the last few weeks. There was his question to the Treasurer: ‘Why aren’t you chairing the ERC?’ Well, he is chairing the ERC, actually. There was his question: ‘Why did you reject the advice of the Treasury on the minimum wage?’ Actually, we accepted the advice of the Treasury on the minimum wage. I am not in the habit of giving free political advice to the opposition, but I will make this exception: when you get a leak, verify it before you get up in the chamber and say it is a fact. Check your facts before you make allegations. That is where Malcolm has gone wrong. That is where the member for Wentworth has gone wrong. That is why his leadership campaign has received such a dent in the last few days—because in this House you have two commodities: your integrity and your credibility. You have nothing else.

Now, I do not question the integrity of the member for Wentworth but, by God, I question his credibility. It has gone in the last couple of days. It has evaporated as he has made serious accusations against this government which have evaporated into thin air. What has been his response? It was to say: ‘The Secretary to the Treasury is covering up for the government.’ What an outrageous response. We all make mistakes from time to time. We all make errors. We are all human. When you make an error, fess up. Be man enough to get up and say: ‘Well, I got that one wrong. The Secretary of the Treasury did not give that advice to the government. I accept I was wrong.’ We all have to do that from time to time. It is not pleasant, but it is what you do. You do not then blame the bureaucrat. You do not then blame a respected Secretary to the Treasury who was appointed by that government and kept by us because he is the best in the country at his job. You do not do that. That shows why the member for Wentworth is unfit to hold the office of Treasurer of this country, and it shows why we have got the B team doing an MPI on this day—because we are covering up for the incompetence of the shadow Treasurer of Australia, the member for Wentworth. Seriously, if you want to be taken seriously as the alternative government of this country, you have to do better than that. You cannot have 11 years of inaction and then come in today and say— (Time expired)

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