Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition takes this package on trust and as the member for Cook I am pleased to support the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Economic Security Strategy) Bill 2008 and associated bills, as there are those in my electorate who will benefit from this package. But I note that the coalition is taking this package very much on trust. That is what the Australian public expects of the opposition in times such as these. But what they do not expect is for such support to be given blindly. They do not expect such support to be given in a way that seeks not to question the government on any matters. They expect an opposition in this country under our system to hold the government to account on every single occasion, asking the questions that the government, I believe, are not asking of their own officials or others about these matters—that is, questions about the likely impact of this package; questions about the bungling of the government’s unlimited bank guarantees; questions about the impact on growth of these packages; and, more significantly, questions about the impact on future surpluses—or rather whether the budget will go into deficit. The Prime Minister is at the height of arrogance in refusing to answer the very questions that the Australian public expects the opposition to put to the government to ensure accountability and scrutiny through this parliament.

The PM has introduced a new era of what I would call ‘economic McCarthyism’ in this country under the cloak of his confected rhetoric of economic security. The ‘Kevin knows best’ mantra is the prevailing dogma that the Prime Minister seeks to force on economic debate in this country. Frankly, I am not prepared to gamble Australia’s future on that presumption. I am not prepared to gamble the jobs of Australians on the misguided notion that Kevin knows best. The Prime Minister is acting more like, as Glenn Milne recently—

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