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

It is very important that you do not walk into this House and once again question either the Reserve Bank or the Treasurer, because what we really need in this country is a degree of unity and commonality of purpose in these times of challenge. That is what we thought we had when we brought the package down. It is why we gave briefings to the opposition, briefings the likes of which the previous opposition never, ever received. I received one briefing in three years from the previous government, and I venture to say that my predecessors barely got that. We will take them into our confidence but not when they are behaving as recklessly as they are now—prepared to say anything and prepared to do anything to score a political point, but it is not even for the Liberal Party; it is just all for Malcolm. All of those backbenchers over there, as they get dispirited as time goes on, will understand what Malcolm is doing up the front: he is not there representing the Liberal Party, he is not there representing them, he is there looking after himself. That is what it is all about. It is all about Malcolm.

As I said in the House the other day, it reminds me of the old Mark Twain saying: ‘All you need in life is ignorance and confidence.’ And the Leader of the Opposition has got plenty of both—plenty of ignorance and plenty of confidence. But he has got one choice left. He can retrieve this situation, at least for the day. He can come back into the House straight after this debate and apologise to the Secretary of the Treasury for his reckless behaviour.

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