Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Then you would be foolish. You would be believing that reducing and paying off a $96 billion debt, which the coalition government inherited along with a $10 billion black hole, was somehow poor economic management. You would be believing that reducing unemploy-ment, which was over eight per cent in 1996, to just over four per cent at the election last year was somehow economically irresponsible. You would be believing that creating over two million jobs in Australia over that period of time and having the lowest unemployment rate for over 35 years was economically irresponsible.

The reality is that the current government was concerned last year when in opposition that the perception of Labor as poor, incompetent and inexperienced economic managers was something that the Australian people believed. We had the then Leader of the Opposition, Mr Rudd, going on television, as Australians will remember, prior to the last election saying, ‘I am a fiscal conservative; I am an economic conservative.’ He did not say that just once; he said it over and over again. You could not switch on your television set prior to the election last year without that advertisement showing Mr Rudd standing up and saying, ‘I’m an economic conservative.’

He went further when asked about that. He was asked, ‘What does it mean to be an economic conservative?’ What he said was, ‘That means amongst other things that we will keep the budget in surplus.’ That was part of his definition of what an economic and fiscal conservative would be.

The reality is that Australians were right to have a perception that Labor are poor, inexperienced and incompetent economic managers. Whether you go back to the Whitlam government—probably the worst in Australia’s history—or you go back to Paul Keating’s recession that we had to have, Australians have a long and realistic memory that Labor are inexperienced and incompetent when it comes to the economic management of this country.

Let us look at the situation that has occurred over the past few months and ask whether that plays into this perception that Australians have about the experience and the competence of Labor as economic managers. Imagine a government that seeks to reassure the public that our financial system is sound but then announces the need for an unlimited guarantee of the banking system. How would you describe such a government? Inexperienced? Incompetent? Panicked?

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