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

The honourable member’s question referred to his remarks this morning. The question he was asked this morning was as follows:

Do you take comfort from the words of the Reserve Bank Governor yesterday that ‘… conditions in Australian banks are light years away from what’s happening in other banking systems around the world?’

Mr Turnbull said:

Yes, I do take comfort from that. I don’t know that I’d use the word ‘light years’, I think.

He was asked:

Is he wrong?’

Mr Turnbull said:

… I’d express it slightly differently.

My point is that, at a time of significant, global financial crisis, the challenge here is not to provide rolling literary commentary on the content of the Reserve Bank governor’s speech but is this: either you support the authority of the governor’s statements on the robustness of Australia’s financial institutions or you seek to separate yourself from them. You chose the latter, trying to make a political point, and you are rightly condemned for so doing.

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