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

Therefore, in terms of the response to the real cost of living challenges which are being faced by working families, pensioners and carers, the government’s strategy is clear. What is not clear is the strategy of those opposite. They had one foray into policy this week, and that was to go out on the doors, through the Leader of the Opposition, the alternative Prime Minister of Australia, and say that the Reserve Bank should bring about a 50 basis point cut tomorrow. And then in the next breath, when asked whether that would be his position as Prime Minister of Australia if he were so elected, he of course said it would not be. What does that say? It says that the alternative government—as they describe themselves—have a view that the policies they put forward in opposition are far too reckless to be implemented in government. That is what they are saying. I would suggest to those opposite that if there is an alternative explanation for what the Leader of the Opposition meant on the doors this morning, everyone sitting here in this chamber is all ears. Frankly, if you go out and say, as the alternative Prime Minister, ‘I am calling for a 50 basis point cut,’ and then ‘I am not calling for a 50 basis point cut,’ the world would like to know the reason.

See this speech in context