Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Economic Security Strategy) Bill 2008 and cognate Appropriation (Economic Security Strategy) bills Nos 1 and 2. As we know, these are part of the package of spending measures totalling $10.4 billion, with $9.65 billion to be spent in 2008-09, designated to stimulate the economy and known as the Economic Security Strategy. We also know this package is worth half of the current forecast budget surplus. This government is clearly out of its depth, having had to admit that this package was announced without any economic analysis by Treasury. Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan have spent half the forecast surplus without any modelling to show it will have the desired impact. That is a concern. They are making policy on the run, as it has been described over this period of time.

When they come into this place and claim that it is their budget surplus, we know that that is not accurate. This surplus was put in place before the last election by the very able then Treasurer, Peter Costello, the member for Higgins. It is the coalition’s $20 billion budget surplus that was built up through careful management of the Australian economy that has been helping to secure Australia’s future. We know that Labor inherited no government debt; a budget surplus, as I have said, of $22 billion; and a Future Fund of more than $66 billion in reserves. In addition, unemployment was at record lows, mortgage rates were low, inflation was under three per cent and growth was high. For a government who claimed accountability credentials time and time again, we are now seeing time and time again that this is a government who hides public information in the shadows. Mr Rudd and Mr Swan must explain—

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