Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister says it was her regulation—APRA! APRA was created by the coalition. The entire prudential framework that we work under—the arrangements between APRA and ASIC, the ACCC and the Reserve Bank—was the creation of the coalition government.

But regulation has to be appropriate and it must not be excessive. When we met with small and medium businesses in Parramatta last week, it was very interesting to hear their concerns. When I said, ‘What can the government do to promote employment?’ they said, ‘The government should pay its bills on time.’ They said, ‘The government should reduce red tape—make it easier to tender. Why do we have to fill in a pile of forms this high? Why can’t we do it in a standardised way and do it online?’

In the end, it is the level of employment that determines how much Australia is affected by the global economic crisis. Provided unemployment stays relatively low, then Australians will continue to afford their mortgages and not be forced to sell their homes. It will also mean that fewer Australians will need to access unemployment benefits. So every arm of government policy should be directed to ensuring that Australia continues to enjoy low unemployment. That is our sole focus. We will go through this package tonight and over the days that follow, and I say this to the Prime Minister: we are prepared to sit all night; we are prepared to sit all weekend. I propose to the Prime Minister: in order to give this package the appropriate scrutiny, we agree to defer estimates for a week and have the Senate sit next week and focus on this package so that all members of this House and the Senate work together as best we can to ensure that it is the most effective package—that the measures are effective and that they will deliver the outcome that we all seek.

Above all, what we need to do is to move into the substance and the practicality of measures that will promote employment. The Prime Minister chooses to throw out a few measures today—and very large numbers are involved, but there are a number of measures there—but then he couches everything in this unbridled ideological attack which is all about creating a fantasy world in which the Liberal Party is the spearhead of some deregulating, radical right-wing movement. The fact of the matter is: the stability of this country and the economy that we enjoy—the fact that we can make these investments, that we can make these expenditures, that we can undertake these programs—is due to the 11½ years of effective economic management by the coalition. The fact that our banks are strong is due to the solid economic management of the coalition. And the Prime Minister would be better spending his time focusing on measures that will promote employment rather than ideological tirades that are more fiction than fact.

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