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

I was talking before about the political opportunism and the stupidity of those opposite, and it is just so evident in that question. Why is the economy slowing? It is slowing under the weight of 10 interest rate rises in a row under those opposite—something they want to forget about. They do not want to admit to 10 interest rate rises in a row and the impact that is having on the growth prospects of this economy.

The member for Wentworth was on AM this morning and he pretended that there was no such thing as 10 interest rate rises in a row and that they could not have had any impact on domestic growth. Then he wanted to ignore the impact of global economic conditions. He was pretending that the global oil price spike had not happened. No, there was no impact on inflation from that. He was pretending that global financial market turbulence is not pushing up borrowing rates for households and business. He was pretending that it has not had any impact on stock markets. It has had a big impact, and this government is dealing with it responsibly through a responsible fiscal policy—stopping their reckless spending and building a surplus, which they are now attacking in the Senate; putting in place the essential investment for nation building to solve those capacity constraints that have put upward pressure on inflation and interest rates. Of course, all they are worried about over there is their own individual leadership prospects. Plan A over there, the Leader of the Opposition, is just worried about what it will mean for his leadership.

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