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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I note that in his point of order the member for Sturt said that the question dealt with the foreign aid budget. The foreign aid budget was not referred to at all, not in one word in the question asked by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, demonstrating the high level of coordination that now exists within the 40-member tactics committee of the opposition, representing all factions. Frankly, they moved into the caucus room to have their tactics meeting in the morning!

In terms of the matters raised by the member for Aston, and the question asked by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, I would just draw the attention of those opposite to this statement by the Leader of the Opposition about our contributions to international monetary authorities. In relation to the G20, on 3 April he said:

The biggest thing they’ve done, overwhelmingly the most important thing they’ve done, is agreed to commit about a trillion dollars to the International Monetary Fund collectively; now that’s a good measure …

So says the Leader of the Liberal Party. It was obviously not quite cross-referenced with the member for Aston’s question before or with some of the other things that have been said recently. I would suggest to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, as she seeks to take potshots at the budget that has been delivered by the government, that she reflect on her friend and party colleague the Western Australian Premier, who said that his government welcomed fundamentally the contribution to the state of Western Australia by this Australian Labor government, that the Western Australian government has secured funding for deep-sea ports and industrial sites and that those projects could now go ahead. It was, from the perspective of the Western Australian Liberal government, a first-class budget, helping the development of Western Australia. I think the honourable member should consult with her party colleagues.

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