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

Therefore, Mr Speaker, the second question is this: what element of discretionary stimulus would the opposition support? The Liberal Party have said that they would support investment and infrastructure, therefore you are left with a difference of between the total amount which is the subject of deficit and debt, $300 billion, and discretionary payments to individuals—that is, to pensioners, carers and others—which comes to a total figure of around $20 billion, half of which they indicated they supported when the first round of measures was announced at the end of last year: those for pensioners, carers and veterans. If you look at the logic of that it comes down to about $10 billion difference.

Then you look on top of that again. Those opposite constantly say that when it comes to the ultimate difference between us and them it is as if there is an ocean of difference between us, but the reality is that their position, underneath it all, is virtually the same. That is why I go back to the proposition I put before: the opposition’s argument on debt and deficit rests on an exercise in policy and political fraudulence, and they know it.

Furthermore, I say this to the Leader of the Opposition: Australia has the lowest net debt of all the major economies. I say this also to those opposite: subsequent to the budget Standard and Poor’s reaffirmed the government’s AAA rating. Subsequent to the budget, commentators out there in the mainstream community were virtually uniform in their support for the sorts of fiscal and stimulatory measures engaged in by the government, and by the sustainability strategy announced by the Treasurer in the budget papers. This is a government strategy. It is upfront and positive and it says what we are about to do, why we are doing it and the effect it will have, as canvassed in my earlier answer to a question today.

Those opposite, at the end of the day, are seeking to walk two sides of the street. They know what they are doing. They actually, however, have this about them by way of delusion: that the Australian people do not see through it. My advice to the Leader of the Opposition is that they see right through it and spot fraudulence at a thousand paces.

See this speech in context