Pat Farmer (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the government motion put before the chamber today represents Rudd government rhetoric at its highest pitch. We see states across this nation, in particular in New South Wales and Queensland, where the state Labor governments have not done a single thing to improve housing affordability. In fact, by not abolishing land tax and stamp duty, they have only made matters worse. Yet we have Labor MPs standing before us here tonight gloating about a turnaround in repossession rates over the last several months. Clearly the Labor government believes in premature celebrations. The Prime Minister is constantly talking down the economy and driving away foreign investment and forcing Australian jobs offshore.

I contest that these measures have more to do with propping up the NSW Labor government that is doing nothing but mismanaging the state’s finances. Furthermore, it appears that the Rudd Labor government is intent on taking credit for the interest rate drops. It does not take an economist to work out that this is not due to government policy. Rather, it has been due to the global and now national economic slowdown. Many people struggling with mortgage commitments had to contend with a new, inexperienced government feverishly baiting the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates to cool the hyped-up demand in the economy. So if the government wishes to take the credit for the drop in interest rates this year then those opposite must take full responsibility for applying the initial pressure on mortgaged homeowners with their ridiculous ‘War on Inflation’, arguably the cause of much of the strain on the purse strings of many families in Western Sydney.

Furthermore, it is appalling that the government has put forward a motion condemning members of parliament for having the gall to question the biggest spending package since World War II. If I have to be condemned for refusing to sign a blank cheque and hand it over to a spendthrift, economically irresponsible government that makes policy on the run, then so be it. The government’s solution was to spend 10 billion Australian taxpayers’ dollars at Christmas, and yet it was reported in March that the Australian economy is expected to dip into recession this year. With a recession there is an inevitable loss of jobs throughout the economy. In Macarthur the closure of the Domayne retail store in Campbelltown in January saw 40 people put out of work. Thankfully, 30 of these people were able to find other places within the company, but that still means that a quarter of those employees are out of a job and battling to find work.

When former Prime Minister John Howard was asked before the last election what he could do to help people with interest rate rises, he said, ‘We will give them a job.’ The coalition government under John Howard gave Australia the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years. In contrast, in Labor’s first year in government unemployment is set to rise nationally to 5.2 per cent. In Western Sydney we are looking at 7.5 per cent unemployment. Sadly, some of our most disadvantaged suburbs will again be hit the hardest. Unemployment in the suburb of Claymore now rests at 32 per cent and in Rosemeadow and Ambarvale there is nine per cent unemployment. With 295,000 new residents expected to move into Western Sydney over the next 20 years, there will need to be 106,000 new jobs created. Not all of these jobs will be created in the retail sector; the coalition believes the government will have to invest taxpayers’ money more wisely in long-lasting infrastructure to produce long-term gains for this nation.

Western Sydney is home to 1.7 million people and has the third largest economy in the country. The first of the community cabinet meetings was held earlier this year in my area of Campbelltown. I have to tell you, Mr Speaker, that the people up there received nothing more than a big community hype. It was nothing more than stage management to try and publicise what the government was trying to do. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister was late. He arrived 10 minutes late and gave 30 minutes of his time and the cabinet’s time to listen to the people of Western Sydney and their needs and concerns. If this is any example of what they have to do as far as listening to the people of Western Sydney is concerned then they—(Time expired)

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