Chris Pearce (Aston, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, Madam Deputy Speaker. He said that there would be a cap of $20,000 on bank deposits, and at the time that was the right policy. One week ago he said that there would be no cap and that there would be an unlimited guarantee on bank deposits, and of course one week ago that was the right policy. Yesterday and today he said that there may be a cap and that there is going to be a new deposit tax, and—you have guessed it—that is the right policy. So we have got three policies on the same issue in the space of two weeks and, on top of that, we got an announcement in question time today of a new tax. Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, as you know: if it looks like a tax and it walks like a tax and it smells like a tax, it is a new tax. So there were three policy positions on the same issue in two weeks, and they have all been the right policy.

I presume that is what the Prime Minister meant when he swanned around the country before the last election saying that there would be new leadership. That is certainly new leadership: three policy positions on the same issue in two weeks. That is the sort of leadership that we have not seen in the parliament of this country since Gough Whitlam, and that, I presume, is supposed to be new leadership. Some time ago, Kevin Rudd said ‘it takes a long time to turn around the ship of state’. To be fair to the Prime Minister, I think we can say that he has veered the ship in a new direction. The trouble is that, because of his leadership, the ship is being veered in a new direction and, guess what, it has crashed straight into an iceberg and a pretty substantial iceberg at that.

What has become clear in this House over the last couple of days is this: it is clear that Kevin Rudd did not seek the advice of the Reserve Bank of Australia; it is clear that Kevin Rudd has misled the people of Australia by implying that he was personally engaging directly with the regulators; it is clear that a bill introduced in this House only seven days ago is now defunct; it is clear that Kevin Rudd and Labor are making policy on the run; and what is clear and very concerning is that, if this all goes wrong, it is the Australian people who will be left to foot the bill.

I know that Kevin Rudd wanted to be Prime Minister of Australia—

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