Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. As we have seen the unfolding of the global financial crisis and its impact across North America, across Eastern Europe and across the East-Asian hemisphere, the impact on growth across the world has been drawn down. As a consequence, that has impacted also on Australia. Secondly, if we are looking at impact on growth, one of the things which does have an impact on economic growth is 12 successive interest rate rises. What we have had as a consequence of economic mismanagement on the part of those opposite and their failure to address the supply side challenges in the Australian economy is the Reserve Bank acting time and time again. Ultimately, that has an impact on domestic activity; hence the projections for growth and employment that you see in the budget papers. On the question of tax, we have delivered an outcome which represents a decrease in tax as a proportion of gross domestic product, in contrast to what we inherited from those opposite. It is a record of which we are proud. Those opposite should hang their heads in shame.

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