Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to Westpac’s Australia & NZ Weekly, in which Mr Bill Evans, the Chief Economist at Westpac, says that despite the Christmas cash splash it was:

… bizarre to see spending on: motor vehicles; clothing; leisure; restaurants/hotels; and alcohol/cigarettes all actually falling in the quarter.

Mr Evans states that, despite the cash splash:

… consumer spending only rose by 0.1%, well below trend and at the same pace as in the third—

September—

quarter when there was no such boost to household incomes.

Treasurer, doesn’t this prove yet again that the pre-Christmas cash splash of borrowed money failed and that, far from creating 75,000 jobs, you have just left our children with more Labor Party debt?

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