Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Now the rhetoric of the government and the member who just spoke is to make sure that in every speech in this place they repeat the word ‘decisive’. They repeat it constantly because they want people to believe that they are a decisive government. It is not true, but they repeat it. Every action that the government have taken and every decision that they have made to refer matters to committee, meanwhile failing to help Australians in the public hospital system and small businesses, reinforces the fact that right around the country people know—Australians are not stupid—that the government are not decisive but rather are a government of committees run by a bureaucrat who does not have the capacity to make long-term decisions in the best interests of this country.

Regarding the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Economic Security Strategy) Bill 2008 and related bills, the government were dragged kicking and screaming to a decision to help older Australians. They have been kicking and screaming for the past 12 months, since last November’s election. They resisted the federal Leader of the Opposition’s calls for an increase in the age pension rate for single pensioners. They refused on countless occasions to provide support. Ultimately they have provided support to people in the Australian community who are most in need—age pensioners and carers. The Labor government act not in the public interest but in their own self-interest.

They made the decision to provide this package not because they saw it as being in the best interests of pensioners but because they wanted a political fix to the problem that their focus group was telling them about. So they came up with this idea to spend over $10 billion of the surplus moneys that were given to them by the previous, coalition government. Do not forget that, without the surplus funds gifted to the current government last November, none of this would be possible. It would not be possible for the government to be running a surplus budget if they did not receive the funds from the previous 11½ years of good economic management. Had we not repaid their government debt of $96 billion over the last 11 years, they would not have been in a position today to meet the expenditure that they are talking about as part of this bill or, indeed, any other bill which is before the House at the moment.

The Labor government inherited the most complementary set of economic statistics in this country’s history. They inherited unemployment at a 30-year low. They benefited from the fact that we had repaid all of that debt, saving the country about $8 billion a year in interest. My view is that, if a Labor government had been in power over the last 11 years, not only would that $96 billion of debt not have been paid back; it would have increased dramatically—because Labor are bad managers of money. The Australian public know that and they are seeing it in action at the moment, not just at the federal level but right around the country—everywhere. Nowhere is it more obvious than in New South Wales, where that basket case of a government is really a disgrace. And a very close second, I think, is Queensland. Under the so-called leadership of Anna Bligh, Queensland is very quickly heading down the path of New South Wales, and that would be a tragic outcome for the great state of Queensland. If we see a repeat at the federal level of Labor’s state economic management, particularly as in New South Wales and Queensland, the future of this country is under great threat. We need to make sure that Labor do not continue to operate systems like the health system and the employment markets in this country in the way in which New South Wales Labor have mismanaged their economy over the last 10 years or so.

The most important point to make about this bill is in relation to confidence. We are suffering from international global effects, but the federal government are making the impact, particularly on small business, much worse. The government have really belted the confidence out of consumers and businesses right around the country. As the shadow minister for small business, independent contractors, tourism and the arts noted in his recent press release:

The National Australia Bank’s Monthly Business Survey and Economic Outlook for October 2008 has recorded a record fall (21 points) in business confidence to a low of -29 index points.

Contrast that to 12 months ago—to November 2007. Do not forget that Labor has this very nervous Treasurer out there on a regular basis providing performances which only get worse. His performances are an embarrassment to this country not just domestically but internationally as well. That is what small business are looking at at the moment and that is why they are keeping their hands in their pockets. We have the effects of the international crisis—there is no doubt about that—but Wayne Swan and Kevin Rudd are making it worse. If small business are putting staff off, if they are not making an investment, then this economic contraction will continue on much longer than it needs to. We need to make sure that people understand that Labor do not manage money and they do not manage money well in times of bad economic circumstance.

Do not forget that the Liberal-National coalition government, when we were in power over the 2001-02 period when the United States last went into recession, were still able to manage our economy with a growth rate of four per cent. We were still able to maintain unemployment at record lows. That is how we managed the last international economic crisis. It stands in stark contrast to the way in which this Rudd government have completely mismanaged the Australian economy over the last 12 months. For that they should stand condemned. I say to the Australian people: at the first opportunity, please remember what it was like during the 11½ years of the coalition government in this country and the way in which we managed the economy, and compare it with the last 12 months and the way in which the Rudd-Swan government have managed the economy. There can be no greater contrast in competence or lack thereof. That is the message that the Australian people need to hear. I will conclude my comments on that note.

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