Kerry Rea (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Once again I rise to contribute to an MPI put forward by the opposition that is flabbergasting in its audacity and hypocrisy. Many times in this House and in the media they have accused the Labor government of reckless spending, yet they were the government that presided over the biggest cash splash in our history. It lasted for about 12 years. It was not a cash splash designed to stimulate our economy. It was not a cash splash designed to support our retail sector and employment. It was not a cash splash to deal with unique economic circumstances. It was a cash splash designed to prop up their marginal seats. It was a pork-barrelling cash splash. So to have them coming in here and talking about government spending leaves me speechless.

It is also amazing that they talk about government spending and that they were able to do this because they were such good controllers of finances. They managed to completely waste the incredible resources that we received from the most significant resources and mining boom that we have seen in this country and they sold off some of our most significant assets—the family silver. That is how they managed to keep a surplus and throw their cash around willy-nilly, and they did it to support marginal seats.

It is incredible to hear the former government, which had such reckless policies, come in here and not acknowledge the significance of the very carefully targeted spending program of this government. It is also incredible that for 30 minutes the opposition have been speaking about the Australian economy and not once have they mentioned the global recession. Not once have they even acknowledged that we are in the most significant global financial crisis since the Great Depression—and they pretend to believe that they are the alternative government in this country. It is an indictment on their role as parliamentarians and on their commitment to steering our economy and our community out of these very troubling and, indeed, very difficult times.

This government has kept control of the finances and it has done it in a very responsible way. It has done it by supporting jobs, by investing in infrastructure and by ensuring that we do have community assets through projects out there that get people working on assets that we will have in this nation for the long term. Not once did they do that. Not once when they had incredible revenues did they invest in infrastructure or support our local communities. In this budget we have acknowledged that we have to face difficult economic circumstances and that we have to take them head-on. We acknowledge that it means going into debt and the budget being in deficit.

But let us just get this one into perspective. Let us have a look at the situation around the world. Currently our net debt as a percentage of GDP is 4.6 per cent, and certainly no debt would be much better. But what is the situation in the United States? It is 61.7 per cent of GDP. In the UK it is 56.8 per cent of GDP, and in Japan, a nation that has such a long history of economic productivity and manufacturing, it is 103.6 per cent of GDP. So I know that the Australian people will be much cleverer at understanding the crisis and putting our economy in perspective when they look at those figures. Basically, to me there is a choice—and it is a bit like buying a house or choosing somewhere to live. You accept the coalition’s argument that you just simply pay dead rent because even if they were in government they would be in debt. What we are doing is taking the decision to responsibly invest in a mortgage, buy an asset and pay it off, because that will be there for the long term. (Time expired)

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