Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to start by acknowledging the interest rate reduction today and to talk about what it means for the people of Dobell. For the first time in seven years, they have seen interest rates go down. This means a great deal to families who are struggling to make ends meet. Compare the government’s reaction to the reduction in interest rates with what we have heard from the opposition in the discussion on this matter of public importance. There has been gnashing of teeth and almost a cry that interest rates have gone down. ‘Interest rates have gone down. That’s terrible. That doesn’t fit with our narrative. Gosh, we’ll have to invent one again. The economy must be going to the dogs.’ That is the argument that we are getting today. That shows just how out of touch the opposition are. They are so out of touch that they almost begrudge the fact that working families are going to be better off today because there has been a reduction in interest rates, that they are going to benefit because interest rates have gone down.

I am glad that the member for Wentworth has, in his words, left for the day the ‘zoo’ that is the opposition to remind us of a few things. Let me remind the House of a few things. We remember last November when there was a collapse in confidence. That collapse in confidence was in the ability of the then Liberal-National government to take this country forward in a fast-changing and challenging world. Whether it was the economy, whether it was broadband, whether it was infrastructure or whether it was Work Choices, the citizens of this country lost confidence in the previous government to deal with these issues. We all remember the former Prime Minister, the former member for Bennelong, telling everyone that Australian working families had never been better off. We are reminded that last year the member for Wentworth said that interest rates had been ‘overdramatised’ and that a rise in petrol prices was not a concern at all for his electorate. The idea that, if we do not talk about these things, they will simply go away just shows the absolute lack of economic credibility that the opposition bring to this argument.

You will never hear us on the ‘non-zoo’ side of parliament say that Australian working families have never been better off. You will never hear us say the concerns about interest rates or petrol prices are overdramatised. There is a clear demarcation between us and them. We get the economy and how it affects every Australian; the mob on the other side simply do not. The member for Wentworth has been contradictory all year on many aspects of the economy. He has been more interested in the numbers in the caucus room than the health of the economy. On the question of unofficial interest rate rises by the banks, the member for Wentworth cannot stick to one single line. He has gone from blaming unofficial bank interest rate rises on the government and the Treasurer in particular to a wholesale defence of the banks. On 14 January, the member for Wentworth said:

But the point is the Federal Treasurer, the Commonwealth Treasurer has enormous moral influence and Peter Costello used that very effectively, very forcefully and Swan, had he done that, had he obliged the banks, demanded the banks put their full justification out there, I have no doubt that they either would have not increased rates, or would increased them by a lesser amount.

It only took two months before he changed his tune. Two months later, on 11 March, when asked what he would have done to stop banks raising interest rates by a greater margin, the member for Wentworth said:

You can’t stop it because they are independent businesses.

This is the contradiction that we get constantly from the opposition in relation to all matters, particularly in relation to matters of the economy.

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