Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

This is the 18th motion of censure or for the suspension of standing orders moved by the opposition this year—double the number moved in 2007 in the lead-up to a federal election. The opposition are motivated not by good public policy but by dealing with their own divisions. They want to give lectures to their own backbench but make the whole of the parliament sit through them. This is the weakest censure motion moved in this parliament since Federation. Not only that, they have now wound it back so we now have suspensions of standing orders for condemnation motions because they could not bring themselves to say that this was worthy of a censure motion. Can you believe that those pathetic questions today went through their tactics committee? Unbelievable.

The opposition would have Australians believe that every problem which the nation faces began at 9 am on Sunday, 25 November. They forget about the 16-year high inflation legacy that we were left. They forget about the eight interest rate rises that occurred after the 2004 election when they promised to keep interest rates at record lows. They say they are opposed to watching and the consideration of policy initiatives but they were blind to the inflation threat. They were blind to climate change. They were blind to the fact that workers were having their wages and conditions ripped away from them through Work Choices. They remain blind to the fact that we are living through an international credit crisis. Those opposite want to pretend that it does not exist, that the global community is not going through an international credit crisis. In the US, the most prominent measure of consumer confidence, the Conference Board’s index, has fallen nearly 50 per cent since the global turbulence began. In the UK, consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years. In New Zealand, confidence has fallen to its lowest level since 1998 when it was buffeted by the Asian financial crisis.

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