Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I certainly am speaking to the motion and most particularly to the amendment moved by the Prime Minister because of the failure of the opposition to put forward costed budget proposals. This is where it all leads to. They now want the Australian people to believe that somehow they have got some solution to petrol prices—but we know that the member for Wentworth does not support the policy of the Leader of the Opposition. And we know that because emails can be powerful, can’t they? We know what he said in his email to the Leader of the Opposition. Yes, we do! We certainly do. We know he does not support it: it is unfunded, uncosted and undeliverable. And they know it. Every one of them knows it. It is absolutely undeliverable, because it is uncosted. They are happy to sit back and blow a $22 billion hole in the surplus, which is essentially the surplus this country needs to put downward pressure on inflation and downward pressure on interest rates.

It was their neglect, their reckless spending, that gave Australians eight interest rate rises in three years on the back of rising inflation. Shame on you! How could you have the gall to come into this House and talk about cost-of-living pressures, when that is your record? How could you have the gall to do it? But how could you have the gall to say this, at the Press Club, about the Leader of the Opposition’s policy on excise? This is what the shadow Treasurer said when he was asked what would be the Liberal Party policy at the next election. He said, ‘If I am, er—if Brendan, er—if that is our policy, er, then I will argue for it as eloquently, or not, as I can.’ End of story. How do they expect people to take them seriously? This is what the shadow Treasurer said at the Press Club. There was not one line in that speech—

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