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

Tonight, therefore, the Leader of the Opposition has a very clear responsibility. Tonight, therefore, the Leader of the Opposition must nominate what level of debt he supports, what level of savings and what savings he will advance. On top of that he must indicate precisely what course of action he is going to take. He must nominate the level of debt, nominate the level of savings and nominate the actual savings, because failure to do so will demonstrate the absolute fraudulence of the fear campaign he is running on debt today. That is the bottom line. Name the level of debt and name the savings that you will advance. Otherwise you are confirming that this is nothing more than a baseless scare campaign on debt. You are attempting to conceal the fact that the Liberal Party’s position on debt is, in essence, virtually the same as the government’s. That is what they do not want exposed.

If he does not name a debt level tonight, or specify the savings tonight, he will in fact drive a stake through the heart of his own scare campaign. You can see how the tombstone will read when it is all done: ‘Here lies the Liberal Party scare campaign, tragically killed on 14 May 2009 because the Leader of the Opposition couldn’t nominate a level of debt or a level of savings.’ The fraudulence of this position on the part of those opposite stands clear and loud for all to see.

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