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

Maybe it was a mirage, all of those interest rate rises in a row. I would say to the member for Wentworth, as he plots and schemes over the break in his preparation to take over the Liberal leadership, that, on the basic question of what impacts on confidence: there is the impact of a succession of interest rate rises, the impact of the global economy on the basis of what is happening with global financial markets still and, on top of that, the impact we have seen of global oil prices.

Our alternative is responsible economic management, which is why we have brought about a $22 billion surplus on which a Liberal Party raid is being conducted at the moment in the Senate, on this last day that the Senate sits—a $22 billion raid on the surplus. If there is one sure-fire way to put upward pressure on inflation, upward pressure on interest rates and, as a consequence, affect confidence in the real economy, it is to pursue such a policy of continued economic irresponsibility. I would have thought the member for Wentworth would be aware of those basic facts. Perhaps his energies have been directed in another direction in recent weeks and days.

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