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

I thank the member for O’Connor for his intervention. The Leader of the Opposition asked before about conflict and different views and how we handle the economy. It is quite plain that there is a division between us. We actually stand for a positive program of nation building for recovery. That is what we are doing. Those opposite are pretending that they do not engage in debt and deficit. That is the actual nature of the dynamic here. We are upfront with the Australian people about what we are doing, how we are doing it and what impact it is having, recognising the degree of challenge represented by the contraction in the global economy, the worst we have seen in three-quarters of a century. Those opposite are trying to walk both sides of the street. On the one hand they are in here supporting these measures; on the other hand they are out there saying that they do not support the debt and deficit necessary to support these measures—except when you actually pin them down.

When the member for North Sydney famously went out the day after the budget and was asked by Koshy on Channel 7’s Sunrise, ‘Okay, member for North Sydney, what is your deficit target, what is your debt target?’ and the member for North Sydney said in response, ‘$25 billion less.’ Then, the other day, just to make sure there was consistency on the part of those opposite our good friend the member for Warringah in Sydney—I cannot mention members by their first name anymore—said that their deficit target was $21 billion less than the government’s. It was $25 billion less according to the member for North Sydney; according to another member of the front bench, on his online discussion website, by the way, it was $21 billion less. Then the Leader of the Opposition was confronted about this in the debate about debt and deficit recently. When he was asked to name the number, because he had been prosecuting a debate about numbers each day of the week, he said, ‘It’s not a question of the number.’

So those opposite are simply exposed for what they are—absolutely fraudulent on this position. The government’s position on gross debt is around $300 billion. By the admission of the member for North Sydney it is therefore $275 billion of Liberal debt; by the admission of the—

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