Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The really disappointing thing about this debate is that it is like watching high school debaters struggling. There is a real economic crisis out there. It is about how we actually seek to prop up demand in this economy now, at a time when it is collapsing globally—net export incomes are going through the floor, private sector investments are contracting and small businesses are contracting—and the real debate is about how you bring forward activity now, and you are having some esoteric debate about a transcript here and a transcript there about legislated tax cuts. I say to the Leader of the Opposition that it is time we saw real leadership from someone on that side of the House. We have seen some this morning from the Liberal Premier of Western Australia. I would say to the Leader of the Opposition, as he laughs nervously as the member for Higgins plans his dispatch, that he should focus on the national interest—

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