Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

The convivial exchange that you have just had with the Chief Government Whip is in anticipation of further disruption to this debate on the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Economic Security Strategy) Bill 2008 and cognate bills by the coalition. Given the high likelihood of that based on the coalition’s behaviour in the last couple of hours, I will refrain from seeking to give a full economic exposition of the origins and effects of the global financial crisis, because I believe that the flow of that argument will be disrupted. Suffice to say therefore that I will concentrate on a number of points that have been made by opposition members, including the most recent speaker, who has indicated opposition to key elements of the government’s economic strategy.

I would like to take the parliament through the litany of different positions occupied on the overall economic strategy pursued by the Rudd government during the course of the last few weeks. You need to be pretty much on the ball on a daily basis to follow the various proclamations of the Leader of the Opposition. Some may interpret generously that the different positions articulated by the Leader of the Opposition are merely a matter of incompetence or poor concentration. That would not, in my view, be a correct interpretation. In truth it is very well calculated. It is very deliberate and it is an attempt to place every possible position on the record so that the opposition leader, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, will be able to say that he got it right. It is as simple as that. It is a very anticipated interruption that is about to occur—

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