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

There he goes. He says: after a year of us running the economy, we are responsible for the inflation. I was talking before about the political opportunism from plan A there, from plan B up there and from plan C over here, and I will tell you what it is based on. It is based on the notion that there was no inflation in the Australian economy until 24 November last year. That is what it is based on. It is based on the notion that 10 interest rate rises in a row never had any impact on economic growth. It is based on the notion that there has been no impact on the Australian economy by events in world financial markets—that they are not pushing up borrowing costs for households and businesses. It is all based on a furphy. These people who sit opposite are just so intent on playing short-term political games, they have got no concept of the national interest. I will tell you this: we on this side of the House will stand up for the national interest every time. That is what we are doing by putting together a responsible budget and a responsible surplus. That is what we are doing with our responsible plans for nation building. We understand the need to invest for the future and to tackle the inflation challenge so that we can have sustainable, long-term growth.

See this speech in context