Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Support) Share this | Hansard source

I take great pride in contributing to this debate, with my colleagues on this side of the House, and to add my voice to the crescendo of voices not only on this side but outside this building. Every credible economic commentator, every school principal, every person dealing with the homeless issue, every builder, every businessman and tradesman, every industry representative and every business council representative in this country is adding their voice to the crescendo to say to those on the other side of the House, ‘Wake up to yourselves and get behind this package of bills for the sake of the country and the economy, and in relation to this investment in our children’s education, for the sake of our kids, for the sake of the future of this country,’ and I would also like to say, for the sake of regional Australia. I am very proud to represent regional Australia in this building on behalf of the people of Eden-Monaro. Not supporting this package of bills is, yet again, evidence of the failure of those opposite to look after the interests of the men and women of the bush.

We have seen further evidence of that tonight, as I understand senators have blocked the Horse Disease Response Levy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008 and cognate bills. That is a tragedy for all of those involved in the horse industry in Eden-Monaro, which is one of the great horse culture regions of this country. They will be absolutely devastated that the legislation has been blocked—further evidence that the Rudd Labor government now represents the interests of the people in the bush, who have been totally abandoned by those opposite.

There has been a lot of comment in this debate about the economic circumstances in general as this package of bills emerges. We have seen comment about the Deputy Prime Minister’s visit to Davos and her comments about the robustness of our basic economic framework. It has also been a great privilege for us to hear the voice of the member for Higgins for the first time in the year I have been in this building. I am sure the people of the electorate of Higgins are delighted by the massive production they have had from their member in this past year! But it was a privilege to hear him and also to hear him last night on Lateline. It was very interesting to hear him talk about the last 12-year period. He talked about the deficit they inherited and that economic framework, but what the Deputy Prime Minister was talking about at Davos was the foundation laid by the Hawke-Keating government. That foundation is what has given the economic framework strength. What were the key measures during that time? Of course there was bank regulation reform, which gave strength to our banking industry and put our big four banks in the top 20 banks of the world with a AA credit rating, which has seen them weather this storm and become beacons to financial institutions around the world.

They floated the dollar and that is one of the key shock absorbers in the variation of economic circumstances. How welcome is that now? The falling dollar has assisted our exports and has certainly greatly assisted our tourism industry. For the electorate of Eden-Monaro that is a highly significant feature. We have enjoyed one of the best summer tourist seasons in quite a long time because of the falling dollar and the expensiveness of travelling overseas, along with falling interest rates and petrol prices. So the floating of the dollar was highly significant.

The introduction and promotion of a collective bargaining system based on enterprise productivity helped to generate the prosperity we enjoyed during those 12 years, which members opposite attempted to destroy. I will come back to that point, but I give credit to the member for Higgins and the government for introducing in 1998 the APRA mechanism for regulating our authorised deposit institutions. That was a contribution to our regulatory framework, but that is it. Look for anything else in the 12 years of the Howard government and their contribution to the future of this county and you see that they dropped the ball in every other respect. How so? Primarily by putting monetary and fiscal policy in conflict, which generated the pressure on interest rates and inflation, and, more significantly, by failing the country on key infrastructure and skills needs. They dropped the ball for the future of this country. They played the Calvin Coolidge of our time and did not see what was coming. They laughed and scoffed at suggestions that the mining boom might not last. It is incredible when you think about how quickly their ignorance and their mindless optimism came to be exposed. The comments and prescience of the Prime Minister, which was scoffed at, have been completely borne out.

We are still waiting to hear any kind of plan from members opposite. I was listening very carefully last night during the Lateline program to the member for Higgins when he was asked specifically by the presenter—

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